The Wonderful Cruise - Bucharest, Romania
Bucharest, Romania
Danube River Cruise
Saturday April 25th
We arrived at the Bucharest airport without having a significant period of sleep, which made the day a little difficult. We got through customs and wearing our Viking Cruise stickers we found our cruise contact and waited for a long time to get our bus to the hotel, along with many other people who had arrived. Once on the bus we drove south to the Addison Hotel Blu in downtown Bucharest. The City had wide streets (Avenues) and many parks with primarily concrete building. Most of the buildings were gray which we came to find out that this was a result of the communist influence, with patches of concrete that had weathered away, and there were wires running along the front of buildings in a very haphazard manner, along with external air conditioner units attached to the outside of concrete walls, some of which may have been fans.
Our Hotel did not appear to be different from the outside. The inside was very open and typical of a hotel. We went to the Viking desk and got our keys along with our luggage and went to our room, which was very comfortable. We were on our own for the night so we caught a nap, showered and decided to stay in the hotel for dinner.. We did hear some horns and noises outside our window and we saw the avenue below filled with bikes and people were chanting. It appeared to be a march with bicycles and skate boards that was quite long..
We wen t downstairs to the Hotels café for dinner and were seated by the hostess, so we asked her about the march. She explained that marches like this were quite common in Bucharest because of the democratic focus of the government. This one was a protest because the traffic and parking is a problem in the city and the people want to have better access for persons that ride bikes or skate boards.
We ordered our dinner with the help of the hostess and I had roasted tomato soup and Milanese risotto and Sheila had Salmon tartar and Rack of Lamb. I was introduced to a Romanian non-alcohol beer Ursus which was very tasty. Our expectations were modest, because this was the more casual dining area in the hotel. We were totally wrong, my soup was wonderful and the risotto reminded me of my first experience of this risotto in Milan, Italy, and Sheila enjoyed her lamb and found the vegetables to be perfect.
We returned to our room and called it a night.
April 26th Sunday
The cruise line exchanging sponsored a huge buffet in the restaurant. We sat by ourselves, and near the end of breakfast we talked with a couple next to us, Bob and Loraine, who were from the Broward area of Florida. After exchanging some information about ourselves, I mentioned that I lived in Florida for nine years. I am not sure how this happened but we discovered that they had a close friend and family Will Holcomb and I told them that I went to college with Will and we had played football together at Baldwin Wallace College. This was obviously much less than six degrees of separation.
Following the breakfast we checked out of the hotel, boarded a tour bus at 9:30 am, to see Bucharest. We drove through many areas of the city and the grayness and hanging wires around each building were a consisted theme. We drove around freedom square near the university which provided a lot of student participation for their independence from communist rule and victory square. The tour guide was excellent in her historical knowledge and gave us more information than we could handle. She was very emphatic about the right to protest. We went to the Village Museum in northern Bucharest and took a brief walk and were given free time to explore the park. The homes were from all over Romania and had been brought to the museum representing the diverse living accommodations that reflected their history. There were two churches and farm settings and windmills for grain, waterwheels for agriculture and even a huge wine press.
It was very extensive and we managed to see a lot of the buildings.
We gathered back at the bus and continued our riding tour going through the French section of Bucharest which was a contrast to the communist building.
We went on to the Parliament which is one of the largest in all of Europe. Across from this building is the housing that was established for the dignitaries of the government.
It was impressive with an architecture that was quite different than the typical communist stuff we have seen throughout our trip so far.
The tour lead us to the Patriarchy Church, which was on a hill toward the north of the city. We were impressed with the palace for the Patriarch and the church which had a gold iconostasis. The icons we have seen are very good, I only wish Dennis or Andrew were here to give us a critique or overview of them.
We went on to old town Bucharest and walked some distance arriving at a small church. Our tour guide informed us that the nuns produced beer and the ruler at some point and time banned the making and selling of beer outside of the church.
The restaurant that attended St. Stavropoleos was made to look like a church to get around producing and selling of beer. The décor looked somewhat like a church and we had a three course meal with a noodle soup, cole slaw, and a chicken stew. The tavern was packed and noisy but we were genuinely nourished.
We left the city of Bucharest and made our way to the Alta our Viking Long Ship. We got on board got our stateroom number and Milutin, our stateroom steward showed us to our room and explained some of the features of the room and left us to unpack. What a joy to finally after all of our travel to date we had the opportunity to completely unload our suit cases and carry-on bags for eight straight days.
Once refreshed, we went to the lounge for an introduction of the staff of our ship, toasts to our journey, together and information from our Program Director of what is happening tomorrow. We meet some of our passengers Raleigh, Sue, Bob, Beth, Howard and Holly. Three out of four couples with identical first letter names. We went to dinner and met Steve and Aida, Betty and Joanne and Aida, along with Raleigh and Sue. Typical of Viking, the dinner was really great. After a long and diverse day we enjoyed the comfortable bed in our stateroom. During the night the ship moved to dock in Giurgiu, Bulgaria, about ¾ of a mile from our Romanian port.
April 27th Monday
The morning buffet was a great way to start our day, before embarking on a day long tour of Veliko Tarnovo City, the former capital of Bulgaria and Arbanassi. We boarded our bus complete with our audio boxes and water for our nine hour trek into Bulgaria. Our tour guide was very helpful in providing insight of the transitions that Bulgaria faced over the centuries. She pointed out the communist construction and it's drab appearance, and the fact that during the fall of the communist influence, many factories had been closed and the buildings abandoned. On the way to our destination Sheila and I saw large fields of farming and many were bright yellow. We asked the tour guide and she told us that they were canola fields.
We drove to Veilko Tarnovo and our tour guide pointed out a cobble stone road which was the artisan street and she mentioned that we would return to this area after our tour of Arbanassi.
We made ma pit stop at a Russian Hotel in Veliko Tarnovo which had some views of a monument and the Tsareverts Fortress.
We arrived in Arbanassi and stopped for lunch. We had a traditional Bulgarian meal complete with dancers as entertainment.
We walked from the restaurant to the Cathedral of the Nativity. From the outside it was hard to recognize this as an Orthodox church, it was one story with a thatched roof. It was buildt this way to conceal it from the Turkish rulers. Inside it had six rooms all of them covered with beautiful icons. We were not allowed to take pictures, unfortunately. The guide in the Church told us about icons and the stories that they were telling regarding Mary, Joseph and Jesus. We purchased a book, which contained pictures of the Icons.
We walked further to a Bulgarian house which was now a museum. It was an incredible structure with storage on the first floor made of stone and the living quarters were on the second floor. Our guide pointed out that this structure was build by a family of means.
We walked back to our bus and went back to the cobblestone avenue in Veliko Tarnovo and did some shopping and rode back to our ship, tired and brimming worth information regarding Bulgaria. Naps, brief as they were helped us regain our focus, as we had to go to the safety drill with our life jackets on and going to our location on the top deck. We had a great dinner and Sheila and I met Steve and Aida in the dinning room. In exchanging the who what and where, we mentioned that we had been in Boston to visit Sheila's sister and brother-in-law. We mentioned that we went to Needham Mass to the North Hill complex, Steve looked stunned and told us that his mother and father had lived there and he knew the place well. Another experience of serendipity. Sleep came early this evening.
April 28th, Tuesday
Our ship moved during the night to stop in Vidin, Bulgaria. The docking places, so far, have not been exciting. As a matter of fact these docking towns still seem to be recovering from communist control. This has been obvious to us and the tour guides do not hesitate to talk about this time as being as dark and dreary as the gray buildings. Today Sheila and I decided to take different tours, Sheila signed up for a cooking class. Sheila and three others, Aida, Pam and Dottie went to home to learn how to cook egg pastry. It went very well.
I went to Belogradchik to see the rock formations and Fortress. I should begin by saying that I forgot the camera and had to use my cell phone, but I do not know how to download the pictures. The tour bus took us past a large area old industrial buildings which had been abandoned when communism fell and the Russia government was no longer importing the production of these
factories. Bulgaria has extensive farming with wheat, corn, canola and other crops.
In the early afternoon we had a young group of Dancers, singers and instrumentalists called the "Flowers" representing Bulgaria dance and singing.
They asked people to come forward and join them in a dance. Sheila was selected buy a young boy and cut a decent rug, even though it was eastern European.
We got a little break and then set sail for the Iron Gate just before our dinner, which was a special one celebrating the local harvest.
We met some people at dinner Betty and Joanne from New Hampshire. We had general conversations before, but dinner gave us more of an opportunity to learn more.
Late that night we went under a bridge that had bright lights.
About 1:30 am I was awakened by some sounds and went our on our veranda and found that we were in the first of two locks
April 29th, Wednesday
Early in the morning we passed through the second set of locks which was a double lock to get us to the level of the Danube.
This day proved to be a gentle rest from the pace of the tours. It was primarily a sailing day, one that allowed his to pass the Iron Gate, It is located in Djerdap National park. It has the remnants of an old Roman bridge that at one time spanned the Danube. Items of interest can be found dating back to 6500 BC.
The weather was rainy, more of a mist so most of the passengers found indoor locations to look at the views.
After our lunch, we went to the lounge to hear Mario our Program Director talk about "Growing up in Eastern Europe" The theme was similar to the information from our tour guides, who were all local to the country of the tour. I had to regain my knowledge of history because everyone spoke about the rule under the Ottoman Empire and the influence of the Hapsburgs in the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Each country had it own people, but these external influences, and particularly the communist control following World War II took away the abilities to nationalize and become their own people. Now, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia are struggling with the economic and political issues to find equilibrium. So far, it has been our observation that each is committed to a sense of democracy and protests are expected to ensure their commitment to democracy. As we are now traveling through Serbia the ship sponsored a Serbian Tea time with a variety of cakes and pastries of Serbia.
Prior to our dinner we were invited to Viking Explorer Society party for those who have been on more than one cruise. The Aquavit Terrace was packed and the captain, hotel manager and program director toasted us and there we some people who were on their ninth cruise with Viking.
We met in the lounge following our dinner for the game night: "Liar's Club". Five crew members sat in the front of the lounge while Mario showed a word on the two video screens. Sheila and I were lucky to join the team which included Bob and Beth, from Fairfield CA, Howard and Holly, Aida and Steve and three others. Bob is a doctor, and he knew many of the words so we were in good shape. We were tied with one other group so our team got a bottle of wine. It was fun and made for a nice ending to our day of cruising.
April 30th, Thursday
In the morning we docked in Serbia and following our breakfast took the shore excursion to visit Belgrade (White City). We met with our tour guide and took a general tour of the city of Belgrade.
Once again, our tour guide is well informed as he studied history for his degree. The city was similar to what we had seen in Bucharest. There were many large avenues and beautiful parks. Some of the buildings were in better shape and reflected a diverse architecture.
The particular highlights were Kalemegdan Fortress and St. Sava the Orthodox temple.
At the fortress he took us to the highest area and pointed out the cross roads of the river below. He stated that we were standing on the edge of the Balkan mountains and on the other side was a low level plain and because of this it was extremely important militarily. The Turkish troops, once they took over this sight had access to the Austrio-Hungarian Empire which was on the flat plain ahead.
St. Sava Church was an amazing building that is still under construction. The dome was put in place by a process that enabled the builders to avoid having to use interior columns for support.
We did a lot of walking on the tour and it was good to get back for our lunch on the ship, Sheila and I decided to stay on board and catch up on some sleep and relaxing.
Our tour guide presented "Serbia Today" before dinner and our evening briefing for the next day. He was very passionate about his topic and was very responsive to questions. After dinner, "A Taste of Balkans" we were privileged to have "Traditional Serbian Music".
This was the first group to provide a sing along section with English. The crowd really enjoyed it as we sang "rollin, rollin down the river"
It was another full day with more information than we could take in, and the experiences were rich.
May 1st, Friday
We cruised in the night, docking at Vukovar, Croatia, and after a easy morning and afternoon on board Sheila and I went on a shore excursion to Osijek City Croatia. We went to the fortress of the city and went to the church of St. Peter and Paul for a singing concert performed by Mariana, a contemporary style singer..
Following the concert we went to a small gift shop and saw a Jewish monument along with another monument honoring the dead in their war in 1991. Many buildings, in the town, still showed the destruction of the war. Our guide led us through the Tvrda district, with its collection of baroque buildings, cobble stoned streets, large central square.
There were many pubs and restaurants, with schools, college buildings and former military headquarters. The area is dominated by a magnificent three-story building that once housed the Hour of Hapsburg's high command. We boarded our bus and went outside of the town to a somewhat recent housing area. We split up our bus into groups and were welcomed into homes to have tea and cakes to meet and talk with people who lived here.
Our guest was very gracious and we talked about ourselves and described her life in her medical field and her family, a son and daughter, who was here with her friend, and her husband. It was very interesting to gain her perspectives on current daily life. The roads in the neighborhood were raised with deep troughs on each side. She pointed out that her children had to walk on the roads to school and to see friends because they were still clearing mines from fields all around, left over from the Serbia Croatia war in 1991. We thanked our host and as we got back to our bus and were driving back to our ship our tour guide pointed out the white and red signs in a wooded forest along the road as they marked out where the mines were still a danger. He told us that they do clear the wooded area, however during some heavy rain there was flooding and this caused the mines to be moved by the flood. This was a very difficult experience because we got to experience first had the family struggling to make a living in the midst of a very slow economy and the signs of the recent war as a reminder of the difficulties that face with their neighboring countries.
May 2nd, Saturday
We had an early morning because we had to clear customs for the final check in person around 6:30 a.m. Most of us had our breakfast and we cruised to our next docking port Kalocsa, Hungary. The shore excursion started at 1:30 pm for Kalocsa and Puszta. Kalocsa is one of the oldest town in Hungary, and center of the Paprika production. The tour took us to a Catholic church, St.Joseph's, for an organ concert preformed by a priest.
We visited the church and went to the town center where we saw the Archbishop's Palace and the Cathedral Church which was under construction.
We went back to our bus to ride to the Bakodpuszta Equestrian center to see the Puszta (Hungarian cowboys) riders perform for the passengers. While driving in a rider led us to the parking area, dressed in traditional clothing, black wide brim cap bent up, a blue flowing outfit with black ties.
We walked past the vending area and into a small set of risers with a roof.. We were given a drink and piece of buttered bread with paprika and sliced onion. Sheila and I were a little late so we sat in the front row. There were seven mounted Pusztas, with one riding a donkey. They paraded a wagon by for our review which had three horses, on of which was attached to the rear wheels of the wagon. The group then rode by cracking their whips which sounded like shots. They did a exhibition where three wooden bottles were set up on stools and they rode by using their whips to knock the bottles off. Three women assisted in replacing them and had to navigate a very soggy field. There was only two who knocked them all down at a good clip and then the donkey and rider came to knock them down. All was well with the first two and the last one the Puszta kicked it off. There were other tricks preformed and of course the donkey (the fool) was doing it all a little differently and at the end his rider rode off backwards. I mentioned the muddy field where they preformed, and so it was as front row seating Sheila and I found ourselves covered with splattered mud.
After the show people took carriage rides and toured the grounds where there were some hairy pigs and cattle. We went back to our ship having enjoyed the entertainment at the working farm.
There was a performance, after dinner on the ship introduced as the "A Hungarian-Slovakian Evening"
There were dancers, singers and musicians from Bratislava and Budapest performing folk dances and selections from operettas. It was a great event and Sheila and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
May 3rd, Sunday.
The day of leaving the ship came early as we had to have all of our luggage packed and outside our door by 8:00 am. We had are last buffet breakfast on board and got our tour bus for Budapest. The Danube cuts through the heart of the city, separating the Buda Hills and the Old City from the elegant boulevards of modern Pest. We drove along the Andrassy Ut in Pest seeing the National Opera House, Heroes Square, and Parliament.
We spent some time at Heroes Square and then rode to the Buda Hills side across the Elizabeth bridge and up into the castle complex. We walked on the Fisherman's Bastion which gave us some wonderful views of the Danube and the Pest (pronounced Phesst) side of the city. St. Matthias Church is a large and beautiful building in the center of the castle complex.
Budapest is a very large and one of the most beautiful cities we have seen on the cruise.
We were able to check into the Hilton Hotel which is in the heart of the castle complex. We finished unpacking and went across the street and had a good lunch at a small restaurant.
After a nap in the late afternoon we decided to check out the hotel cafe restaurant. The dinner was very good.
May 4th, Monday
We spent the morning walking through the castle area and did some window shopping and found a store that had some different jewelry, so we picked up a bracelet for Sheila and some other items.
We skipped lunch, and prepared for packing for the trip home. We asked Steve and Aida if they were up for going to a symphony at the National Opera House. When we bought the tickets in February we wound up purchasing four instead of two. The agreed and we took a taxi to the boulevard Andrassy Ut and found a restaurant recommended by Viking called Klassz Bistro, and had a nice dinner.
We walked to the opera house and had seats in the front row. Our eye level saw the shoes of the symphony and we had little knee room. The music made up for any discomfort. We got our taxi back to the hotel by 10 pm and had a short night as we had to take a 6 am shuttle to the airport. The flights were long, yet uneventful and we got a ride home at 9:00 pm on the 5th. Naps have been the order of day for the last few days.
Thank you for your patience with this blog. I know the pictures are better than the words.