Welcome to Hungary

The day’s schedule stated that the ‘face-to-face’ entry into Hungary would begin at 6:00, so TSH and Diva rose at 5:45. They wanted to be showered, shaved, dressed and mascara’d  before meeting Hungarian border guards. They were actually called at 7:10, followed by a morning on the river after the guards left!!

Hungary appears to be much more prosperous than anywhere else seen so far on this voyage. In particular, a large sum of money had obviously been spent on renovating the cathedral in Kalocsa. This was the venue for another, much more professional, organ recital.

The horse display was not, in Diva’s opinion, world-class, but a group of men rode horses and carriages at speed around an arena, cracking whips throughout. The most impressive was the man who rode standing with one foot on each of two horses, whilst controlling eight others. There were also long-horned Hungarian grey steppe cattle. Diva passed on the stables visit, as it was very smelly, but TSH went in and, as well as horses, saw curly-haired pigs. Diva had to spring quickly out of the way, as she ended up in the path of the carriage rides. Neither drank any of the strong alcohol which was provided, although both ate the bread with paprika spread and tried (and rejected) the cheesy scones.

Once more, TSH ate the regional specialities for dinner – goulash soup, paprika chicken and plum bread and butter pudding.

Croatia

The landscape is now very flat and very lush. The area around Vukovar is very agricultural but the city has a fine church, where TSH and Diva were treated to an organ recital. The square outside was impressive but there, and across the region, there were ruined buildings and some scarred by bullet holes, in a reminder of recent conflicts. The region has also suffered a major loss of industry and employment. Every guide has a different narrative about the conflicts – it is still a volatile situation.

    There was also a visit to ‘a typical family home’. Diva opted out of this because the domestic animals, in spite of huge pressure from the householder, who insisted that the animals would stay outside. TSH later reported at least one animal inside the house. The house was not that typical, in that the hostess was running a business selling cakes, alcohol, CDs and ice cream.

Food on board continues to be excellent but there was a temporary issue with the supply of Earl Grey tea. How many cruise ships has Diva drunk dry?

Belgrade

This is the most developed, most western and cleanest of the places visited so far. Even the dogs appear to be domesticated rather than feral. The shops, including familiar names such as Zara, were all open despite it being Sunday.

The tour started at 8:00, perhaps to avoid some of the crowds from the 8 other ships parked in the city – TSH and Diva had to walk through another ship to reach the quayside.

A walk round the fort provided panoramic views over the city and the two rivers which meet there. (Danube and Sava) This area had a small exhibition of large dinosaur models.

The Orthodox cathedral is still under construction and the only part currently open to visitors is the crypt, which is completely covered with magnificent frescoes. The dome is said to be amongst the largest in the world – TSH and Diva have seen many such spectacular domes with great claims to world-wide fame.

A statue of Tesla honoured the local man who worked on the theories of electromagnetism and alternating current – ironic that the cars which currently bear his name run on direct current.

There were a lot of brides in the city centre – it turned out to be the day when wedding fees were waived for a mass wedding at a public building in the city centre.

Serbia in general, and Belgrade in particular, have been fought over for centuries and the country has changed its name many times. The guide explained that by the age of 23 she had lived in 4 countries without ever moving out of Belgrade.  She also provided the Serbian narrative about the Kosovo troubles of the late 20^th century – a one-sided account.

The evening meal was a buffet with local dishes, enlivened by a performance from local singers and dancers and an overhead thunderstorm with hailstones.

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.

Technical notes

Regular readers might remember that in August 2014 TSH and Diva were on a Viking ship where the lighting system was impossible to operate:

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Viking have clearly noted Diva’s comments and there are now 4 panels around their cabin that look like this: 

Diva has still not worked out what all the buttons do, but they are obviously trying.

Getting started

This is the first chance of updating the blog – Viking have kept TSH and Diva very busy indeed. The day in Bucharest, whilst interesting, was very long and tiring. The morning starts are early – especially if you are already 2 hours ahead of home. They saw the enormous palace built for the dictator Ceausescu – he never lived in it!! So far, no significant rain, other than a thunderstorm during dinner.

Romania is now finished and the ship has moved on to Bulgaria. Diva resisted the cosmetic products made with Bulgarian roses – the pure oil is more expensive than gold!! But she had succumbed in Bucharest to the locally developed anti-ageing cream.

In this area, both Romania and Bulgaria are very agricultural.

The food and service on board are as good as ever and TSH and Diva have already eaten chateaubriand. No time yet to drink the welcome champagne.

Creatures spotted along the way: A (model) giraffe outside the Bucharest natural history museum. Storks nesting on the top of telegraph poles. A rare black stork. A stegosaurus lurked in the trees but this may also have been a model.

Not at the river yet

TSH and Diva are in their Radisson hotel room in central Bucharest. It has been a long day, and the air control delays at Amsterdam added an hour or two on. But the noodles on the plane were good, the room is OK and Bucharest looks interesting. On the way in from the airport, they saw up to date modern development, soviet-style wedding cake blocks and grand 19th century buildings, some of which were beautifully kept and some of which were in ruins. There are a lot of flags associated with Romania currently being part of the EU Presidency soon. Early start tomorrow (again!!!)