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Can men wear shorts on daytime excursions?
My husband and I are in the process of planning our wardrobe for our upcoming Blue Danube River cruise. He’s a shorts kinda guy. On two previous land tours, shorts were not permitted in some of the Italian churches. Do you know if there are any restrictions on the daytime excursions for this trip? Thanks in advance.
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We took Blue Danube, Eastbound in 2018. It was early spring and cool so I doubt anyone took shorts, so I don't believe any guidance as to wearing shorts was given or needed. However, you will visit either a church or synagogue during most main stops and many optional excursions on this tour:
Prague- 3 churches/monastery visited- St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, St. Jilji Church, Strahov Monastery, and optional St. Agnes Convent or several synagogues if you take the optional Jewish Quarter walking tour.
Regensburg- no churches visited on the walking tour, one possible on your own time
Engelhartszell visit to local homes followed by a visit to Stift Engelhartzel a Trappist Monastery/Church
Salzburg (optional excursion) at least One or possibly two churches visited
Cesky Krumlov (optional excursion) No churches visited
Dürnstein optional visit to Augustinian Monastery/Church
Vienna no churches visited (possibly a synagogue visited during the optional Jewish Quarter tour)
Bratislava no churches visited
Budapest Mathias Church (adjacent to Fisherman's Bastion) visited on walking tour.
You should check the weather forecast, but If your husband is really intent on wearing shorts, he might consider wearing zip-off safari style pants so he can put the lower section on during church visits.
St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna is a must for us. It's magnificent! It's fairly close to the Hofburg Palace, and you really should try to go there whether it's part of your tour or not. We've been to Vienna 5 times on tours and on our own and have been to the cathedral several times. At least one of those was on a Tauck tour, Warsaw to Prague, and did include it. That was about 10 years ago so I haven't looked at that itinerary recently. Two years ago on a non-Tauck visit it was the opera season so we went to a performance at the gorgeous opera house. I was concerned because we neither speak nor understand Italian. No problem! On the back of the seats in front of us is a screen on which you can select the language to be displayed. While it doesn't include every word of the opera, it certainly includes enough of a translation for you to easily follow the story. Although we were there for a full performance, it's my understanding that you can sometimes buy tickets for standing room only for a very brief visit during a performance.
We took the Blue Danube westbound cruise this past May. Nobody wore shorts that I recall, maybe because it was cool and rainy most of the time. I don't recall any discussion of the issue or signage.
If you Google "do men need long pants in churches in Europe" you will find a host of discussions on the topic, largely focused on Italy, which mainly consist of two sharply divided views: "be respectful of local culture and dress properly" vs. "wear what you like and ignore the locals."
Regarding churches on this cruise, AlanS lists most of the "included" ones, but there are lots more I'd think you want to see, as follows:
Prague- I don't know what's on the Jewish Quarter tour, but on the other one the Church of St James was included. Also, don't miss St. Nicholas' Church and the Church of Our Lady before Týn, both on Old Town Square. BTW, St. Agnes Convent, which is included on the walking tour, is not now a religious facility, but a state art museum featuring medieval art - not to be missed.
Ceskey Krumlov- does not include a church in the tour, but there is a nice little church you might want to visit in your free time there.
Dürnstein- Don't miss the lovely church in the abbey. While not included in the tour, admission tickets are provided by Tauck.
Vienna- No churches in the tour, but don't miss St. Stephen's Cathedral and St. Peter's Catholic Church, both very near the end of the walking tour.
Budapest- Don't miss St. Stephen's Basilica, which while not included in a tour is only a few blocks from the hotel.