Rivers are the cradle of humanity. Their fertile alluvial soils have allowed mankind to produce food and the rivers themselves have long been used as transport routes for people and for goods. Europe’s rivers still bear the traces of these early human activities. EuroVelo 6 is surrounded by reminders of earlier eras, covering every period and every style from Roman forts to Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque churches, and from Mediaeval, Renaissance and neo-classical castles to 19^th- and 20^th-century industrial architecture. Cycle tourists can either stop and take a closer look at these signs of mankind’s long association with the rivers, or simply admire them in passing. From time to time, across a street, or across a river, different architectural styles vie for attention. Thus, along the Danube, exuberant Baroque churches sit shoulder to shoulder with protestant temples: an architectural rivalry that bears witness to the competition between Reformation and counter-Reformation churches!