JUST like her 54-year-old mum, my daughter Lola likes the finer things in life.
So instead of backpacking around Europe like a Gen-Z, 20-year-old Lola and I ticked off four countries and six cities on a week’s river cruise down the Danube.
Tempted by Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest, we chose Viking’s Danube Waltz itinerary — an eight-day cruise along the Danube River.
Flying in to Munich, we wind through Lower Bavaria to our ship docked in Passau — and Lola grins as she boards Viking Vilhjalm.
With its smart and comfortable cabins, two restaurants and airy lounge bar, it’s a far cry from the backpacker hostels that she’s used to.
Our first day is spent in Passau — an historic Bavarian city, where the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers meet.
Pottering around the Old Town, all cobblestone streets, Baroque architecture and cute German cafes, we stop by St Stephan’s Cathedral, a huge white and green onion-domed church — so my girl can inform Instagram.
Back on board, and dinner is a sociable affair — the conversation oiled by the included wine and beer.
We dine with a group of Americans — Vicky and Jay, a lovely couple from Montana, and Dillon and Robert from Georgia, who are celebrating Robert’s 40th birthday on the ship.
The food on board is so good, and plentiful, that I just wish I’d packed more elasticated clothes.
Each morning on the al-fresco Aquavit Terrace, we breakfast like queens — eggs Benedict, buttermilk pancakes with fresh berries, smoked salmon.
And there’s a view of a new port each day.
We always make it back to the ship in time for the excellent three-course lunch, too. With wine, of course.
Dinner is the most formal affair, served on the lower deck in the restaurant.
A Classics menu, featuring dishes like ribeye steak, poached salmon and roast chicken, is available every night but the chef also prepares a Regional Specialities menu that changes to reflect the country we’re in.
I particularly enjoy the Austrian evening.
To a backing track of oompah music, staff dressed in gingham shirts welcome us with shots of schnapps before serving platters of cured meats, cheeses and pickles, followed by roast pork, schnitzel and spaetzle.
I roll back to the cabin that night.
While Lola is by far the youngest guest, it doesn’t stop her making friends.
Docking in Linz, I’m enjoying a glass of wine in the lounge, listening to Peter, the resident pianist, work through his Smooth FM setlist, when Lola appears with a glint in her eye.
“I’ve made friends at the bar and we’re hitting the town,” she announces.
Little encouragement is needed as I join her and new friends, Pam, Nick and Kate, also from the US, in the bars of Hauptplatz, the main square.
In the Pink Panther bar, Lola chats to local girls who introduce us to strawberry schnapps — a Linz favourite.
It’s a slow start the next morning, but we drag ourselves out to explore more of Austria’s third-largest city.
We take the vintage tram up to Postlingberg, the local mountain, to be greeted by panoramic views across the city.
We stumble across Linz Grottenbahn, a kitsch grotto inspired by Grimm’s fairytales, which opened in 1906.
Inside, a dragon train trundles through fairy-lit caves past dioramas of gnomes and taxidermy animals.
Despite our ages, it’s a real highlight of our cruise.
Back on board, and cruise life suits us. Over breakfast, we check out the Viking Daily — the newsletter detailing the day’s programme.
Our next stop is Krems, in the scenic Wachau Valley — Austria’s wine region.
We visit Gottweig Abbey, a Baroque wonder overlooking the river, where Lola (remembering her A level in History of Art) is mesmerised by the ceiling fresco of Emperor Charles VI as Apollo — by Paul Troger, Austria’s Michelangelo.
Vienna is another favourite port of call — and on the Viking walking tour of Ringstrasse, we learn about the naughty antics of Klimt and “Sisi” — Empress Elisabeth of Vienna, who bathed in milk and got a tattoo aged 51.
After dinner, we attend a classical music concert in a Viennese music hall, where Lola falls in love with the music of Mozart and Strauss.
I had feared my girl might get bored — but docking daily in a different port, she thrives on the variety.
Our next stop is Bratislava — the small and charming capital of Slovakia.
We dock moments from the Old Town, near the UFO Bridge, and tick off Bratislava Castle, Michael’s Gate and Hlavne Namestie Square.
Lola loves the Baroque architecture and cute shops which, under a blissful blue sky, feature heavily on her Instagram feed.
Our final stop is Budapest, Hungary’s buzzy capital.
Our coach tour captures the highlights — Buda Castle, the vast Hungarian Parliament and St Stephen’s Basilica — but we decide to ditch the walking tour to see the Shoes on the Danube Bank.
This haunting art installation of dozens of iron shoes is a memorial to Hungarian Jews lost in the Holocaust.
Before we return to the ship for our last dinner, I take Lola for a beer at Szimpla Kert — the first of Budapest’s ruin bars, created since the Noughties from abandoned or derelict buildings.
As we sit around an old Trabant car-turned-table in a graffiti-strewn courtyard, I look at my gorgeous girl — grinning and in her element — and decide that our mum-and-daughter river cruise has been a rip-roaring success.
GO: DANUBE CRUISE
SAILING THERE: Viking’s eight-day Danube Waltz river cruise is from £1,895pp including return flights, transfers, all meals with wine, beer and soft drinks at lunch and dinner plus included excursions and gratuitites.
To book, go to viking.com or call 0800 319 66 60.