European River Cruises

European River Cruises

Why not go on a river cruise of the great continent of Europe. It has great places, great cukltures and great opportunites to have great fun. It is a super place for vacation or holiday. European culture has many different variations and cultures.

A River cruise is a voyage along inland waterways, often stopping at port. River cruise ships are smaller than ocean-going cruise ships, typically holding 90-240 passengers (though there are ships that take only 5 passengers, and others can carry 1,000 passengers). Due to their smaller size and low draft, river cruise ships can go where ocean cruise ships cannot, and sometimes to where no other transport is practical: rivers are an excellent way to reach some attractions,

Physiographically, Europe is the northwestern constituent of the larger landmass known as Eurasia, or Afro Eurasia : Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass and all share a common continental shelf. Europe's eastern frontier is now commonly delineated by the Ural Mountains in Russia. The first century AD geographer Strabo, took the Tanais River to be the boundary, as did early Judaic sources. The south east boundary with Asia is not universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba River serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues to the Caspian Sea, the crest of the Caucasus Mountains or, alternatively, the Kura River in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean; Iceland, though nearer to Greenland (North America) than mainland Europe, is generally included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. For a detailed description of the boundary between Asia and Europe see transcontinental nation.

The longest rivers of Europe are:

Volga (3,692 km/2,294 mi), draining into the Caspian Sea
Danube (2,860 km/1,777 mi), draining into the Black Sea
Ural (2,428 km/1,509 mi), draining into the Caspian Sea
Dnieper (2,290 km/1,423 mi), draining into the Black Sea
Don (1,950 km/1,212 mi), draining into the Sea of Azov
Dniester (1,362 km/846 mi), draining into the Black Sea
Rhine (1,320 km/820 mi), draining into the North Sea
Elbe (1,091 km/678 mi), draining into the North Sea
Vistula (1,047 km/651 mi), draining into the Baltic Sea
Tagus (1,038 km/645 mi), draining into the Atlantic Ocean
Daugava (1,020 km/634 mi), draining into the Baltic Sea

Other long rivers are:

Loire, draining into the Atlantic Ocean
Rhône, draining into the Mediterranean Sea
Po, draining into the Adriatic Sea

Europe lies mainly in the temperate climate zones, being subjected to prevailing westerlies.

The climate is milder in comparison to other areas of the same latitude around the globe due to the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is nicknamed "Europe's central heating", because it makes Europe's climate warmer and wetter than it would otherwise be. The Gulf Stream not only carries warm water to Europe's coast but also warms up the prevailing westerly winds that blow across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean.

Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the Great European Plain, and at its heart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the north western seaboard, which begins in the western parts of the islands of Britain and Ireland, and then continues along the mountainous, fjord-cut, spine of Norway.

This description is simplified. Sub regions such as the Iberian Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula contain their own complex features, as does mainland Central Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Sub-regions like Iceland, Britain and Ireland are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern ocean which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until rising sea levels cut them off.

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