The Route of Emperors and Kings

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For more than 1,000 years, the Danube has been the principal highway for the exercise  of power in central Europe. It connects major capital cities east and west. Between Regensburg and Budapest especially, its ban ks are studded with the towns, abbeys, fortresses, palaces anc cathedrals built to demonstrate the temporal power of bishops, princelings, dukes and oligarchs whose shifting allegiances raised Kings and lowered Emperors. 

 

The gorges of the Danube still echo hallowed names - Charlemagne, Attila, Wittelsbach, Hohenzollern, Hapsburg, Esterhazy – whose assaults and confrontations have left their stamp. Journeying along it now from Germany to Austria, Slovakia and Hungary you could feel that little has changed in centuries - except that modern travellers do so in much greater comfort.

Most go by boat, which certainly offers a unique visual perspective on the Danube's natural wonders as well as its sights.

 

Rounding a curve to your first sight of the Benedictine Abbey at, Melk, in the UNESCO World Heritage Cultural and Natural Heritage Site of leafy Wachau Valley, is just one of the princely landscapes you can't see any other way. Even so, lots of people choose to travel · the Danube by bike. You can speed or tarry at will, and because the special bike route follows the old towpath, the going is flat the whole way. If you're prepared to use an agent to smooth your path, you can combine bike and boat, either for excursions in Passau, Linz, Durnstein, Vienna and Budapest, or as alternative transport through the woods, terraced vineyards, orchards and meadows between stops like the venerable towns of Aggspach, Spitz and Weissenkirchen.

f Like the emperors and kings who have preceded you, allow plenty of time, however you travel. The wealth of history, culture and giddy-making surprises is too rich, and the Danube too ; beautiful, to rush.

HOW

By boat and/or bike

WHEN TO GO

April to November. Winter boat  services are infrequent, and at the mercy ofnheavy rains/river levels.

TIME IT TAKES

6-7 days by boat (Regensburg-Passau-Durnstein-Vienna-Bratislava-Esztergom-Budapest); 14-16 days by bike (including 2 rest/excursion days);

19.21 days (bike and boat, with many short excursions and including rest days).

HIGHUGHTS

Discovering Regensburg to be one of Germany's most complete medieval cities.

Tulln - with Its baroque old town.

Brooding medieval magnificence and baroque exuberance - the hallmarks of the Danube's royal cities and towns.

YOU SHOULD KNOW

By bike, travel the Danube from west to east - there's an overall incline in your favour, and both the prevailing wlnd and afternoon sun will be on your back. If you start your journey mid-week, you’ll avoid the large numbers who set out at weekends. Follow the route by car  only if you have no other option - you'll miss so much.

 

Historic Route 66

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With vast distances and a well-developed railroad system, the US.A had roads that were little more than local tracks until well into the 20th century, In 1919 the War Department's "s first Transcontinental Motor Convoy - an expedition that included future World War II Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower - Look rnonths to cross from east to west. When a Federal highway systern was developed, Route 66 - established in 1926, signed in 1927 and fully paved by 1938 - was one of the first.

 

This iconic road - from Chicago to Los Angeles through eight states and the heart of America, covering some 3,940 kIn (2,450 mi) was nicknamed 'The Main Street of America', bringing prosperity to towns along the way and serving as the major route for westward migration during the Great Depression of the 1930s and industrial booth of World War II. Subsequently, Route 66 facilitated tourist development and acquired legendary status, featuring widely in literature (John Steinbeck christened it 'The Mother Road'), films and popular music. But its death warrant was signed in 1956 by the aforementioned Dwight Eisenhower - by then President - when he put his name to the Interstate Highway Act, which led to today's freeway network and made US-66 red1llldant, thongh it didn't, vanish from maps until 1985.

Many sections were incorporated into freeways, and it is now impossible to follow the original route, which anyway varied over the years. But happily nostalgia soon set in and much of the old road has been designated – and marked - as Historic Route 66, with new sections constantly being added. These may be found especially in Illinois, New Mexico and Arizona, and with the help of patience and specialist maps, those who warm to the romance of this famous road can still retrace much of its length - or simply drive individual sections for a reminder of the way America once travelled, not so long ago.

HOW

By car

DEPART

Chicago, IL

WHEN TO GO

April to October for easy driving conditions.

TIME IT TAKES

Allow several weeks for a realistic attempt to travel the entire length of Historic Route 66.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Historic Odell Standard Oil Gasoline Station in Illinois, opened beside Route 66 in 1932 and now restored to its original condition.

The National Museum of Transportation in St Louis, Missouri, with a huge collection of historic vehicles and memorabilia, including a unit from the old Coral Court Motel that once fronted Route 66.

The National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma, that allows visitors to recreate a journey along the entire length of Route 66.

- The first-ever Big Mac was munched on 66 in San Bernadino and the site is now the glitzy McDonalds Route 66 Museum, fun of McDonalds memorabilia and home of the California Historic Route 66 Association. Two for one!

YOU SHOULD KNOW

American fast food culture was born on Route 66, when Red's Giant Hamburgs in Springfield, Missouri became the world's first drive-through restaurant in the late 1940s.