On to New European Adventures
Our 2:00 A.M. send off in the Larnaka Airport.
Rob, me, Sheila, Elisabeth
What was I thinking!?! Scheduling a 4:05 AM flight to Budapest. We were to join our river cruise on the Danube in Budapest on Wednesday, October 2, but wanted to get there early to see a bit of the city before we boarded the ship and to be sure we didn't miss it. Scheduling anything out of Larnaka can be challenging, and as I recall the 4:05 AM flight on Air Serbia, with a stop in Belgrade on the way, was the best prospect for arriving in Budapest at an early enough hour to find our way around. It meant getting up at 1:30 AM - granddaughter Elisabeth didn't bother going to sleep - to make the short drive to the airport with Sheila. Our plane was an hour late taking off, and then 10 minutes out we turned around to return to Larnaka due to technical problems on the plane. We ended up spending the whole day in the Larnaka airport with the scheduling of a replacement flight constantly changing, and our anxiety rising about when and if we'd arrive at our ship. I will not write about all the sordid details, but we were oh so grateful to arrive at our ship on Wednesday afternoon only an hour after it's official boarding time. And Air Serbia took good care of us when we missed the last possible connection on Tuesday to Budapest. They gave us multiple food voutures in the Larnaka airport on Tuesday and put us in a very nice hotel in Belgrade that evening. When our taxi driver asked us where we were flying to on Wednesday and we answered Budapest he said, but that's so close! It was only a 45 minute flight to Budapest from Belgrade.
The plane we got on and off of in Larnaka.
A glimpse at the bright lights of downtown Belrade from our bus from the airport to our hotel.
We saw some pretty impressive statues and buildings along the way.
View from our 10th floor of our hotel.
A mural on a nearby building.
Sculpture in front of our Hotel Mona Plaza.
The Hotel Mona Plaza.
I went for an early morning walk along a lovely path next to the Danube River in Belgrade.
A bridge across the river.
A cow next to the river.
Swans in the river.
Monument to the Defenders of Belgrade in 1915 on the Danube Quay.
A couple of fishing boats with a long boat behind on the Danube.
The blue dot was our location overnight in Belgrade
After an uneventful taxi ride to the airport, 45 minute flight to Budapest, and another taxi ride we arrived at our cruise ship AmaSonata in time for orientation, only a couple of hours later than we'd originally planned. The ship spent the night and next day in Budapest, though it did change docking locations. Our cruise lasted 7 nights, and each day included one or two shore excursions with stunning and interesting things to see and complicated history to process. I of course took hundreds of pictures, but I am going to try to keep it simple with only sharing a few. We traveled through three countries we have not been to before: Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and ended in Bavaria, Germany, a region of Germany we have not previously traveled to. Our cruise line Ama Waterways more than met any expectations we had, and we enjoyed getting to know some of the other 180 passengers - all from the United States or Canada. What were some surprises? Huge numbers of tourists in every location we stopped at, so many cruise ships on the river, buildings in Budapest that looked old but mostly reconstructed as recently as last year and some still under reconstruction, ships docked side by side so passengers from other ships had to cross over and/or through our ship.
The rainy bow of our ship in Budapest
The sun deck on the top of the ship.
A large chess set on the sun deck.
We didn't play a game.
I was up early to see the lights of Budapest as we moved docks.
Parliament building, early morning, October 3.
2 other ships docked side by side.
We would later be joined by two next to us.
We did eventually dock on the outside of other ships.
One of many, many horse statues we would see in various locations.
This building, completed last year, is a replica of the one built in the 19th century.
On the top of the Buda hill.
St. Stephen's Church - there was one in every city along the Danube.
And lots of other churches too!
Inside St. Stephens.
Us in front of the church.
Looking down from Buda Fisherman's wall to the Parliament building on the Pest side.
Shoes Memorial on the Pest side.
This memorial was erected in 2005 on the Pest side of the Danube to honor the Jews who were massacred here during the Second World War. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be resold by the militia after the massacre) and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away.
Back of the Parliament building on our Pest tour.
We were told there are 365 spires on this building, one for each day of the year.
Sailing past the parliament building on our way out of Budapest.
Thursday night, October 4, we cruised from Budapest, the capitol of Hungary, to Bratislava, the capitol of Slovakia. Cruising from country to country there were subtle changes in architecture, but there were changes. Some of our fellow cruisers commented that they thought Bratislava was more "dingy" than Budapest. Perhaps that impression was due to the fact that buildings in Bratislava were originals, not reconstructed because the city center was not bombed during WWII. I appreciated the old buildings a lot. Budapest was absolutely beautiful, but had a kind of Disney appearance to it - almost too pristine.
An unusual sculpture on the street in Bratislava.
European Union, Slovakia, Bratislava city flag.
Looking through a gate into a square.
Colorful roof tiles and dormer facades.
Inside a church.
Us with one of the many old buildings in the background.
And an unknown tourist between.
It was hard to get pictures without other tourists.
From Bratislava we cruised overnight to the capitol of Austria, Vienna. Most mornings I was up early before the sun to sit on the sundeck, and write in my journal. Saturday morning we cruised under some very low bridges. A crew member warned me to stay seated. Just 2 weeks or so previously the Danube flooded and no ships were moving up and down this part of the Danube. That would be a real bummer to be bussed as cruise passengers, but fortunately, though we did have a little rain and got a bit damp on our Budapest and Bratislava walking tours, the weather was cooperative for us.
Just barely fitting under this low bridge.
Arriving in Vienna on Saturday morning.
In the old town of Vienna.
Lipizzaner Stallions!
We were surprised to see the famous Lipizzaner stallions in the heart of the old city!
Another ornate building and lots of tourists!
Memorial to the Jews.
A library that can't be entered with all book backs inside.
Can't keep track of all the church names!
Inside.
Cafe where we had hot chocolate and cake.
Where we sat.
A bear found Rob on the streets of Vienna.
In the concert hall where we enjoyed a Strauss and Mozart concert in Vienna.
A view out our window.
We would have preferred a balcony room, but by the time we made our reservation at the end of May there were none available. Since we didn't spend much time in our room it really didn't matter, and besides, when we were at the dock we were often against another ship or a wall! There was a lovely lounge to hang out in, and the sun deck when the weather was cooperative.
Arriving at Dürnstein early Sunday morning.
We took a short, but lovely walking tour here.
One of many vineyards on the steep hillsides along the river.
Do you see the sculpture along the road?
On the streets of Dürnstein.
Later the same day, while our ship moved up river, we took a bus to Melk Abbey and a tour there of the gold decorated Benedictine monastery. The lavishness of this place makes me want to review some of my Christian history, especially in regards to the Benedictines. No pictures were allowed to be taken inside the building.
Outside of the chapel at Melk Abbey.
Part of the Melk gardens.
Beautiful woodland trails in the gardens.
I only had a few minutes to explore this part - wish I could have lingered longer here.
Looking out from a garden path.
Stairs leading in and out of the Abbey grounds are visible.
Passing picturesque countryside on the way to Grein.
Another view from our moving ship.
Entering one of the many locks we would go through.
Arrived at Grein for a short tour of a castle on the hill above the river.
The Castle.
Very interesting history of this privately owned castle.
Links here to the royal family of England.
Painting on a building as we walked to the castle.
Looking into the inner courtyard of the castle.
A grotto in a very unusual room in the castle.
Part of the mosaic ceiling in the same room.
This mosaic was made of pebbles from the Danube, some of them painted.
Looking down at our ship through a window in the castle.
Sunrise as we reached Linz.
In Linz we boarded a bus to drive to Salzburg. This day provided our first and only view of the Austrian Alps, and a stop at Mondsee along the way. We took a short tour in Mondsee to see the church where the wedding scene from the Sound of Music was filmed. Our guides pointed out numerous film locations for the movie in Mondsee and Salzburg, and also the abbey where the real Maria was briefly a novice.
The Mondsee Church.
Us inside the church.
On the streets of Mondsee.
A horse drawn tourist carriage between town and Mondsee Lake.
On the shore of Mondsee Lake with the Alps behind - wish I could have gone swimming!
Formal gardens in Salzburg.
At first I didn't recognize what the glittering decorations on the bridge were.
But when we looked closer we realized there were thousands of locks.
Most of them gold or red - we saw them for sale in the nearby shops!
A narrow street filled with tourists in Salzburg.
A fountain, also a filming location for the Sound of Music.
A beautiful old cemetery.
Note the buildings built into the steep bank.
This cathedral could only be entered by paying something like 14 euros.
We didn't need to pay to see the inside of another church.
Our guide said there is no real explanation for this gold ball.
Fortress up on the hill.
Tuesday morning sunrise from the sundeck as we prepared to dock at Passau.
Passau is a 2,500 year old city at the confluence of three rivers just inside the German border. It had some very interesting history, including a fire in the 17th century that destroyed the whole town that was primarily of wooden structures. It was rebuilt in an Italian style and is largely stone and concrete. This was our first time to Bavaria, and the architecture was not at all what I expected! We arrived at Passau on October 8, our last full day aboard ship. After a tour of Passau we cruised on to Vilshofen where we would dock for the night and disembark the next morning.
Passau from the ship.
Across the Danube.
Being lead by our guide along the Inn River in Passau.
An interesting door.
A filming crew on the streets of Passau.
An interesting writing of 1499.
This building across the Danube, showed the transition from Roman to Arabic numerals.
The second digit is a 4 represented by half of an 8.
A building in the town square.
Colored cobblestones leading through the art district.
Passau's St. Stephens Church.
The stoning of Stephen.
This silver plated altar sculpture was created in the 1950s.
The extensive ceiling paintings were painted by one person in the 17th century.
A pretty garden in Passau.
Moving on to Vilshofen.
Notice the train?
The Danube has been a major travel route here for centuries.
Currently ships, cars, trains, bicycles and walkers use this passage.
In Vilshofen we were on our own to walk into the close by old town area. It was a much lest crowded area than we had experienced with all the guided tours.
Passage way to the main shopping street.
Arrived on the main street - looking one way to the church.
And the other to the clock tower.
Finally a quiet church!
And of course we finished our walk through Vilshofen with ice cream!
A beautiful scene on the Vils River.
We walked along this a short way to the confluence with the Danube.
And found our ship not far away.
And here is her bow.
The last night of the cruise featured an Octoberfest band right outside the ship.
As I finish this we are sitting in the airport in Munich waiting for our flight to Frankfurt where we will meet grandchild Chris and their spouse Alana for a a two day visit before heading back to the U.S.A.
And Greetings from Roseville:
Elsie on the prowl
Joy on the stairs.
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