Rhine Cruise Day 5: Speyer, Germany - July 7th, 2025
We took the Viking Rhine Getaway cruise from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Basel in Switzerland. This post covers Day 5, as we stopped to explore Speyer, Germany.
Monday we sailed along in the morning and docked in the town of Speyer in the afternoon, so it was a relaxing morning. At breakfast, we met Simian and Pat from California. Ann chatted with Sara later that morning, then we met Brenda and Barry from North Carolina at lunch.
The walking tour took us over to Speyer Cathedral (Speyerer Dom) and then a little ways down Maximilianstraße, the main shopping street. He gave us wonderful information about the history of the cathedral and the local area. Then we had several hours to explore on our own.
We continued down Maximilianstraße to the old town gate (Altpörtel). Then returned to Eiscafé La Piazza for ice cream. We split a spaghettieis. We remember the dish well from living in Germany back in 1990. The vanilla ice cream is pressed through a ricer to look like spaghetti. Then it is topped with strawberry sauce to look like marinara sauce and flakes of white chocolate to look like parmesan cheese. This version had whipped cream underneath the ice cream.
We had the Classico, which is what we remembered spaghettieis to be, but La Piazza had a whole page dedicated to different types of spaghettieis, with variations such as spaghetti carbonara. It rained while we were in the café, but let up by the time we finished our ice cream.
From there, we wandered over to the technology museum, Technik Museum Speyer. We didn’t go in, but viewed some of the large outside displays from outside the fence. If we hadn’t gone on the walking tour, or went straight there after the tour, we might have paid to go inside. We’re not big museum people, but Keith loves to learn about technology.
After swinging by our ship for a bathroom break, we walked over to the nearby beer garden, Biergarten Alter Hammer, for a drink. Keith had the Eichbaum Ureich Pils while Ann drank a Rieslingschorle. A schorle is a wine mixed with carbonated water. It is a popular drink in Germany. We sat at a table outside, watching barges sail by on the river and other Viking guests walking back to the ship.
At dinner, we met Steve and Jocelyn from LA. For dinner, Keith had the local menu which was French onion soup and perch. Ann, not wanting to have fish, substituted the Chateaubriand for the perch. We don’t remember what the dessert was called. Everything was delicious.
Day 5 was more relaxing than the full day of sight-seeing the previous day. It was nice to slow down again. Not that Day 4 was hectic, but we like our “down time” as we travel for months at a time. Making sure we have time to recharge is how we make sure we enjoy our long trips.
Check out our related video: Rhine Cruise Day 5: Speyer, Germany
(Ann)