Welcome to Avalon Waterways

- A part of the Globus family
Home > Our Cruises > north sea - black sea cruise - category e > optional

To help plan your leisure time, as well as your pre-tour budgeting, here is a list of optional excursions that may be offered on this tour. Availability is subject to sufficient participation, weather conditions, seasonal suitability, group interests, and general feasibility for your tour. Please note prices may be based on the previous year and are subject to change. Full terms and conditions are contained in the important travel documents.

CostDescription
27
EUR 		Name:REMBRANDT & CO - A VISIT TO AMSTERDAM'S RIJKSMUSEUM
Location:AMSTERDAM
Details:The Masterpieces of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum offer a unique way to view all the highlights of the Golden Age in one place. Discover with our local experts their interrelationships, thematically or chronologically, discover the stories and view the artworks close-up. The most famous painting at the Rijksmuseum is Rembrandt's Night Watch. A national icon that fires the imagination and is always at the centre of discussion; the painting has been successively analysed, interpreted, praised, abused, damaged and restored; It is, in short, the focus of attention. But what makes this portrait of a group of civic guardsmen so special, apart from being the largest painting that Rembrandt ever made? What is it about, what is its background? Find your answers in this visit to the Rijksmuseum.
29
EUR 		Name:SUNFLOWERS & OTHER MASTERPIECES
Location:AMSTERDAM
Details:A visit to the Van Gogh Museum is a unique experience. The museum contains the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world. It provides the opportunity to keep track of the artist's developments, or compare his paintings to works by other artists from the 19th century in the collection. The museum also holds an extensive offer of exhibitions on various subjects from 19th century art history. Join your local expert for an introduction to Van Gogh, before you start exploring the collection at your own pace.
29
EUR 		Name:"KLOMPEN", CHEESE AND PEANUT OIL - ZAANSE SCHANS
Location:AMSTERDAM
Details:The Zaanse Schans is a delightful old hamlet on the banks of the river Zaan with characteristic green wooden houses, charming stylised gardens, small hump-backed bridges, tradesmen's workshops, historic windmills and engaging little shops. This enchanting hamlet gives an excellent impression of how a typical Zaanse village must have looked like in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Join our local expert for a journey through times when Dutch Sailing Ships crossed the seven seas and goods from all corners of the world traded in Holland. Don't miss your chance to see a working windmill inside and admire the craftsmanship of its mechanics.
39
EUR 		Name:EXCURSION TO THE WELTENBURG ABBEY AND THE DANUBE GORGE
Location:REGENSBURG
Details:The Danube Gorge has both a gentle and a strange beauty. In a magnificent show of force, the Danube has carved its way through the Swabian Alb to create a stunning landscape - a wild, romantic stretch of river with sheer cliffs rising up to 100 metres out of the water. At its upper end the Weltenburg Abbey is located on a peninsula directly beneath the cliffs of the Gorge. It was founded by Irish or Scottish monks in 620 and is one of the oldest abbeys in Bavaria. The present Benedictine abbey dates back to the 18th century when it was extensively rebuilt in baroque style. Their ceiling frescos of the Heavenly Jerusalem blend seamlessly with the abbey interior and are particularly noteworthy. Important is also that Weltenburg Abbey houses the oldest abbey brewery in the world, as the monks have been brewing beer since 1050. A beer and a "pretzel" are a welcome refreshment.
64
EUR 		Name:SALZBURG - MOZART'S SOUND OF MUSIC
Location:PASSAU
Details:True, Salzburg is the birth-place of Mozart and you will find the face of the city's most famous son everywhere. Salzburg is also the setting for the Sound of Music Movie, which has shaped the city's perception in the minds of generations. But Salzburg is much more. It is a city with history based on the salt trade from the nearby Alpine Mountains, it is a city of beautiful baroque buildings, and a city perched between the mountains and green waters of the Salzach river. It is a city with a long cultural heritage and in the small busy lanes like the "Getreidegasse" with its wrought iron signs you might get a feeling, how busy this city always was. Today we would like to show you Salzburg and its past, we will show you the Austrian Lake district and our local experts will talk about what it makes to be Austrian and to live in this country today. And who knows perhaps this excursion will give you also wings...
44
EUR 		Name:A VISIT OF SCHONBRUNN IMPERIAL PALACE
Location:VIENNA
Details:Schonbrunn, the former summer residence of the imperial family, is considered one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in Europe. The Habsburgs resided here the better part of the year in numerous rooms for the large imperial family in addition to representational rooms. Emperor Franz Joseph, who later married the enchanting Sisi and reigned from 1848 to 1916, was born here in 1830. The monarch spent his last years entirely in the palace, which became the property of the new Republic of Austria only two years after his death. Today, the palace is part of UNESCO's cultural heritage due to its historic importance, its unique grounds and its splendid furnishings. Follow our local expert and visit Empress Sisi's former summer residence, afterwards take your time to stroll through the park or enjoy a demonstration of how the famous Viennese Apple Strudel is being made - Samples to taste included.
49
EUR 		Name:ROYAL WALTZ CONCERT
Location:VIENNA
Details:Would a stay in Vienna be the same if you were not able to listen to the tunes of the "Blue Danube Waltz" or the "Radetzky" March? Your Cruise Director will accompany you to one of the Vienna's Famous Concert Halls. Avalon will make preferred seating arrangements. In order to celebrate this evening in style, have a glass of sparkling wine in the intermission, before you listen to the famous tunes brought to you by opera singers and watch the elegant ballet dancers as they interpret some of the most well known classical tunes from Vienna.
54
EUR 		Name:HUNGARIAN PUSZTA FARM WITH HORSE SHOW AND LUNCH
Location:BUDAPEST
Details:Admire the unsurpassed qualities of the Hungarian Equestrian virtue at an active stud farm in the Great Hungarian Plain. Enjoy the sight of the proud hoses as he leads the festive procession. Take a typical country wagon ride and learn about the life on the typical Hungarian farm. Experience the well-known Hungarian hospitality in the most natural environment of the Puszta Farm. The Hungarians have been inseparable from their horses for more than a thousand years. Do not miss this unique opportunity to experience the Hungarian countryside and its authentic ways.
29
EUR 		Name:EXCURSION TO SREMSKI KARLOVCI
Location:NOVI SAD
Details:Fruska Gora is a long ridge of low hills running east-west to the south of Novi Sad. Although it reaches heights of only 500 m / 1640 ft, the hills add welcome variety to the flat relief of Vojvodina. These southern valleys also shelter more than a dozen monasteries, which often blend in style of the Byzantine and Baroque of which the best known is Krusedol. But the Srem region is also one of the oldest viticulture areas in Europe. The grapevine has sprouted on Mt. Fruska Gora's fertile hills for over 1,700 years, ever since it was first planted by Roman Emperor Probus of the ancient Sirmium. And finally where the wooded slopes of the Fruska Gora meet the Danube there is Sremski Karlovci, once an important town, where for the last hundred years history seems to have passed by.
42
EUR 		Name:DINNER AT BELGRADE'S SKADARLIJA DISTRICT
Location:BELGRADE
Details:Once the home of many Serbian poets, writers, artists, and actors, the cobble-stoned Skadarlija (or Skadarska) street today hosts some of the best restaurants in town, all of which strive to preserve bohemian traditions from the early 19th century. Definitely the place to go if you want to get a feel of the atmosphere of Belgrade's old times, cruise art galleries, shop for antiques or souvenirs, or taste the best of local food.