Between Iowa and Illinois, the Mississippi widens and shifts its axis: over a few kilometres, the river flows east to west, and the bridges linking the two shores seem to span the sunrise. It is in this landscape of metal bridges and green banks that river boats call at Davenport, the largest of the Quad Cities, four twin cities that share the same riverbank as others share a public square.

Disembarking at the River's Heart

Boats moor at River Heritage Park, on the Iowa side, minutes' walk from downtown. No terminal or gates: a green esplanade, a bike path, and the silhouette of the Centennial Bridge in the background. Davenport lives facing the water, without a permanent levee, which explains the immediate closeness between water and shopping streets.

The Figge, a Glass Crown on the Bank

You cannot miss the Figge Art Museum: its large volume of blue glass reflects the sky two streets from the landing. Collections cover American art, including Midwest Regionalists, alongside European schools and a renowned Haitian art collection. The bright galleries are easily walked in an hour or two, the top floor offers fine views of the Centennial Bridge, and the museum café overlooks the water. For a cultural port-call without transport, hard to ask for better.

From Putnam to the City's Heart

Minutes by taxi, the Putnam Museum blends natural history with more unexpected treasures, including an Egyptian mummy three millennia old that has been the house's pride since the nineteenth century. Back downtown, the streets line brick façades, craft breweries and independent shops, with that tranquil afternoon quality proper to mid-size Midwest towns. Baseball holds special place: the River Bandits stadium, a minor-league team, rises at water's edge, its great wheel turning slowly above the outfield on game nights.

The River as Spectacle

The Mississippi itself provides the port-call's continuous entertainment. Barge tows pushed by their tugboats, white pelicans on migratory stopover, patient anglers beneath bridge pilings: the bank reads like a theatre. In winter, bald eagles come to fish downstream of the dams, to the delight of bird observers from across the Midwest.

Port-Call Bearings

Four Cities, Two States

Excursions offered during port-calls often cross the Mississippi toward Rock Island and Moline, on the Illinois side. You discover the region's industrial heritage, notably that of John Deere farm equipment, whose world headquarters stands in Moline. Military history enthusiasts will be interested in the Rock Island Arsenal, established on an island in the middle of the current in the nineteenth century. From shore to shore, the landscape keeps this human scale typical of the Midwest, where everyone greets passersby from their porch.

Leaving the Quad Cities

At departure, when the boat pulls from the bank and resumes the current's thread, the bridges file past one by one like pages in an album. Davenport leaves the memory of a city with nothing to prove: a great museum set on the bank, quiet streets, an ever-present river. It is the Mississippi of schoolbooks, that of Mark Twain, and watching it flow from the upper deck at sunset alone justifies the call.