Click here to read about our 12-Night Immersive Wine Cruise

River Cruises: How would you feel about a European travel choice that combined the best of escorted tours and big ship cruising? Ladies and gentlemen - We give you River Cruising! The rivers of Europe were the highways of old and now river cruisers reap the benefits of ships that dock near the original centers of historic towns, allowing passengers to easily walk into town on their own to enjoy additional sightseeing, shopping or café sitting. With an average of 100-140 passengers, river cruisers tend to blend in with the townspeople, rather than inundating them. You unpack once and enjoy the view. For the most part, your accommodations, meals and shore excursions are all included in your river cruise fare and most of the river cruise lines also include beer and wine with dinner. The entertainment is brought on board and tends to be low key and more cultural and port-specific. You may be entertained by musicians or dancers or watch food demonstrations or listen to a speaker talk about your next port or region.

Click here to read about our Portugal River Cruise

Themed river cruises are a huge trend, some with an emphasis on Jewish heritage, wine-tasting, art, WWII, music, Christmas Markets and more. The additional activities for the different themes are included at no extra charge. You can combine the best of land and water by adding a city stay at the beginning or end of your cruise.

Click here to read about our Jewish Heritage Danube Cruise

Finally, you may choose to travel independently, either by rail, car or short flights. Travel on your own can be intimidating for first-timers, but there are ways to combine city stays that make it fairly easy. These independent packages include hotels, transportation arrangements between cities, guided excursions and a local host you can call for assistance. Driving in Europe can be fun - parking is not. Before deciding to rent a car and take off, think about where you want to go. Driving into big cities can be frustrating, unless you have good directions and a parking spot waiting for you.

Trains are a great way to get around, as long as you are a good packer. You will usually be in charge of moving and storing your own luggage, so make sure you are able. Once you are settled, you can lean back into your comfy seat and enjoy the passing scenery. The main train stations are usually in city centers with many public transportation options to choose from. There are some inexpensive intra-European flights available, but they are inexpensive only if you travel very light. The baggage costs can exceed the airfare and some airlines even charge for carry-on bags!

Obviously there are more choices than these, but these are your main ones. There are trips for 18-35 year olds, seniors, families, honeymooners, singles and more. How do you decide which is best for you? Talk to your travel agent, be aware of your own travel style, know your budget and travel dates and most of all, have a fabulous time once you are there! Relax and go with the flow.

Once an overlooked strip of land west of Spain, Portugal has become a destination of choice in recent years. A land of incredible beauty and center of world exploration, Portugal offers visitors experiences ranging from driving through/hiking in the Algarve to exploring castles and palaces to swooning over Fado, the country's musical obsession.

Arriving by air, visitors find the airport's proximity to Lisbon's center city means reasonably cheap fares to the heart of the capital. One of the special joys of Lisbon is walking its older neighborhood's cobblestone streets and taking in the picturesque architecture. Lisbon is built on seven hills, however, so you'll want to take advantage of the ample public transportation, especially both the old fashioned trolleys and newer electricos.

Click here to read about our Portugal River Cruise

Each of Lisbon's neighborhoods holds its own special charm. A perfect place to begin is Belem and the striking Tower of Belem, built in the early 16th century as a fortress. The starting point point for Portuguese navigators, the tower became a national symbol of Portugal's age of exploration and expansion. With its Moorish watchtowers and openwork balconies, this ornate national treasure is a must-see.

Passing by the massive angular Monumnent to the Discoveries, just a short walk across the avenida is the Jeronimos Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors not only enjoy its exquisite architecture including the Church of Santa Maria, but also flock to Casa de Pasteis de Belem next door. This is where Portugal's national pastry, pastel de nata (aka pasteis de Belem), began and is THE place to mingle with locals and enjoy these delicious custard tarts.

Click here for Pasteis de Belem Recipe

After the liberal revolution in 1820, all convents and monasteries in Portugal were shut down. To survive, someone from the monastery offered sweet pastries for sale at the shop in the sugar refinery next door. The pastries followed the ancient secret recipe from the monastery. Passed on and known exclusively to the master confectioners who hand-crafted the pastries in the "secrets room," this recipe remains unchanged to this day. Although the pastry can be found all over the world and recipes do exist, this is the only place to enjoy the "real thing."

After visiting the National Palace, an easy walk from the monastery, visitors may wish to explore Lisbon's other picturesque districts: the artsy Barrio Alto and Estrela, Baixa featuring the Praca des Restauradores, Alfama with it's famed Fado restaurants, and the fishing towns, villas, and palaces of the Lisbon coast.

Fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor. The intensely melancholic songs are usually about love, woes, and pains, or express sadness and longing for things that were lost or that were never accomplished. It became popular with the singer Maria Severa, who died at the age of 26 and later became the subject of Portugal's first sound movie in 1931. To this day, female performers wear a black shawl in her memory and her life story has been the influence of several Fado songs, poems, novels, and plays.

But it was Amalia Rodrigues in the 20th century who made Fado known beyond Portugal, performing all over Europe, Japan, South America, and even in the United States, in New York's "La Vie en Rose" in the 1950s. She's been credited with defining the style of the music, and when she died in 1999, the government declared three days of national mourning and awarded her a state funeral. As a national icon, she is buried in Lisbon's National Pantheon.

When visiting Lisbon, spending an evening at a "Casa de Fado" or Fado restaurant is an essential experience. There are many in the Bairro Alto district, but the most authentic are found in Alfama. Recommended are the Casa de Linhares and Pateo de Alfama Fado houses. Also consider Clube de Fado or Parreirinha de Alfama or see Ana Marina sing in the small and friendly Sr. Fado in the same area.

About 90 miles east of Lisbon is Evora. This museum-city and UNESCO World Heritage Site whose roots go back to Roman times reached its golden age in the 15th century when it became the residence of the Portuguese kings. Its unique quality stems from the whitewashed houses decorated with azulejos (tin-glazed ceramic tilework) and wrought-iron balconies dating from the 16th to the 18th century. A popular stop is the Chapel of Bones, constructed using thousands of human skulls and bones in the Church of St. Francis.

The maritime province of the Algarve, known as the "garden of Portugal," stretches 100 miles from Cape St. Vincent to Real de Santo Antonio on Portugal's south coast. With temperatures ranging from around 60 in winter to the mid 70's in summer, this countryside abounding in vegetation, estuaries, and sheltered lagoons provides a satisfying drive that can best be enjoyed over a few days time. Lagos is one of the most visited cities in the Algarve and Portugal, due to its variety of tourist-friendly beaches, bars, restaurants, and hotels, and is renowned for its vibrant summer nightlife and parties. Yet, Lagos is also a historic centre of the Portuguese Age of Discovery, frequent home of Henry the Navigator, historical shipyard and, at one time, center of the European slave trade. In 2012, travel website TripAdvisor, classified Lagos as the number 1 travel destination, on a list of "15 destinations on the rise" worldwide.

Heading north, the country's longest motorway (A1 from Lisbon to Oporto) goes up to Braga (A3) in the heart of Costa Verde. If you follow the coastline on the road from Vila do Conde to Valencia, you'll see the beautiful beaches, seaside resorts, and enchanting villages such as Caminha and Vila Nova de Cerveira. Inland and worth visiting is the Peneda-Geres National Park. Oporto, the capital of the country's northern regions, offers the delights of a riverside city as it is magnificently situated on the Douro River from where boats leave to sail up the beautiful river. Although Portugal is often paired with Spain for an exciting Iberian vacation, this small country approximately the size of Maine offers enough of its own charm and historical significance to merit your full attention when planning your next trip.

 

 

Ports of call include: Barcelona ~ Marseilles ~ Florence ~ Rome ~ Naples ~ Messina (Sicily) ~ Dubrovnik (Croatia)~ Venice

Book your air through Viking and pay in full by May 31 and get a $1000 per couple discount: