Where a river ship ties up
A river ship ties up in town, often into the evening. You walk off the ship into town.
Budapest and Vienna are on the Danube. Cologne is on the Rhine. Paris is on the Seine. Porto is on the Douro. New Orleans is on the Mississippi.
Budapest
River ships tie up along the Buda or Pest embankments.
Docks on the Pest side are a walk from Parliament. Across the river, Buda Hill has the castle and the mineral thermal baths, a soak in mineral water rather than a swim off the ship.
Vienna
Ships dock along the Danube or the Danube Canal.
A tram ride or a walk brings you into the old center and to St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Schnitzel, the local plate to order, is a thin fried cutlet, usually veal or pork.
Cologne and the Rhine
In Cologne the ship ties up near the cathedral.
The cathedral is beside the river, and you can walk to it. Rüdesheim is a later stop, a wine town on the Rhine. A cable car goes up to the monument above the vineyards. The castles you pass between towns are seen from the deck.
Paris
Seine ships dock on the river, often near the Eiffel Tower or the Arsenal.
You walk off into the city. The Louvre holds the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
Porto and the Douro
River ships dock in the Ribeira or across the river in Gaia.
The wine lodges are in Gaia. The Ribeira is the riverfront in Porto. You walk between them across the bridge.
New Orleans
American river ships dock along the riverfront.
You can walk from those docks into the French Quarter. A beignet at Café du Monde is fried dough with powdered sugar.
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