Rhine / Main / Danube River Cruise (Bamberg to Regensburg)

Our Magnificent Europe Music Cruise continues towards Budapest as we enter the 171 km Main - Danube canal which connects the Main and the Danube rivers across the European Watershed.

Main-Danube Canal passes through Nuremberg

This canal, completed in 1992, was designed to handle vessels up to 190 m long. It connects the North Sea / Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea.

Main-Danube Canal

The summit altitude (European Continental Divide) is 400 m above sea level. This is the highest point on Earth that can be reached by watercraft from the sea.

Main-Danube Canal near Fürth

Along the course of the Main-Danube canal are 16 locks with lifting heights of up to 25 meters.

Profile of Main-Danube Canal with an indication of the locks and their altitudes
(click on image to enlarge)

The total height of the Panama Canal is only 26 m above sea level and has three sets of locks to achieve this.

Navigating through a large lock on the Main-Danube Canal  

One vulnerability of any canal system is it's reliance on a regular supply of rain (or snow runoff) to replensh the water discharged from the locks.

27.7 m deep lock on Main-Danube Canal

When we first boarded the Panorama, our captain lamented  the lack of rain which was a major concern to him. Water levels in the Danube continued to drop and finally a day before we were due to reach Regensburg we were told that Panorama could not navigate beyond this port.

Falling water levels

Fortunately the shallow-draught Avalon Tapestry was available and met us in Linz for the remainder of the cruise.

The only city we visited along the Main - Danube canal section of our cruise was Nurenberg, now infamous as the venue for the 10 Annual Nazi Party rallies between 1923 and 1938 as well as the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal in 1946.

Defendants during the Nuremberg Trials

Amongst the many highlights of our walking tour through Nurenberg, we were very impressed by the gothic church spire three-tiered Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) which stands 19 m high in the city's market square. It's numerous figures represent allegories of philosophy, the liberal arts and religion.

Schöner Brunnen

Close to the eastern end of the canal at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, Regensburg boasts the largest preserved medieval city centre in Germany. A masterpiece of medieval engineering, the Steinerne Brücke (Stone Bridge) was built in the 12th century opening up major international trade routes between Northern Europe and Venice. The knights of the 2nd and 3rd crusade used this bridge on their way to the Holy Land.

Regensburg from the river featuring the Steinerne Brücke

The old city is surrounded by Roman fortress' walls and as you enter Regensburg, you can see the ancient Porta Pratoria, Germany's oldest stone building, dating from 179 AD. Built by the Romans, this early gateway to the city survives today as a reminder of the original Roman settlement.

The remains of the East Tower of Porta Praetoria from Ancient Roman times

There are over 1200 historic buildings in the centre of Regensburg, many built by the rich, patrician families who traded with cities such as Kiev and Venice. Building the tallest tower was the way to show your wealth. Frequently only the ground and first floors of these towers were used.

Symbol of Regensburg's wealth - Golden Tower

The highlight of our Regensburg visit was a tour into a luthier's workshop to hear and watch a little about the craft of violin making and restoration. Thomas Goldfuss is a third generation craftsman, manufacturing unique new string instruments as well as copies of historical masterpieces. He (and his father Horst) moved to Regensburg in 1985.

Thomas Goldfuss in his workshop

The Regensburg Cathedral, dedicated to St Peter, is the most important church and landmark of the city.

Regensburg Cathedral from nearby island

Appropriately, our musical themed cruise brought us to Salzburg, the birthplace of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for The Sound of Music.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

 The Felsenreitschule, a massive Roman rock amphitheatre seemed quite inconspicuous from the street.  In 1936, the festival featured a performance in this theatre by the von Trapp Family Singers, whose story was later dramatized as the The Sound of Music.

Felsenreitschule Theatre

Quite close to the Felsenreitschule is St. Peter's Abby Church cemetery filled with plots marked by black, iron crosses and decorated with flowers and candles. The graves are extremely close together and rents are due every ten years. At the edges of the cemetery are gated graves that were used as the basis for the graves in the scene where the von Trapp's hide during their escape from the Nazis.

St. Peter's Church cemetery

We also took a quick peek at the Mirabell Gardens, the most iconic scene in the The Sound of Music film, where the children run through gardens singing and skipping around the fountain with the Pegasus statue. Like numerous other palace gardens we've visited during this cruise preparation for the winter season only allowed us to imagine what it will look like the following spring.

Do-Re-Mi - Mirabell Gardens in Spring

Coincidentally, just three weeks before we visited Satzburg, "The Sound of Music" finally debuted in this picturesque city - the first time the musical has been produced live on stage in the town where the movie was filmed back in 1964.

Saltzburg featuring St. Peter's Abbey Church (extreme left) and Salzburg Cathedral (centre)

The music theme of our cruise continued into the evening with a live concert held in the parish church of Ansfelden by the 50 piece community brass orchestra Musikverein Ansfelden.

Musikverein Ansfelden concert

Our MC and host was Avalon's Director Waterways Operations, Burghart Lell - a former member of the orchestra. Their encore piece was Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis (also the cruise theme tune)

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As promised, the final Rhine / Main / Danube River Cruise post will take you down the Danube River to Budapest. In the meantime please keep sending in your comments and questions.

If you're unsure which stories you've missed - look for the Blog Archive near the bottom of the page - it's the best way to select the post you haven't read yet (or want to re-read).