Danube River Cruise 2022

This morning we awoke with great anticipation… we like nothing better than the start of a new adventure. I went to exercise and Hugh ran before we showered, dressed, and headed to the Charlotte airport. We dropped off the car at the Marriot Courtyard and took the shuttle to the United terminal. Our flight was on time, so we had the opportunity to share a pizza before boarding. We had a short flight to Dulles and then an even shorter time there. We were soon on the flight to Munich, and I got the upgrade to Economy Premium but Hugh got 3 seats to himself. After a great dinner we swapped seats and Hugh enjoyed the extra legroom and I enjoyed the opportunity to lie down and rest. The flight was long but we arrived in Munich on time.

We enjoyed walking the area and looking at the amazing architecture until dinner time. We decided to head to the La Mama restaurant near our hotel. We had dinner there our last trip to Bucharest and it did not disappoint this time. We sat with beer and wine and enjoyed our dinner. It was a very short walk back to our hotel and we went to the English Bar to download pictures and journal before heading to our room, oh yea, we had another beer and glass of wine. It was perfect day and we look forward to starting our Avalon adventure in the morning.

We met our group at 2 and it was off to Oltenita to board our ship. The ride was about 1.5 hours and Hugh and I both slept most of the way. At the ship the check-in process was so easy and we were soon in our cabin with our bags. We unpacked and stowed the luggage before we headed out to explore. We met our 4 new friends from Atlanta on top and enjoyed the sunshine before we sailed. It took the Romanian police a long time to process our 124 passports, so we did not sail on time. The sun set as we had our mandatory safety drill and met our officers and cruise director Simona. We had a lovely welcome cocktail party and toast with the captain before we went to dinner. We joined Annie and Russ from Queensland, Australia and closed the restaurant we were enjoying ourselves so much. It was off to bed for us, and we had no trouble sleeping tonight.

We had plenty of time when we awoke to take a long walk into town. It was a rather sad post-Soviet town but we did find the ruins of a neat church. We got lots of steps in before heading back to the ship and showering and getting ready for the port talk, happy hour, and then dinner. We had dinner with 6 new friends, and we were having so much fun we closed the dining room down again. Our waiter told us we had to man the Hoover if we stayed longer. Off to bed and a great night’s sleep!

Back on the bus we traveled to the ship in Vidin and let the people off who did not want to go to the fortress Baba Vida. We then drove less than 5 minutes to the fortress and had about 30 minutes to enjoy the fortress that dates to the 10th century. It is the country’s only preserved fortress from medieval times. It had nice views from the top and it was very interesting construction. We decided to walk back to the ship and were only a few steps behind the bus. We had lunch and then we went for a long walk all around the town. It was a Saturday and there were lots of people out enjoying the lovely weather. I purchased a short sleeve tee as the weather is warmer than I expected.

We scanned our cards out and claimed our passports before we boarded our bus to Lepenski Vir, an important Mesolithic archeological site chronicling life in 7000BC in the Danube gorge. This was fascinating and after our adventure we spent the time until sail away exploring Donji Milanovak, the town where we were docked. We got our steps in and arrived back on the ship ready to sail. We cleaned up a bit and went to the lounge to journal and enjoy happy hour.

There were four local guides in costume ready to take us on a walking tour of the Golubac Fortress. We are docked almost alongside this great structure. Perched on a rock above the Danube at the entrance of the Iron Gates Gorge, medieval Golubac has stood as one of the regions most imposing sights since the 14th century. It was a vital road connecting Central and Eastern Europe and the Ottomans had to fight the Hungarians often to keep control. This was a great tour and the site is lovely at night. The great hall had armaments and chainmail and it was hard to believe only in 2016 was traffic routed away (until then trucks and cars drove through the center). We walked back to the ship and were greeted with Rokia, the national drink of Serbia and most of this region. It was off to the room and to bed for us.

We circled back into the Balkans and the old city where we made our first stop at St. Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches. This cathedral was started in 1936 and they are continuing to work on it. The dome is very impressive and weighs 4,000 tons. It has 130,000 sq. ft. of gold mosaics. From the church we traveled to the main pedestrian street where we had a break for the toilet and had some time to explore a shopping mall. This was a high-end mall with a lot of designer shops. We were a little late leaving on the rest of tour as 4 of the guests got mixed up on the time.

We said our goodbyes and turned in our passports as we entered the ship. We shed our jackets and headed to the lounge to upload pictures, journal, and play kings on the corner until we clear Serbian passport control and continue our cruise. After lunch when we had cleared Croatian passport control we headed to the medieval town of IIok. We walked through the town and enjoyed the lovely little village atmosphere. We then went to the winery and enjoyed 3 different wines before we toured the storage area.

We had a beautiful view of the city and we got our first sighting of the Incline whose ride only last 90 seconds. We then walked down through lovers’ passage where we saw a statue of a poet who wrote love poems from that sight. We continued down, and ended our walk at the Kapital Hill, where we saw Zagreb Cathedral which was started in the 11th century but never completely finished so even today it is a work in progress. It has a lot of construction going on because of damage from the earthquake. As we walked our guide told us a joke about the horrible mayor they had for 27 years. “The mayor was kidnapped and the terrorists demanded 1 million dollars or they would pour gasoline on the mayor and burn him. The citizens started a collection and one gentleman asked how much he should donate and he was told ‘1 gallon will be fine’”. We made our pictures and then our bus picked us up and took us to the Sheraton. Hugh and I got our baggage and walked to the Hilton where the next part of our tour is located. We checked in and just had time to freshen up before we met Duska and the other 8 people that will be traveling with us. It seems like a congenial group but we only have 3 women! We had our intro talk and then a nice diner in the hotel restaurant. We were tired and headed up to our room for a shower and some reading before bed.

When we ended our tour at lunchtime, Hugh and I stopped for the WC “behind the bushes” as they say. Martina said it was extremely nice and cost several million euros, so it was prepaid, thus free to us. After our rest stop, we had ice cream sundaes and milkshakes before we started on our exploration of the things we saw earlier. We bought a tie for Trey at the original Kravat Shop. We took Martina’s suggestion and rode the trolley to the train station. It was a beautiful building and we also saw a monument to the victims of the holocaust. From the train station we walked across the street to the Croatian National Theater. Founded in 1895 it was opened by Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef I. It is in Marshal Tito Square with beautiful fountains and surrounded by other lovely buildings. We then continued our walk to the Botanical Gardens which was founded in 1889. This was a wonderful way to relax and just enjoy nature. The gardens had lovely flowers even though it is late in the season, and it was interesting to see what grows in this climate. We saw some interesting trees that we had not seen before. It was late when we finished at the gardens, and we decided to walk back to the hotel and rest before we headed out to dinner. After a rest and a shower, we dressed for dinner and went to SOI Asian Fusion restaurant. We sat at the bar because we did not have reservations. While we were enjoying our drinks, a couple from the ship were leaving and stopped to chat.

When we arrived at the President Hotel in Split we headed to our rooms and cleaned up and dressed for dinner. We had time to take a walk into the old town and see Diocletian’s Palace before we met our group to walk to the restaurant. We ate with the couple from Cuba and had a great meal and conversation. After dinner we strolled along the palm lined waterfront promenade and even made it back to the hotel without getting too lost.

The ferry ride was 50 minutes and very pleasant. The temperature in the low 70’s is just right for sitting on top and enjoying the view. When we arrived, we were picked up by 2 taxis and transported to the olive oil museum and it was a great visit. Our guide told us about the machinery and how the old wooden presses and that it was a 10-hour process for a small return. The new mechanized machines do the work in 4 hours for a large return. After the talk we were sent to lovely tables filled with home grown lettuce and tomatoes, 2 olive oils, 3 cheeses, 2 jams, a basket of bread, and a carafe of red wine. We tried the year old first press and then we tried the new one and this years won by far. It was spicier and smoother. We had a great lunch with excellent conversation. After lunch we walked to the church of the village and to the museum depicting local life on the island. This is a small island, 14km x 44km and it only has a population of 14,000 people but over 1 million olive trees. After our visit to the museum, we walked to a viewpoint and got to see the topography of the island. The taxis picked us up to transport us back to the ferry. We had 45 minutes to wait, and Hugh and I walked around the seaside looking at all the different types of boats. When it was time to get in line to board Hugh realized he had lost his ticket somewhere along the way. We rushed to the ferry office and purchased him a new one and soon we were on our way. When we arrived back in Split, the bus picked us up and soon we were back at the hotel. Hugh took a nap and I journaled. I also went to pay for our excursion and found that we were not in the system even though Duska had all our information. Oh well, I guess we don’t exist. Duska will take care of it I am sure. Hugh awoke and showered, and we dressed for dinner. We were on our own and decided on pizza at a restaurant in old town. The pizza and the wine were very good, but we were happy to get back to our room. Our feet were very tired, and I decided to have a soak in the tub to relax. Soon it was time to crawl in the very comfy bed.

At 2 we headed to Dubrovnik and were in our hotel in time to do some laundry and shower before we met for our sunset cruise and dinner on the Adriatic. We were picked by minivan and driven to a small water taxi and we had a 45 minute cruise on the Adriatic. We got to see all the loveliness of the old town down from the water, the 5 star hotels along the cliffs, and a most gorgeous sunset. We arrived at a small beach with a lovely little restaurant right on the beach. This is St. Jacob’s Beach. We sat on a large porch and had a delightful time as we ate delicious food. Some had steaks and chicken, and others had mussels and calamari. We had ice cream and fruit for dessert before we boarded the boat again and traveled into the old town harbor. I have always wanted to sail into this harbor and was very excited. Once we were off the boat we walked down the main area of old town enjoying the sites at night. They are very well lit and we were awestruck at some of the beauty. We were met on the other side of the town by our buss and soon we were back at the hotel.

After our tour we walked into the port area and through a small market. We bade Natasha goodbye and made a quick trip out the closest gate and up the hill to the cable car. Most of our group made the jaunt and took the ride from to the top. The view was spectacular as there was not a cloud in the sky. We did not stay a long time, but we did walk to the old fort which you cannot go in. Hugh and I decided to walk to the Lovrijenac Fort. This fort sits on a 37-meter sea cliff outside the walls. One of our fellow travelers decided to tag along. We made a rather round about trip up to the fort stopping first for a lovely view of the old town from on high. It was a lot of steps to climb but the view was worth it. This fort was built in 1088 with 4- to 12-meter-thick walls. We made the climb down a different way and ended at Piles Gate which was our meeting point. Our group showed up on time were soon back at the hotel in time to rest a bit, regroup, and leave for our farewell dinner.

As we neared Sarajevo, Luka gave us the recent background of the city. In 1992 the Bosnian Serb forces started the longest siege in modern European history on this city. It lasted four years and devastated the city. It has been slow to recover. When we arrived Luka dropped us off at the Bascarsija, the old town and market area. We walked for a bit and stopped to watch a group of older gentlemen cheering on a chess match. They were using the very large plastic chess pieces but were very intent on their game. We stopped in some mosque and even took time to smell the roses in the gardens. Luka recommended a restaurant that the locals like and it was filled with locals when we arrived. The restaurant was Zeljoo3 and their specialty was meatballs with cheese in this puffy bread (cevapi). Everyone was eating the same thing, so we ate it also and it was delicious. We walked all the streets and looked at the monuments and parks and even watched the children feeding the pigeons at Sarajevo’s Sebilj, a Moorish fountain made of wood. We met Luka 15 minutes early so we had time to drive to the 1984 Olympic village. We expected to see a thriving place but the only thing remaining was a bombed out graffitied shell of what once was. It was very sad. We had an uneventful trip back and arrived earlier than we expected. We went to the bar in the hotel and shared a sandwich and had some wine. Then it was off to bed.

Back on the mainland we traveled to a Brezec winery where we tasted 3 wines, a white, a rose, and a red plus 7 kinds of Rakia. None of them were appealing to us but several people made purchases. Then it was back on the bus and back to Dubrovnik. Our driver was a wild man and we were slung from side to side as he navigated the turns. We were happy to arrive back safely. At the hotel we sat in the bar and again shared a sandwich and had some wine while we played kings on the corner. It was bath time then bed as we start early again tomorrow. Just got the horrible news that Dr. Frank Singletary, longtime and dear friend died!

We met our group for our boat trip to Our Lady of the Rock and heard the story of the sailors who started this man-made island. When we arrived on the island I walked around and made pictures and went Hugh into the church and museum. I had done it before and it is very small. Back on the boat for our return, we were surprised that we were traveling all the way to Kotor Old Town by boat. It was a grand way to see the bay and hear the history of the area. Alessandria, our guide was very clear and very succinct. She could give a lot of info in a short time which was great. The views were lovely and we saw too large Holland America ships and a very large Windstar.

We slept till almost 12pm and got up and drove home to find everything was well. We will recover from jet lag and lack of sleep and probably by mid week will be longing to travel again!