Cruising the Lower Danube River from Bucharest to Budapest

 Most of the people I know who have cruised the Danube River have sailed between Budapest and points north—through Austria and Germany.  We elected to cruise the lower Danube through the former Soviet-bloc countries of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia.  Our Viking River cruise began in Bucharest, Romania and ended in Budapest, Hungary.  This region, situated between the historically great empires of the Ottomans, the Habsburg Germans, and Russia, has a history of occupation, conflict, and contested borders alternating with periods of nationalist identity, struggles for independence, and self-rule.  We heard about these struggles during many of our guided tours and lectures on board the ship.  Having thrown off the yoke of Communism, the nations we visited are moving toward full integration as part of the European Union.

After 22 hours in transit, we arrived in Bucharest, without our checked suitcases, which we had, unfortunately, left in Chicago.  Due to snow there, our flight out of Phoenix was very delayed. We ran to make the connecting flight. The door closed right after we boarded. Our checked luggage wasn’t so speedy.  Thankfully, it only took a day for the bags to arrive and be transported to our ship.  

Our day in Bucharest started with a bus tour of some of the major sites of the city.  Across from our hotel was a beautiful massive orthodox church.  It had taken fourteen years to build, and it was completed two weeks prior to our arrival in the city.

We stopped to view the massive Palace of Parliament, built by the former ruler of Romania, Nicholas Ceausescu.  It is the largest governmental building in the world.  Building it nearly bankrupted the country and led to unprecedented economic hardships for the people. The interior of the building is quite ornate with lots of marble and 15,000 crystal chandeliers.  The building’s heating and electricity bills alone cost six million dollars a year. 

Bucharest is sometimes called “Little Paris,” because many of the country’s architects studied in Paris after rule by the Ottoman Empire ended.  An Arch of Triumph celebrates that milestone.

The Liberty sculpture which stands in front of the of the press building replaced the statue of Lenin which was removed. 

We walked around the Villages Museum, an outdoor exhibition of houses and churches relocated from regions of the country and reassembled here.  The photos show a half-buried house, some other housing styles, and a church.  Small windmills were used by families to grind grain into flour. It could be shifted by hand (and back) to face into the wind. 

In 1989 the people protested Ceausescu’s reign of terror.  One of the veteran’s of that struggle spoke to us about the protests.  He was 15 years old at the time and led a group of teenagers in the protest. The flag he is holding has Ceausescu’s symbol cut out of the middle; he carried the flag throughout the protests.  More than a thousand people were killed and several thousand more injured. Ceausescu was captured and executed. 

We visited two Danube River ports in Bulgaria:  Ruse and Vidin.  According to Rick Steves, Bulgaria is the best-kept secret in Europe: beautiful landscape, sweet people, flavorful cuisine, affordable, and uncrowded.  Here is a brief summary of how our tour guides explained the history of Bulgaria. It is an ancient country with roots in the 600s. When the east/west split of the Roman Empire occurred, the Balkan countries were connected to Constantinople and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The region was occupied by the Ottoman Turks for 400 years. They were finally driven out of Bulgaria in the 1800s with the help of the Russians.  A king was imported from the Hapsburg family of Austria and Germany. Given that German link, Bulgaria sided with Germany in the World Wars. The king hated Hitler, protected the substantial Jewish population, and welcomed assistance from their allies, the Russians.

Political leaders who touted Communism as a counter to Fascism came to power, seized factories and land and created a communist nation “in name only.”  After bankrupting the country, the communists fled. One guide said, “After 45 years of madness, we are trying to become a normal country.”  Tourism is critical to helping them rebuild.

We visited a beautiful Eastern Orthodox church in Ruse. It was located underground by way of a beautiful stairway.  Orthodox churches are decorated with frescoes.  By way of explaining the differences between practices of Christianity, our guide said that the Catholic church is focused on “rules and doctrine” while the Orthodox church focuses on “the words of Jesus.”   Orthodox churches are typically decorated with beautiful frescos.  A service attended by area priests and bishops was underway during our visit. The chanting was beautiful.

Outside of Vidin, we traveled through the mountains to hike the Belogradchik Rocks. The Ottomans built a fortress here, the remains of which are visible among the maze of rock columns and pillars.

We had one river day to enjoy the many faces of the lower Danube from narrow canyons to a mist-covered lake.  The river serves as the border between Romania and Serbia.  The narrowest point on the Danube is Iron Gates gorge; here the river is just 150 meters wide and around 60 meters deep.  Later in the day, we reached the delta, where the river spreads out to a width of seven kilometers (four miles).  The rock sculpture is a carving of the face of Dicephalus (AD 87–106), the last king of Dacia, who fought against the Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan.  

We reached the delta at Golubac, Serbia at dusk.  Here we visited the Golubac Fortress.  Originally a Roman settlement, it was built during the 14th century; who built it remains a mystery, but its strategic position along the Danube made it a valuable prize for conquering armies throughout the centuries.

In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, we visited the Kalemegdan Fortress which overlooks the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers. It was ravaged and rebuilt 20 times in its history.  Two sculptures by the Croatian Ivan Meštrović are located here:  The Victor, representing those who have defended Serbia throughout history, and Gratitude to France.

 We also visited the Church of St. Sava, one of the world’s largest Orthodox churches.  It was completed in the last few decades, since Tito’s death and the end of communism. 

We made a short trip into eastern Croatia, across the border from Serbia. It is difficult to know how to report on this region, which is still recovering from the wounds of the war thirty years ago. When I visited the portion of Croatia that is on the Adriatic Sea a few years ago, I heard horror stories about the Serbian attacks on Croatia (and Bosnia-Herzegovina), including witnessing the destruction of Old Dubrovnik by Serbian bombs. 

The story we heard from our Serbian guides in the previous two days laid equal blame on all parties for the “civil war.”  However, according to our Croatian tour guide in, 90% of the buildings in the town of Vukovar were damaged or destroyed by the fighting in the early 1990s, and the area was taken over by the Serbs. Although rebuilding has taken place, the area is still being cleared of land mines. The brutality neighbors inflict on neighbors boggles my mind, and my heart aches for all those throughout the world who are enduring continuing violence.

But there are bright spots; we had a short concert in a church in the neighboring town of Osijek before walking around the town (in the rain), at the end of which we were treated to a beautiful rainbow.  The land along this part of the Danube is wonderfully fertile and very flat.

Kalocsa, Hungary is an agricultural town of about 16,500. We started our shore excursion with an organ concert (4,400+ pipes!) in the cathedral.  According to our guide, Franz Liszt once played this organ.  

We then watched a horse show at the Bakodpuszta Equestrian Center.  It was very entertaining, but it was a cold afternoon to be outdoors.  The show demonstrated the uses that the people of this region have made of horses and grey cattle for transportation, settlement and defense.  The major crop here is paprika, including a very hot variety that looks like chili peppers.

Our cruise ended in Budapest where we had one final excursion to explore the major sites of the city.  We visited the Matthias Church, named for the country’s most popular medieval king, and marveled at the beautiful blending of Orthodox and Muslim styles.  

From Buda Hill we looked down on the river and the majestic Parliament building.  According to our guide, there are 365 spires on the building.  We checked in to our hotel, and Scott ventured out to cross the bridges and climb the Buda Hill, in the rain.  Christmas Markets were in business throughout the city.  

We left Budapest via a train to Prague for a couple of days on our own.  

Prague is a lovely city, and we walked to all the important sights, along with a few thousand others. The masses of people and the cold (temperatures in the 20s) made us less enthusiastic than we might have been for sightseeing.  Nevertheless, we took the trolley up to the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral then walked down the hill.  We saw Charles Bridge, the statue-lined bridge connecting the Old Town and Lesser Town, the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square, and Wenceslas Square, the busy, historic walking boulevard in the heart of modern Prague.