Our Travel Blog

Well, I’m not sure what caused it, but I spent the whole night pumping out my own bilges, fore aft and sometimes simultaneously. Enough said…. no blog today!

Another great nights sleep, due in part to a fantastic Serbian Folk show last night. Their energy totally tired us out!!

Unfortunately the photos are unable to convey the level of energy in the dancing. The performers were part of a 300 member group who tour the world.

After breakfast we headed out for a walk around the town of Vukovar. Coming from the west it is easy to forget that WW2 was not the last war in Europe. There was a lot of unrest, bombings etc. in this area of the world as recent as the 1990’s. It seems Serbia was at the root of much of this unrest. Although most of Croatia was occupied for around 3 months, it was closer to 8 years before Vukovar was returned to Croatia. The town was the first in Europe to be totally destroyed by war since 1945. More history here.

The town is, as expected, a mixture of new and old.

As we sailed into the town you could see an old water tower. Every day during the war 2 civilian vouluteers would climb the tower to raise the Croatian flag in defiance.

On the waterfront is a memorial to the people of the town who lost their lives in the conflict

Storks nest in the area to mate and raise their young, then in September they head down to South Africa for the winter. They will return to the same nest next year. I was luck to catch the stork in the nest as we were walking away

When we finished our walking tour we got on a coach for a 45 minute trip into the country to have lunch with a local family. This turned out much better than I expected. Although the hosts did not (want to) speak English, they understood it quite well. This wasn’t an issue as we had interpreter with us.

The house was newly constructed after the war, as the old one was destroyed. The garden was huge, at least 100m by 15m. The husband raised fish, grew grapes, apples, vegetables, plums, blackberries, herbs etc. He was a paratrooper in the war as one of his activities as a civilian was parachuting. His wife was in intelligence. We had a 3 course Croatian meal with nearly all of the fruit and vegetables being supplied from the garden. We also had home-made blackberry liqueur and apple wine. During the meal we asked questions of the family, and they were interested in our lives. Overall a great experience.

We returned to Vukovar and spent some time in town on our own. Before the war the town was famous for shoemaking, although the original company no longer exists and the workforce has reduced from 4,000 to 800, they are still well known for quality footwear. I finally broke down and bought new pair of shoes at probably half of the cost that they would have been in Canada.

Tomorrow is our last full day, with a stop in Kalocsa, Hungary

This morning we arrived in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade. The more I hear of the Balkans countries and the former Yugoslavia, the more confused I get. It seems the Serbs wanted to pick a fight with everyone! Google will be your friend if you want more information!

We are no longer on the Danube, we are on the Sava. Having said that, the confluence of the rivers is only a few hundred metres away, and we will rejoin the Danube when we leave here.

After breakfast we got onto a coach for a short 15 minute drive into the old part of Belgrade. Our first stop was at the Belgrade Fortress, a Roman fort dating from around 2AD. More details can be found here.

On the way to the fort we passed a memorial from the Serbs to the French for their help in WW1

Hiding behind the fence was an old Citroen van

Unlike Canada, flowers bloom here in May

Below are some general pictures taken around the fort

Next stop was Tito’s Burial Place. Having listened to a lot about his life, I still haven’t worked out whether he was a good guy, or a bad guy!!

Next stop was the Belgrade Cathedral or the Church of St Sava. Construction was started in 1935, but stopped in 1941 due to bombings in WW2. A temporary church was erected close by taking just a few years to build

Construction resumed in 1985 and was completed just a few years ago. More details if you want them here

In Serbian Orthodox churches there are no statues, only 2D representations are allowed. All the decorations in the church are mosaics.

There are no seats in the church, the congregation have to stand throughout the service!!!

Off to Croatia tomorrow

Confusion reigns! We are now sailing between Serbia and Romania. That shouldn’t be an issue, right? Wrong! Probably 90% of the passengers use their phones or smart watches to tell the time, this is not normally an issue. However when sailing between two countries on different time zones, this does become an issue. Depending on which country has the stronger cell system will determine what time your device shows! Unless tamed, the clock will bounce between time zones.

Regardless of the first world problems thrown at us, we still managed to getup in time for breakfast.We did NOT manage to get up for our passage through one of the largest locks on the Danube, this occurred at 5AM.

We will not be docking until 1PM. The scenery has changed overnight from flat country side either side of us to gorges. The are is generally known as the Iron Gates and can be read about here

Pictures below

Along the way we passed Mraconia Church and Monastery;

Above, the Monastery is to the left, the Church in the centre and the Convent (being renovated to the right). Some of the Monk’s cells are let out for tourist accomodation, and the Monks act as local Guides

We passed a large stone tablet on the Serbian shore, this was in tribute to a Roman ruler who managed to construct a bridge across the Danube 2000 years ago.

The final point of interest along this stretch is a sculpture constructed between 1994-2004 in honour of Decebalus, the last ruler of Dacia around 2000 years ago. It is about 43m (140ft) high and 25m(82ft) wide.

We have bow docked at the Serbian town of Donji Milanovac. As Serbia is the only country on our trip that is not in the EU we have to undergo Customs and Immigration, and carry our passports with us.

After lunch we stepped out on to Serbian soil to be met by an elephant/mammoth!

The only logic I can think of behind this is the fact we were heading off to an archaeological site that fated back to 9000BC.

We took a 20 minute coach ride to Lepenski Vir. This is a location on the banks of the Danube where, in the 1960’s archaeologists discovered the remains of a settlement dating back 11,000 years.

As we got off the coach I noticed a number of people looking at something on the ground It turned out to be a group of mini butterflies. their wing span was around 1 inch

At the entrance were two cottages built about 300 years ago, the modern dwellings!

We then walked along to the main centre which was housed in a very warm glass building. We watched a short video outlining the findings from the ’60s. In the centre there is a depiction of what was discovered. It was not in the original location, due to flooding of the Danube when they created a dam, but all of the artefacts and their positioning were the original articles.

The carvings of the humans are the first known carvings of this sort. The mouth is believed to represent a sturgeon, which was the main source of food for the village. Each house is shaped like a slice of pie, and each one is exactly 1/6th of a circle. It is believed that the shape is derived by the shadow cast by a large rock formation on the Romanian side of the Danube, below.

Outside were two reconstructions of what the archaeologists believed the houses would be like

After the trip we headed off to a new town, Golubac, where the boat had sailed to in our absence. The town is home to a 13th century fort.

Here endeth another day!

I know the titles get worse, but it’s hard to come up with new ones!!

After another great nights sleep we headed off to breakfast, as usual a visit to the omelette station for me and this ship has pea-meal bacon so there goes any hope of a healthy breakfast. Lyn is doing far better with cereal and fruit!

Overnight we cruised to Vinden, still in Bulgaria, docking around 830AM. It seemed pretty dark in the cabin, this was due to the fact that we had tied up alongside another boat. After breakfast we had to wait a while as the other boat decided it wanted to move off! We went up on the open deck to watch the manoeuvres. There was just one crew member (Captain) doing all the work. The ship has three propulsion systems, all of which are controlled by swivelling controls with throttles attached so the boat can move in any direction, including side ways. Makes docking look very easy.

This morning were left to our own devices (deserted)! We had docked right in the town, and a short walk took us to the central square. The town was only about 35,000 people, so fairly small. It had the air of a peaceful riverside community. Unlike other place we have been, this was a more modern town with very few ancient buildings.

One disadvantage of no guide, particularly with the language issue, is no information about what you are seeing! One of the memorials did house a Geocache, so we headed there first!

Still with Memorials, we found that the one below was another memorial to the fighters of the Serbo Bulgarian war in 1885

There was a central fountain with flower gardens around the outside.

After lunch we will head out for guided coach tour.

It’s now after lunch, we boarded our coach for a one hour drive through the countryside to the town of Belgradchik. Here were some rock formations that have become pretty famous over the last few years.

In addition the Romans came across theses formations in the second century, and decided the location was ideal as a lookout across the Danube. We had to do some climbing up to the fort, there were 3 levels and I got as far as the second level. Rain stopped play as far as the third level was concerned!!

The photos would have been better had I remembered to put the memory card back ! The following pictures were taken with the phone.

Some groups of pictures below, first the rocks.

The Romans used the natural rock formation as a basis for their fort

Looking down on the town of Belgradchik.

Next we are off to Serbia

We both managed a good nights sleep last night after the Folk Night. Below are a couple of pictures of the group.

We hadn’t moved since our 10 minute cruise across the Danube to Bulgaria last night. After breakfast we headed out on a gentle walking tour of the city. The “gentle walking tour” differed from the walking tour in so much that we had a coach trip into town, the other walked. Maybe later in the week we’ll be recovered enough to dispense wit the coach!

The first noticeable thing about Bulgaria is the written language. In Romania they used the Latin alphabet, and it was quite easy to translate a lot of the words. Here they use the Cyrillic alphabet, any form of translation fails!!

I always thought that the Cyrillic alphabet was a product of Russia, I was wrong! It started in Bulgaria in the 9th century and spread to neighbouring countries, as far east as Mongolia. It is credited with saving the identity (and country) of Bulgaria.

We docked near the town of Rousse or Ruse, Link and took a coach up into the centre. From here started the walking tour, mainly around the main square. Rousse has it’s own “Statue of Liberty” built in 1909 to celebrate the countries release from the Otterman empire.

Below are a couple of pictures, unfortunately the front view was directly into the sun, so there is a second view from the rear!

Another historic monument in the square is to the 5th Danube Infantry who took part in the Serbo Bulgarian war of 1885

There are many buildings around the perimeter of the square.

After all our strenuous (!) walking, our guide decided we needed fortification in the form of cake and coffee. The cake was to be the famous Garash cake, this was created by the same person who created the famous Sacha Torte in Vienna, but this time he varied the recipe quite a bit. It was created without flour, without oil, but with a lot of butter, with walnuts, cocoa and a lot of chocolate. It was WAY better than the original, light, moist and very chocolatey! I found the original heavy, dry and fairly tasteless.

Below is a picture of the restaurant.

Once the cake was devoured we did a little more exploring, and then back to the bus to return to the boat.

After a (light) lunch, the boat got underway and we headed westwards along the Danube.

None of the staterooms have balconies per se, what they do have is a wall to wall, floor to ceiling panoramic window split horizontally. The top half of the window can be lowered with a touch of the button and you now have a balcony! This is great as it increases the size of the room, but still gives that outside feeling.

The rain continued last night, so we made a quick dash across the road for dinner at the same place we ate the first night. Not sure whether jet lag is still playing with us, but we both had problems sleeping between 1AM and 4AM. We thought we’d suffer for that later in the day, but we felt fine.

Our baggage had to be placed outside our room by 730AM for collection and transport to the ship ahead of us. About 2 minutes after we put it out, we left the room and it was gone! This was a little worrying as every other service in the hotel either took hours to complete, or was never completed! Our first thought that someone else had decided to “acquire” them, but then we found whole group of bags by the elevator!

It appears that all 180 cruise passengers were staying at the hotel, which made for a busy breakfast.

Today’s plan was to drive to the day house of Nicolae Ceaușescu, evidently he wasn’t satisfied with the 1100 room building we saw the other day. The house, as expected, in true communist style, was beyond lavish. Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside. Below is an outside view

From here we went on a tour of the city, which we had done on the the tuk-tuk. We got got far more information from the tuk-tuk driver!!

We then drove into the old part of the city where we had a little free time to explore and get some lunch.

We headed into the old city by foot and found the following.

A very small church with a long name Archangels Michael and Gabriel Church with some amazing ceilings

Some Murals on the side of buildings

The National Bank of Romania

And a sidewall lunch

After lunch, it was back on the coach for a quick visit to the parliament building (again), then off to find the boat, which was about 90 minutes south.

We were lucky in that we were the first of 5 coaches to arrive at the boat, so check in was easy. Our baggage was already in the cabin when we got there! This boat is very similar to the one we were on a couple of years ago. The main difference is that we don’t have the drinks package, however there is free wine and beer with dinner AND we were given 100 Euro ($156Cdn, $112US, 84Pounds) each by our travel agent to spend on any onboard items(booze?)

Tonight it’s off to the lounge for a Romanian folk show. Whoops, got that wrong we just took a 10 minute cruise across the Danube and we’re now in Bulgaria, so we went to a Bulgarian Folk show which was very entertaining. Time for sleep!!

We headed out for a meal last night, although we are pretty much in the centre of the city, restaurants are difficult to find. This is in stark contrast to other parts of the world, where cities are flooded with them!! Finally finished up at “Ryans Pub”….. how Romanian can you get!

Today our plan was to visit a local heritage village. First strike against was the rain that was forecast for 1500 started at 1100! Undeterred we grabbed an Uber. I must admit to liking Uber. The same app as we use at home works flawlessly here, there are usually cars less than 5 minutes away and no cash is involved, it’s all done through the app. The app gives the real time position of the car on a map so you exactly when it will arrive. Taxis here are notorious for gouging tourists!

We arrived at the village which is about 14Ha (35 acres) in size. The buildings in the village had been transported from various areas of the country and had been renovated as required. All looked promising until we went to enter the first building… it was locked. So were all the others. Perhaps we were too early in the season, I don’t know. Below are some pictures with brief descriptions.

Below is a typical country house set up from the 16th century with its outbuildings.

We didn’t get to visit Transylvania, but at least we got to see a Church from the area.

Today’s Nature shot.

Would you rather be a sheep or a shepherd in the winter months?

This “home” is on skids so that it can be dragged around in the snow. This is where the shepherd lived as chasing sheep all day.

Many of the properties had decorative fencing around them

Another view through a window, this time of a craft room. It looks a lot tidier than Lyn’s! (running for cover)

While on the subject of crafts, there were a number of artisans around the village. This table was full of crochet!

A slightly more modern house from 1876, now with a tin roof and concrete construction (Spot the raindrop on the lens)

Thankfully the rain wasn’t too heavy so we were able to see most of the village. After a quick tour through the souvenir shop we summoned an Uber for the trip back to the hotel and a late lunch.

After lunch we decided to walk down to the concert hall as it is supposed to be quite impressive inside. Well the plan failed again. Outside the hall were a group of High School students having prom photos taken, and inside……. well we don’t know that as the building was closed. We assume in preparation for an upcoming concert.

When we got back to the hotel we checked in with the cruise rep and learnt that there would be a get together tonight at 7PM tonight for a welcome get together. Unfortunately we also learnt that our baggage had to be placed out side the room by 730AM for collection. We will depart the hotel at 9AM for a(nother) tour of the city, and then drive down to the Danube, which is about an hour away to board the boat.

Well, with a seven hour time difference, jet lag reared its ugly head. An early(ish) night last night led to a 12 hour sleep! Lyn still has the lingering cough which leaves her a little breathless after short walks, but it is improving. Originally we had planned to take a tour up into Translyvania to see the castles, but all of the tours were 12+ hours long, so we decided that may not be a good idea. We started looking around for some sort of city tour (unfortunately Bucharest does not have a Hop-on-Hop-Off bus. We eventually found a tik-tuk tour which looked ideal, unfortunately there were no tours available until Saturday. While I was on the site there was a pop-up chat window, so I asked if there was any chance of a tour today… there was. There was a tour already in progress that would finish at our hotel, so we grabbed it.

Looking good amongst the Mercedes, Range Rovers and Audis!

We met our guide and were immediately impressed by the quality of his English, very easy to understand.

Although our hotel was in the down town area, there didn’t appear to be much of interest. We were wrong, within a few hundred feet of the hotel there were a number of sites. As usual more pictures than words from me, if you are interested in more detailed history, the web can help. Here is a link to the Communist Era

St Joseph Cathedral

A stone commemorating the Popes visit

Romanian Athenaeum Concert Hall at the end of the Avenue

Bucharest Lutheran Church

The tuk-tuk moved at a sedate 30km/h (20MPH), so we had time to see things, and our guide had time to explain things. One thing we really liked was the fact that our guide did not fire off names and dates at a high rate of knots, rather he described more of the history of the area, and it’s role in modern day Bucharest / Romania.

Communism played a big part in the history of the country after WW2 under Nicolae Ceausescu. In the true spirit of Communism equality he destroyed many thousands of homes in the south of Budapest to build himself a small home.

1100 rooms later it was completed! There are seven underground levels as well!

In front of the building is a square where the people were meant to gather to hear the speeches from Ceausescu, this never happened as he was arrested and executed before it was completed.

Today there was a small protest there urging Romanians to come out and vote in there elections this Sunday. You can see a few people in National Dress, if you have good eyesight and imagination!

Leading away from the building is the Bulevardul Unirii, in the centre are 44 fountain arrangements, all of which are synchronised for water displays.

At the far end is a large pool, again with many fountains. Weekly a new light and water show is put on in the evenings.

Looking back to the palace from the pool area

A new Cathedral was started in 2010 on the grounds next to the Parliament building. The primary religion here is Romanian Orthodox (not related to either Greek or Russian churches) with 85% of the population following it.

After WW1 Romania gained land as a result of many battles. The King at the time wanted to build a monument to celebrate this and to unite the country. Does it look familiar?

There was also a monument built to WW1 Pilots

A monument to WW1 pilots

Within the first few months after the fall of Communism, the first western advert appeared in Romania!!

In front of the glass building (a hotel) the front entrance of the old National Theatre has been restored. The rest of the building was destroyed in WW2 bombings. The target was in fact the white building to the left which was left undamaged.

Again, Communism equality at work. Built by Ceausescu, the white building on the right was a hotel for important communist party visitors, on the left a typical apartment building for the workers. Many of these buildings have now been declared as structurally unsafe following the earthquake of 1990.

All in all this was the perfect trip to take, not too much information, but much more was available if you asked for it!

Time for more travelling and new countries! Unfortunately I had a bad cough/cold a couple of weeks ago that I have just recovered from, but Lyn is still suffering from a lingering cough. Hopefully this will disappear in the next day or so.

The trip started with an Uber from home to the Ottawa Rail Station to catch …… a coach! Since Greyhound Canada bit the dust, there is no mainline bus terminus in the city, they use the train station instead. As a result the signage isn’t that great. A coach arrived at around the right time so we followed about 50 other people to line up for it. There seemed to be a few more people than there were seats! When the driver checked our tickets he shook his head and said the Airline coach is the one behind! We sheepishly headed to that coach, noting there was a small sign on a pole identifying it as the correct coach. There were only about 10 people on it! We got to Montreal and checked in, amazingly the aircraft was on time as it was over an hour late coming in from Amsterdam due to a “last minute technical repair”

Once on the aircraft, operated by KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) I was amazed to find everything was in English, passenger announcements, signage and even the safety video. No Dutch and no French. Airlines in Canada have to be fully English and French and risk lawsuits if they are not!

The crew’s English was excellent, as was their attitude and service, very impressed. Even the Captain came back and introduced himself prior to start-up. At the end of the flight we were each given a Delft pottery house filled with Dutch gin! Delft is a Dutch town famous for its blue pottery. The KLM Delft houses have been a tradition for a number of years with 103 different models!

We had a 90 minute connection in Amsterdam, which was just about enough as it was the early morning rush and immigration was busy. We had a 2.5 hour flight to Bucharest which went fine, then an Uber to the hotel. We grabbed a quick nap at the hotel and then went for a short walk around the area, managing to grab a geocache in the process. We were also looking for a place to eat later in the evening as the hotel only has a Sushi bar.

I have no idea why this bear was plastered over the roof of an old Fiat 500, but it made for a photo-op!

Tomorrow, health permitting we’ll do a little more touring in the city.