Sunday, 19 May 2019

Between the Balkans and the Carpathians




Today TSH and Diva are doing extremely scenic cruising between two sets of limestone cliffs. It feels similar to cruising the Norwegian fjords. Bulgaria has been left behind and now there is Serbia on the left, with Romania still on the right. Some of the buildings look quite Alpine, and there are low-level clearings with crops, including (possibly) vines. The entry to this part of the cruise was through the ‘Iron Gate’ locks. Like other locks on the voyage, there is no charge for passing through – the locks are funded by selling the hydro-electric power they generate.

Yesterday in Bulgaria, the excursion was to a group of weathered rocks which resembled a turtle, an elephant and Abraham Lincoln. Some people went to the top of the rocks and TSH won the prize for the fastest ascent from his bus. (a fridge magnet).

There are plastic bottles floating on the surface of the water in places, but this is not litter – they are in organised groups and mark (illegal) fishing nets.

The guide pointed out a white rock which he said was a dinosaur egg but TSH and Diva thought that was silly and that a palaeontologist would think differently.

TSH heard a cuckoo! And eventually so did Diva – her first ever!!

Food is excellent and laundry service is within a few hours. TSH and Diva have brought far too many clothes for the small wardrobe – if they had known about the rapid laundry, they could have transported much less luggage across Europe.
Forgot to mention that by the end of the first part-day on board, Diva had already lost her room key. In her defence, she has no memory of TSH passing it to her, as he insists he did.

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