It’s good to be back responding to challenges after our hiatus. This week’s lead-off is from Ann-Christine. She writes in her challenge post, “I am all for adventures, and I think many of you are too! So, this first week after our break, I want to welcome us all back, and, to adventures we remember – from long ago or lately have experienced. Big or small … You can show adventures from one place only or from more places, and I am convinced adventures can be told in fewer images than this…but please try to stick to a maximum of 10 pictures.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

When she asked for memories of adventures big or small, my mind went straight to our recent journey down the Rhine. For me, the adventure of travel isn’t just about moving from one point on a map to another—it’s about the details I explored and photographed along the way.

Traveling south from the Netherlands through Germany, I was drawn to the spires, domes, and sanctuaries lining the riverbanks and dotted along the vineyard hills. Each church tells a story of the town it watches over. Here are eight views of historic European churches and cathedrals from our journey.

On this, our first river cruise, we chose Viking’s Rhine Getaway on the Mani from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Basel, Switzerland. We also chose the pre-cruise with a walking tour of Amsterdam. From across the canal, our guide pointed out the Basilica of Saint Nicholas (Basiliek van de Heilige Nicolaas). Built between 1884 and 1887 by architect Adrianus Bleijs, it is a striking blend of Neo-Baroque and Neo-Renaissance styles. Dedicated to the patron saint of sailors and Amsterdam itself, it replaced the hidden “attic” chapels Catholics relied on during centuries of Protestant rule.

On our walking tour of Cologne, Germany, we stopped at one of Germany’s most visited landmarks, the Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom). This High Gothic masterpiece took over 600 years to complete, remains the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, and is home to the Shrine of the Three Kings. Our tour guide noted that despite sustaining 14 direct aerial bomb hits during World War II, the cathedral’s majestic twin spires remained standing, soaring 515 feet (157 m) above the city center. For this shot, I focused on the spires as my images of the full front façade were marred by the low-perspective leanback.

As we cruised south on the Rhine, Schönburg Castle came into view—one of the first hilltop fortresses along this iconic stretch of the river. I’ll share a complete series on these historic landmarks in future posts, but this image highlights the prominent red Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche), set in the small town of Oberwesel. Construction on this High Gothic parish church began in 1308 to replace an earlier 13th-century sanctuary. Renowned for its vibrant red-and-white facade, the church houses the famous “Golden Altar”—one of the oldest surviving High Gothic altarpieces in Germany.

Assmannshausen, Germany, was easy to recognize. Below the colorful buildings, the town name was emblazoned on the east bank of the river. The slate spire of the town’s Church of the Holy Cross (Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche) set against the steep, terraced vineyards of the Rhine Gorge created an idyllic image of historic Germany. Dating back to the 14th century, the church overlooks a village famous for its red Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder) grapes. Its compact footprint reflects the space constraints of building along the narrow, rocky banks of the Rhine.

Just above Assmannshausen, near those steep vineyards, I saw the spire of another church—in fact, I even managed to capture one image with both structures in the same frame. Sitting high among the vines is the Krufter Kapelle (Maria-Hilf-Kapelle). Rebuilt in 1912 on the site of a 17th-century wayside shrine, it serves as a sanctuary for local winegrowers praying for a bountiful harvest and a peaceful retreat for pilgrims walking the trails high above the river.

After our Middle Rhine castle run, we docked at Breisach, Germany, where we had three choices for the day: stay local for a walk around Breisach, take a bus excursion to Speyer, or head across the border to Strasbourg, France. We chose Strasbourg, where our excursion included a river cruise around Sainte-Hélène Island on the Ill River.

During our boat tour, we got a clear view of the spires of St. Paul’s Church (Église Saint-Paul). Built in the late 19th century as a Protestant garrison church, its twin 249-foot (76 m) Neo-Gothic spires rise dramatically right at the fork where the Aar and Ill rivers meet. Its commanding position at the tip of the island makes it one of the most photogenic landmarks in the city.

As we followed a bend in the river, I saw the brilliant white façade, pastel green rooflines, and gleaming golden onion domes of the All Saints Orthodox Church (Église Tous-les-Saints) sitting on the banks of the Marne-Rhine Canal (Canal de la Marne au Rhin), near the Parc de l’Orangerie and the Council of Europe. Completed in 2018, this modern interpretation of traditional 16th-century Russian architecture was built to accommodate up to 300 worshipers. Its bright white walls and gilded domes offered a distinctly Byzantine silhouette as we drifted by.

On the next stop of our Strasbourg tour, the Strasbourg Cathedral of Notre Dame (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg), I recalled our guide noting that travelers often confuse this grand cathedral with its famous namesake in Paris. I took several photos of the beautiful architecture, but its towering height in the cramped square resulted in severe perspective distortion. With no room to back up, I decided to focus on a detail shot of the intricate stonework above one of the entrance portals.

That’s when my processing adventure began. As I worked in Lightroom to pull out the stonework detail, I struggled mightily with a stubborn pink cast. I kept tweaking sliders, convinced it was a masking artifact or a strange white balance error on my camera sensor. Finally, I went back and inspected the unprocessed RAW file—only to find the exact same rosy tone staring back at me. I’d have saved myself a lot of trouble if I’d remembered the tour guide also mentioned that this French masterpiece is uniquely built from local pink Vosges sandstone!

Having already talked myself into blaming a lighting anomaly, I decided monochrome was the way to go and ran the file through Silver Efex Pro 3. The high-contrast black-and-white conversion highlights every dramatic shadow and fine detail in the carving—though looking back, leaning into those natural pink tones might have been quite something, too!

That’s all I have for Ann-Christine’s challenge featuring our recent adventure along the Rhine. Of course, in future posts, I’ll share many more images of those historic sights on our journey. Thanks to Ann-Christine for selecting a challenge that coincidentally dovetailed with such a recent adventure, concluded only last week. I’m still catching up on my sleep with jet lag and long flight times. Next week, Anne hosts. Be sure to follow her here so you won’t miss her challenge when it goes live at noon Eastern Time on Saturday, July 25.

If you’re sharing a Lens‑Artists Challenge response for the first time, welcome—we’d love to visit your post. To participate, publish your take on this week’s theme, link back to this page, and add the Lens‑Artists tag so others can discover your work. You’ll find more details on how the challenge works here.

John Steiner