House-Museum Legends of Uglich

Europe River Cruising with Scenic | David Whitehill in Heidelberg

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River cruising in Europe has become very popular over the last few years because once you step on board everything is just laid out in front of you.

Scenic are sailing us up the beautiful Rhine River in Germany and today we're visiting the little town of Heidelberg.

Perched high up on the hilltop is the town's star attraction.

David: “So this castle seems quite unique compared to the other ones I’ve seen in Europe”

Guide: “Oh it's an absolutely unique castle, it’s a castle that was built by different rulers of a period of five centuries and every ruler had his own special motivation to build this particular castle.”

With such a mix of influences over the centuries, the Heidelberg castle really is like nothing else in Europe.

David: “And now we get to experience all these different architects in one go”

Guide: “Correct one visit to Heidelberg and you cover a world of 500 years”

Amazingly enough the castle was neglected for years; its stone was stolen to build local houses and it was even crippled by a lightning strike at one point.

But thankfully a huge restoration project has brought her back to life.

One of her legends is the world's largest wine barrel, it was built to store the taxes of the local growers and guarded very closely by an alcoholic dwarf.

I don't know about you but I would say that would be one hell of a hangover.

While you're exploring Europe, your home away from home is the mighty Scenic Jade; Her ethos is fairly simple all inclusive luxury.

And one of the biggest pains when you do travel is changing hotel rooms but because we're river cruising things are a little bit different.

You unpack once at the start and that’s it, come and take a look at this.

So every single room has it's very own sun deck with an electric windows so that means that you can actually control how you relax out here.

Ooh there’s just one thing missing everybody on board gets there very own Butler.

Thank you. 24/7.

The experience on board is exceptional and every detail has been taken care of to make sure your time here is five star all the way.

The winemaking town of Rudesheim is nestled in the world heritage-listed Rhine Valley; life here hasn't really changed much since the 17th century. With the odd new addition

Scenic have organized us a little stop off at Siegfried's mechanical museum, which has a definitely life of it’s own

David: “Mary where did all these bizarre musical machines come from?

Mary: “They come from all over Europe most of them are from Germany, some are from United States and they came together here in that place since about 50 years. You see these unique things as a foreigner of modern computers we cannot write any letters we enjoy beautiful music.”

David: “And what were these machines used for when they originally came out?”

Mary: “You found them very very often in dance halls in hotels in restaurants to entertain people”

I've got to say it is quite an unusual experience and just a word of warning.

Mary's enthusiasm is quite catching, so bring your dancing shoes.