So we took a cruise on the blue Danube today. It was a 3.5 hour cruise from Scwedenzplatz pier on the SS Blue Danube. I came along with a romantic notion of what the Danube would be like and things were looking good as we boarded to a cheesy rendition of Strauss’ tune. The boat even had free wifi – score!
I thought the river would be blue but the Danube is actually grey and green in some places. I also thought we would be gliding past palaces and castles but that wasn’t the case. Once you get out of the city centre, all there is to see is green grassy coastlines dotted with little local fishing huts. The huts were quite cute and nicely decorated in typical style. Seeing them made me realise how lucky we are to have such great access to beaches!
After about the first 30 minutes it started to get boring. When we got to the first lock going from the canal to the river itself it took about 30 minutes for it to fill up with water. I marvelled a human engineering and then I wished it would hurry the hell up!
We passed those luxury river cruisers as made are way along the river. I always wanted to go on one of those but seeing the ships up close made me change my mind. I don’t think I could handle a week on one of those things.
The real Danube is a mighty river with a strong current. It was such a strategic and important waterway back in the day and continues to be as we witnessed by seeing the shipping containers being loaded onto barges at the port.
The highlight of the tour for me was the awesome street art near the pier. It was a grittier side of Vienna that was in stark contrast to the order above the canals.
All in all it was a perfect 3 hours to work on the tan (we both got quite brown) and to surf the web.
Cruising the Danube. Tick.
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