Nuremburg and Bamberg

Friday May 30

Nuremberg

Last night a little before midnight we entered the Danube-Main canal and around 6:30 am we passed the European Watershed divide which means that from now on all water flows towards the North Sea.  There are sixteen locks on the canal, the first three dropping 27.5m. each and we have had a boat ahead of us going down on two so we have had to wait for the water to drop and then refill before we could enter.

While traveling along the canal this morning we had a talk on the various attempts to build a connecting canal over the centuries and the construction of the modern canal.

Nuremburg was probably founded around the turn of the 11th century, according to the first documentary mention of the city in 1050, as the location of an Imperial castle between the East Franks and the Bavarian March of the Nordgau.  From 1050 to 1571, the city expanded and rose dramatically in importance due to its location on key trade routes.

Nuremberg held great significance during the Nazi Germany era. Because of the city's relevance to the Holy Roman Empire and its position in the centre of Germany, the Nazi Party chose the city to be the site of huge Nazi Party conventions – the Nuremberg rallies. The rallies were held 1927, 1929 and annually 1933-1938 in Nuremberg.

Between 1945 and 1946, German officials involved in the Holocaust and other war crimes were brought before an international tribunal in the Nuremberg Trials. The Soviet Union had wanted these trials to take place in Berlin. However, Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials for specific reasons:

The city had been the location of the Nazi Party's Nuremberg rallies and the laws stripping Jews of their citizenship were passed there. There was symbolic value in making it the place of Nazi demise.

Zeppelin Field

The Palace of Justice was spacious and largely undamaged (one of the few that had remained largely intact despite extensive Allied bombing of Germany). The already large courtroom was reasonably easily expanded by the removal of the wall at the end opposite the bench, thereby incorporating the adjoining room. A large prison was also part of the complex.

After driving into town our first stop was at the Zeppelin Field where the Nazis had built a large grandstand, with a parade area for Hitler to review the army, Hitler Youth and other groups during the annual convention.  A lot of the structure has been destroyed as the authorities were concerned about the structural soundness of the buildings.

Congress Centre

From the field it was a short drive to the Congress Centre which has never been completed, it was designed to resemble the Coliseum with a roof but Hitler was advised that a snow fall would collapse it; his reaction was “we’ll rebuild it if it does”.  These two structures cost the German people billions of dollars and were designed to be only used once a year.

Court 600

From these giant meeting places we drove to the Nuremberg Court complex and went into Court 600, the room that the was used to conduct the Nazi War Trials, our guide for this visit was a young German who is working on a PHD on the Nuremberg War Trials so he was able to provide a very detailed talk on the events.

Our next stop was at a city market square, with a short walk to a restaurant where we sampled the local sausage and beer, while others in the party enjoyed ginger bread and coffee.  Returning to the square we wandered among the stalls to admire the displays of fruit, vegetables, flowers and gingerbread, the quality of the produce on display appeared to be superior to anything we had seen at home.

Schoner Brunnen Fountain

In this square is the famous fountain, without water, known as Schoner Brunnen and Nuremberg’s most famous church, the Marienkirche.

Returning to the bus we set off for the boat and after taking several wrong turns arrived to find the winch attached to the gangplank and the Captain waiting to sail to catch the lock several hundred metres down the canal.  We were relieved to return safely as the driver also took some wrong turns and drove through several red lights on our trip into town.

After dinner we were entertained by two Bavarian singers with traditional songs and many popular songs.  Unfortunately the time of their performance was limited as they had to leave the ship at the next lock or continue with us for many kilometres.

Saturday May 31

Bamberg

During the post-Roman centuries of Germanic migration and settlement, the region which afterwards included in the Diocese of Bamberg was inhabited for the most part by Slavs. The town, first mentioned in 902, grew up by the castle (Babenberch) which gave its name to the Babenberg family. On their extinction it passed to the Saxon house. The area was Christianised chiefly by the monks of the Benedictine Fulda Abbey, and the land was under the spiritual authority of the Diocese of Würzburg.

In 1007, Holy Roman Emperor Henry II made Bamberg a family inheritance, the seat of a separate diocese. The emperor's purpose in this was to make the Diocese of Würzburg less unwieldy in size and to give Christianity a firmer footing in the districts of Franconia, east of Bamberg. In 1008, after long negotiations with the Bishops of Würzburg and Eichstätt, who were to cede portions of their dioceses, the boundaries of the new diocese were defined, and Pope John XVIII granted the papal confirmation in the same year. Henry II ordered the building of a new cathedral, which was consecrated May 6, 1012.

Bamberg was first connected to the German rail system in 1844, which has been an important part of its infrastructure ever since. After a communist uprising took control over Bavaria in the years following World War I, the state government fled to Bamberg and stayed there for almost two years before the Bavarian capital of Munich was retaken by Freikorps units. The first republican constitution of Bavaria was passed in Bamberg, becoming known as the Bamberger Verfassung (Bamberg Constitution).

In February 1926 Bamberg served as the venue for the famous Bamberg Conference, convened by Adolf Hitler in his attempt to foster unity and to stifle dissent within the young NSDAP. Bamberg was chosen for its location in Upper Franconia, reasonably close to the residences of the members of the dissident northern Nazi faction but still within Bavaria.

Today our driver took us into Bamberg without taking a wrong turn and dropped us off outside the Messerschmitt hotel home of Willy Messerschmitt the designer of the German WW II fighter plane.  It was here in his parent’s home that he founded his aeroplane company.

Stumble Blocks

Walking along Lange Strasse one of the early streets in Bamberg but now only a short street in comparison to many others in the town, we arrived at the market square with many stalls selling fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers.  Walking on we noticed some small brass plaques amongst the cobblestones on the footpath, these are called “stumble blocks”, the idea that people stumbling over them would stop to read them, they are memorials to Jews who lived in the building before being sent to concentration camps.

Town Hall

Shortly afterwards we arrived at the River Regnitz and built on its edge and protruding over the water was the town’s original abattoir, this allowed easy disposal of waste and a little way upstream was the town hall built in the middle of the river.  It was built this way because the Bishop Prince who controlled the town and surrounding lands wouldn’t give the townspeople any land to build a town hall.

Old Bishop's Palace

From the town hall we walked uphill to the Cathedral and around to the side to the old Bishop’s Palace, a multi storey timber building with stables and animal stalls on the ground floor.  On the other side of the square was the new Bishop’s palace built of stone but only two of the three wings were completed before the Bishop ran out of money.

Leaving the Cathedral Square we walked downhill to an area containing several restaurants and pubs, we had the opportunity to redeem the voucher given to us prior to leaving the ship.  The voucher was for a 500 ml glass of the town’s famous smoky, bacon flavoured beer or a shopping bag with a 500 ml bottle of the beer.  As it was still before 11:00 am we selected the second choice and we are still to sample the contents of the bottle.

For the next hour we walked around many small lanes and streets admiring the old houses which survived the war as Bamberg was not damaged during the war, apart from many of the bridges destroyed by the retreating Germans.  Returning to the ship we sailed at 12:15 and shortly afterwards left the canal and entered the Main River and we have around 24 hours of cruising before arriving at Wurzburg.

We have just passed under some bridges, only just!  On the sundeck, the sun shades, lounges and even the railings along the edge of the deck have been laid flat and the bridge lowered to almost deck level, the captain navigates by standing on a box with his head out a manhole and there is not a lot of clearance between his head and the bridge. 

We've just entered another lock and we think Number Two Captain must be steering as the ship hit the side, very hard three times.  Number One Captain said he gets a beer for every hit; this effort must be worth a slab!

Number Two has just been walking along the edge of each side of the lock inspecting for damage.

Regensburg

Thursday May 29

Regensburg

The first settlements in Regensburg date to the Stone Age. The Celtic name Radasbona was the oldest name given to a settlement near the present city. Around AD 90, the Romans built a fort there.

In 179, the Roman fort Castra Regina ("fortress by the river Regen") was built for Legio III Italica during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius  It was an important camp on the most northern point of the Danube: it corresponds to what is today the core of Regensburg's Altstadt ("Old City") east of the Obere and Untere Bachgasse and West of the Schwanenplatz. It is believed that even in late Roman times the city was the seat of a bishop, and St Boniface re-established the Bishopric of Regensburg in 739.

Between 1135 and 1146, the Stone Bridge across the Danube was built at Regensburg. This bridge opened major international trade routes between northern Europe and Venice, and this began Regensburg's golden age as a residence of wealthy trading families. Regensburg became the cultural centre of southern Germany and was celebrated for its gold work and fabrics.

Temple of Walhalla

Today was a relaxing day cruising along the river; we were due to arrive in Regensburg at 1:30 but had docked by 12:30.  Earlier in the morning we passed a large replica of a Greek temple built on a hillside overlooking the river, it is known as the Temple of Walhalla.  This was built early in the last century and contains busts of German heroes throughout the centuries.  There is a bike tour back to the temple for the fit passenger but as it is raining steadily and we haven’t brought our lycra with us we decided to “pass”.

It has been raining steadily for the last days and the river level has risen by a metre and the crew have had to collapse the sun shades, lounges and railing on the sun deck so the ship can fit under the bridges, if the river keeps rising we may not be able to proceed into the Rhine-Main-Danube canal.  One of the reasons we are doing this trip is to visit the towns we missed on our last trip when the canal was closed.  Fingers crossed that this doesn’t happen again.

Monk with Monk Puppets

After lunch we left the ship for a walking tour of the town which boasts of numerous famous people, Oskar Schindler of “Schindler’s List” fame and the recently retired Pope are two.

St Peter's Cathedral South  Side

Walking along the river bank we could see the 12^th century stone bridge across the river, actually all that we could see is plastic and scaffolding as the bridge is being renovated.  A little further on we came to the oldest bratwurst kitchen in Germany dating back to 1135 and still operating today, the original “fast food” premises.  Around the corner and down a lane we walked through a stone arch, part of the old Roman wall, built in 179.  Passing through the arch into a courtyard we could see the original Romanesque tower of the St Peter’s cathedral and to the right its two Gothic spires.

In the square in front of the cathedral were hundreds of tourists as today is a holiday and the town is full of Roman Catholics here for a special festival.  From the cathedral we walked along many narrow lanes, flanked by ancient houses which survived the war as Regensburg avoided bombing. 

Our next stop was at the square in front of the town hall with many building built over the centuries, outside the door of one of the buildings were three metal rods fixed to the wall, these were the official standards of measurement for the town before the introduction of the metric system.

Don Juan D’Austria

Around the corner from the town hall is a statue of Don Juan D’Austria, the illegitimate son of the Emperor and a local girl.  He was sent to Spain to live with his half-brother, the King of Spain and commanded the fleet which defeated the Ottoman fleet.

The ship sailed at 5:30 and will shortly enter the canal joining the Danube with the Rhine and we will have poor internet connection as we have to lower our satellite receiver to pass under a number of low bridges.

Three Countries in One Day

Wednesday May 28

Linz

During breakfast the ship docked briefly in Linz, in Austria, to allow the passengers to board the buses for their selected tours.

The city was founded by the Romans, who called it Lentia.  The name Linz was first recorded in AD 799.  It was a provincial and local government city of the Holy Roman Empire, and an important trading point connecting several routes, on either side of the river Danube from the East to the West and Bohemia and Poland from north to the Balkans and Italy to the south. Being the city where the Habsburg Emperor Friedrich III spent his last years, it was, for a short period of time, the most important city in the empire.  It lost its status to Vienna and Prague after the death of the Emperor in 1493.

Adolf Hitler was born in the border town of Braunau am Inn but moved to Linz in his childhood. Hitler spent most of his youth in the Linz area, from 1898 until 1907, when he left for Vienna. To the end of his life, Hitler considered Linz to be his "home town" and envisioned extensive architectural schemes for it, wanting it to become the main cultural centre of the Third Reich. In order to make the city economically vibrant, Hitler initiated a major industrialization of Linz shortly before, and during, World War II.

After a short tour around the old city we left for the city of Český Krumlov a small city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.

The trip took half an hour longer than expected as the main road was closed for repairs and the narrow road we had to use made it difficult to pass oncoming traffic, so there were times when vehicles had to back off to allow us to pass.

Old Český Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was given this status along with the historic Prague castle district in the 1990s.

The Český Krumlov Castle is located on a high point overlooking the town, construction of the town and castle began in the late 13th century at a ford in the Vltava River, which was important in trade routes in Bohemia. In 1302 the town and castle were owned by the House of Rosenberg. Emperor Rudolf II bought Krumlov in 1602 and gave it to his natural son Julius d’Austria. Emperor Ferdinand II gave Krumlov to the House of Eggenberg. From 1719 until 1945 the castle belonged to the House of Schwarzenberg. Most of the architecture of the old town and castle dates from the 14th through 17th centuries; the town's structures are mostly in Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles. The core of the old town is within a horseshoe bend of the river, with the old Latrán neighbourhood and castle on the other side of the Vltava.  Additions to the castle continued until the 19^th century.

Castle Courtyard

During the interwar era it was part of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945 it was annexed by Nazi Germany as part of the Sudetenland. The town's German-speaking population were expelled after World War II and it was restored to Czechoslovakia.  Because the town didn’t have any industry or occupy a strategic position is was untouched during the war.

During the Communist era of Czechoslovakia, Krumlov fell into disrepair, but since the Velvet Revolution of 1989 much of the town's former beauty has been restored, and it is now a major holiday destination popular with tourists from Germany, Austria and beyond. In August, 2002, the town suffered from damage in the great flood of the Vltava River.

Old Town from Castle

Leaving the bus we had a ten minute walk to the entrance of the castle and on the approach walked over a bridge spanning a bear pit containing three bears.  The town’s legend is that while bears remain the town will survive. 

Entering the first courtyard we observed that the buildings and surrounds were in the Renaissance style, this style was retained for all the extensions over the centuries which is unusual as many buildings and churches were converted to the Baroque style.

Houses in Krumlov

Leaving the castle we walked down to the river and crossed a bridge to the old town which is within a horseshoe bend of the river and spent the next three hours wandering around the narrow cobble stone lanes of the town.

Our return to the ship which had continued up river to Passau in Germany was a little quicker as we travelled on wider roads.  We arrived in Passau at the same time as the ship and had to wait to board while the crew rigged the gang plank. 

Passau Castle

Passau has a 2000 year history and its walls are proof of the presence of the Romans.  It is known as the Town of Three Rivers as the Inn, Danube and Ilz rivers all meet here.  We were only in Passau for a very short time before sailing for Vilshofen.

On the wharf at Vilshofen a large marquee had been set up and we went ashore to enjoy an ‘Oktoberfest’ in Vilshofen, with local beer, Bavarian music and dancing.  The four male dancers provided three examples of the Bavarian “slap dances” accompanied by a four piece band and when the passengers were invited to come out and try to copy the dance, there weren’t any takers.

After a pleasant and entertaining ninety minutes we re-boarded the ship to continue our trip.

Durnstein and Melk

Tuesday May 27

Dürnstein

The town gained its name from the medieval castle, Burgruine Dürnstein, which overlooked it. The castle was called "Duerrstein" or "Dürrstein", from the German duerr/dürr meaning "dry" and Stein, "stone". The castle was dry because it was situated on a rocky hill, high above the damp conditions of the Danube at the base of the hill, and it was built of stone.

Durnstein Castle

Dürnstein was first mentioned in 1192, when, in the castle above the town, King Richard I Lionheart of England was held captive by Duke Leopold V of Austria after their dispute during the Third Crusade. Richard had personally offended Leopold by casting down his standard from the walls at the Battle of Acre, and the duke suspected that King Richard ordered the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat in Jerusalem. In consequence Pope Celestine III excommunicated Leopold for capturing a fellow crusader. The duke finally gave the custody of Richard to Emperor Henry VI, who imprisoned Richard at Trifels Castle.  He was finally released after a ransom of 20 tonnes of silver was paid.

Dürnstein Castle was almost completely destroyed by the troops of the Swedish Empire under Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson in 1645.

Dürnstein Abbey (Stift Dürnstein) was established in 1410 by Canons Regular from Třeboň and from 1710 rebuilt in a Baroque style; its steeple is quite unique being painted blue and white.  The monastery was dissolved by order of Emperor Joseph II in 1788 and came under the control of the Herzogenburg Priory.

Originally Durnstein was surrounded by a town wall and parts of the wall still exist.  Being built at the base of a hill there isn’t any room for additional houses in the town and most of the buildings date back to the 1600 to 1700s and the streets are paved with cobblestones.

The hills above the town are terraced and planted with grape vines and these provide the main income for the residents.  The town is in the Wachau Valley which is renowned for producing the best quality white wines in Austria.

Durnstein Abbey (castle on hill above)

After walking through the town we entered the court yard of the old abbey and entered a room which was previously a dining room for the monks where we had a tasting of the local white wines accompanied by a crusty bread roll baked in the town.  The roll is so popular that the bakery produces 30,000 each night for distribution throughout Austria.

After lunch we sailed along the river through the Wachau Valley with the terraced hills planted with vines, there are around 1400 hectares of terraces along the valley and most farmers owning two to five hectares of vines.  Every few kilometres we passed another small town nestled at the foot of the terraced hills.

Melk is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named Melk Abbey.

Melk Abbey Courtyard

The town is first mentioned as Medilica in 831 in a donation of Louis the German; the name is from a Slavic word for 'border. The area around Melk was given to Margrave Leopold I in the year 976 to serve as a buffer between the Magyars (called "Turks" in that time's sources) to east and Bavaria to the west. In 996 mention was first made of an area known as Ostarichi, which is the origin of the word Oesterreich (German for Austria). The bluff which holds the current monastery held a Babenberger castle until the site was given to Benedictine monks from nearby Lambach by Margrave Leopold II in 1089. Melk received market rights in 1227 and became a municipality in 1898. In a very small area, Melk presents a great deal of architectural variety from many centuries.

The abbey originally had 30% of its space as accommodation for travellers and the royal family used it regularly on their travels to and from Vienna, the first floor was reserved entirely for them.  The corridor outside their rooms runs for a length of 200m, many of the rooms on this floor are used as a museum for the abbey, with displays of its history and many of its treasures, also displayed are several sets of the Abbot’s vestments.

Melk Abbey Church

Nowadays the abbey is used as a school for 900 pupils but only three of the monks are involved with teaching.

From the museum are we walked around to the library which contains 80,000 books, dating back hundreds of years which are still available for research.

After visiting the Abbey church an elaborate Baroque style interior, we strolled back to the ship through the old town and the woods.  After dinner and before sailing we were entertained by two singers performing works from popular operettas and concluding with songs from the Sound of Music.  

Budapest - Last Days and on to Vienna

Friday May 23

Budapest

After checking out and putting our cases into storage we left the hotel and walked along the edge of the Danube towards Parliament, passing many cruise ships moored to the bank.  After about a kilometre, not 200m as the hotel staff told us, on the water’s edge, we came to a sculpture

Memorial to slaughtered Hungarian Jews

comprising about fifty pairs of footwear made from metal, men’s, women’s and children’s of all styles.  This is in commemoration of the Jewish people that the Nazis made to strip off and machine gunned them and allowed them to fall into the river.

Missed the turn !!

A little further along in the river we saw a yellow bus chugging along, it’s not every day you see a bus in a river.

We then walked back to the Chain Bridge to cross to the Buda side and after waiting in a queue for a while we boarded a funicular to take us up to the Royal Palace and the Castle.  After climbing all the hills yesterday we decided to shout ourselves to a little comfort.  This was originally built in the late 1800s and was steam driven, each carriage has three levels and each level takes four passengers, so this explained the long wait, as on a warm day many people obviously decided it was easier to ride rather than face the long walk to the top.

Hungarian Parliament by night

We arrived at the Castle just on noon and a squad of eight soldiers, led by an officer and a drummer marched into the forecourt and proceeded to relieve the two sentries on guard outside the Castle.  After changing the two sentries the squad then went through a series of marching and rifle manoeuvres, spinning their rifles, with bayonets attached, passing them to one another and other exercises with their rifles.  This reminded us of similar exercises that we have seen on the TV broadcast from the Edinburgh Tattoo.  After about 15 minutes they marched off and we then walked around the front of the palace for a while before descending by the funicular and walking back to the hotel to wait to be picked up

Changing the Guard - Different?

and taken to the ship Amalyra which is to be our home for the next thirty days.

Saturday May 24

Budapest

Opera House boxes

This is our sixth day in Budapest before sailing for Vienna.  At 8:30 we boarded a bus to be taken on a tour of Budapest, this is for the passengers who arrived yesterday and hadn’t seen the town.  After driving around the older part of town that we had walked through earlier in week we arrived at the Opera House and entered for a tour.  This was built during the reign of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.  It is built in the style of many of the 19^th century opera houses with several levels of private boxes with much gold leaf and marble, the stage area is actually large than the auditorium and during our visit the stage hand were assembling the scenery for tonight’s performance.

During the first performance Franz Joseph walked our part way through and never returned, it is suggested that he was peeved because it rivalled the Opera House in Vienna.

Back on the bus we continued along Andrassy Ave, to visit Heroes’ Square but were directed away by the police as a large parade of the Hungarian Army was taking place in the square, disappointing for those who had never visited the square.

We then crossed the river to the Buda side this is very hilly compared to the Pest side which is built on a plain and drove up to the palace area and walked around to St Matthias Church, the coronation church, situated just inside the walls of the Fishermen’s Bastion.  This is so named as many years ago the various trade guilds were expected to contribute to the city’s defences.

Returning to the ship which sailed at 12:45 and for the last four hours we have been sailing alongside heavily wooded hills with many homes built right down to the river’s edge, a very pretty sight.  Being a warm day there are a lot of people enjoying water activities or just sun-bathing.

Sunday May 25

Vienna

Vienna in 1440 became the resident city of the Habsburg dynasty. It eventually grew to become the de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire and a cultural centre for arts and science, music and fine cuisine. Hungary occupied the city between 1485 – 1490.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman armies were stopped twice outside Vienna. A plague epidemic ravaged Vienna in 1679, killing nearly a third of its population.

In 1804, during the Napoleonic wars, Vienna became the capital of the Austrian Empire and continued to play a major role in European and world politics, including hosting the 1814 Congress of Vienna. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Vienna remained the capital of what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city was a centre of classical music, for which the title of the First Viennese School is sometimes applied.

During the latter half of the 19th century, the city developed what had previously been the old city walls into the Ringstrasse, a new boulevard surrounding the historical town and a major prestige project. Former suburbs were incorporated, and the city of Vienna grew dramatically. In 1918, after World War I, Vienna became capital of the Republic of German-Austria, and then in 1919 of the First Republic of Austria.

From the late 19th century to 1938, the city remained a centre of high culture and modernism. A world capital of music, the city played host to composers such as Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss. The city's cultural contributions in the first half of the 20th century included, among many, the Vienna Secession movement, psychoanalysis, the Second Viennese School, the architecture of Adolf Loos and the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle. In 1913, Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Stalin all lived within a few miles of each other in central Vienna, with some of them being regulars at the same coffeehouses.  Within Austria, Vienna was seen as a centre of socialist politics, for which it was sometimes referred to as "Red Vienna.

Today we had a half day tour of Vienna driving around the “Ring Road” past all the magnificent palaces and mansions built in the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries, when Vienna must have been the centre of European culture and certainly one of the largest and richest countries.

Winter Palace

We were then dropped off in St Stephen’s Square and walked past several Winter Palaces, the library and the Spanish Riding School and then paid a quick visit to St Stephen’s Cathedral before walking along the pedestrian shopping streets.  Luckily for the men in the party, it was Sunday and all the shops with the world famous labels were shut so their credit cards were not punished.

Returning to the ship past many of the old buildings, the Opera House, University, many churches and palaces and several gardens which were originally reserved for the Royal Family, these gardens now feature statues of the many famous composers and writers.  Back on board we had an early tea before leaving for a concert.

Driving back into the city we arrived at the Palais Liechtenstein which has been owned by the Liechtenstein family since 1694 when it was purchased to provide a residence in Vienna for them.  In 1836 to 1847 the interior of the palace was remodelled in the Rococo Revival style at a cost in today’s terms of 120 million Euros.

During WW II the palace was damaged by a plane crashing into it and it was superficially repaired before being converted into offices.  Between 2008 and 2013 the palace underwent the largest restoration project in Vienna in modern time, being carried out on the principles of monument preservation and restoration. 

Today it has been restored to its original splendour, complete with the most magnificent chandeliers and candelabra.  A lot of the old fittings were found in cellars and attics and a scrap of carpet was found which enabled a replica to be woven.  These together with19th century photographs enabled a faithful reproduction of the interior.  It was to this magnificent restoration that we came to be entertained by a 13 piece orchestra playing works of Joseph Strauss II, Johann Strauss II and Mozart and members of the Mozart Boys Choir and some opera singers singing works by Mozart and some arias from other operas.

In keeping with many Viennese concerts, the evening finished with the orchestra playing the Blue Danube Waltz and the Redetzky March, accompanied by vigorous clapping by the audience, a wonderful night.

We then returned to the ship for a supper of Apple Strudel.

Monday May 26

Vienna

Shonbrunn Palace

Today we had several tours to choose from including a visit to Bratislava, as we hadn’t been to Schonbrunn palace since 1986 we chose this tour.  The palace is still in its original glory having been spared bombing during WW II when the decision was made not to bomb cultural buildings, however towards the end of the war, Churchill ordered the bombing of many of these buildings hoping to hasten the German surrender.  It is not known whether the squadron ordered to bomb Schonbrunn palace were incredibly incompetent with their bomb aiming or were lovers of European culture as only one bomb hit the palace and it was a dud.

Schonbrunn palace was used by the Habsburg as their summer residence for many generations and many of its rooms reflect the taste of the various Habsburg rulers who lived there over several centuries.  Probably the one who had the most influence was Maria Theresia, who lived there for many years after the death of her husband.  The Emperor Franz Joseph was both born and died in the palace.

We received a tour of 22 of the most important rooms of the over 600 in the palace before walking around a small portion of the hundreds of hectares of gardens.  In the gardens there is a zoo, created by the husband of Maria Theresia and is recognised as the oldest zoo in Europe.

We returned to the ship via the Ringstrasse having decided not to stay in town but have a quiet afternoon on board.

Tomorrow on the Durnstein and Melk

Budapest Visit Continues

Thursday May 22

Budapest

Another sunny day so we thought we would tackle another walk on the City Walk’s Map, degree of difficulty – 5, the highest of all the walks.

We walked along the river to the Elizabeth Bridge and up on the hill on the Buda side of the river we could see the statue of St Gellert an early missionary bishop, who died in the 11^th century when pagans sealed him in a barrel at this place and pushed him into the Danube.

Below us moored against the bank was the Amalyra, the boat we will board tomorrow for our trip to Amsterdam and then continue on to Basel.  The passengers from Amsterdam will be enjoying a tour of Budapest and sleeping on-board tonight before concluding their trip in the morning.

Liberty Statue

After a steep climb we arrived at the statue before continuing our climb to the summit to view the Liberty Statue a 14 m high figure of a women holding aloft the palm of victory, this is mounted on a high column with two supporting statues at its base.  One is an allegory of progress, the other the fight against evil.

This memorial was erected by the Russians and included at its base a statue of a Russian soldier with a machine gun, the caption at the base of the column was in praise of the magnificent Red Army. 

When Hungary obtained its freedom from Russia, the statue of the soldier was removed and the caption on the base was replaced as a memorial to those Hungarians who lost their lives in the struggle for independence.

This memorial is on the highest point of Buda and provides a wonderful view back across the river to the Pest side of the town and all the bridges across the river.  The three bridges visible, the Chain Bridge 1849, the Elizabeth Bridge 1903 and the Liberty Bridge, formally the Franz Joseph Bridge 1899, were all destroyed by Germans in 1945 and were subsequently rebuilt in their original form.

Also on the summit, just below the stature, is the Citadel a former fortress built in 1851 by the Habsburg army.  After Hungary split from them in 1867 they demanded its destruction but only the main gate was symbolically destroyed in 1897.  During WW II the German SS used it as their HQ.

Liberty Statue from Liberty Bridge

Walking back on the other side of the hill we came to the Gellert Hill Cave Church, this is part of a network of caves and it is also known as St Ivan’s cave, named after a hermit who lived there.  The Pauline Order of monks looks after the church and continues to hold regular religious services.  We then walked across the Liberty Bridge to the Pest side and continued on back to our hotel, probably covering seven kilometres with a steep uphill and downhill climb to provide some extra exercise.

Sorry you can't have a lift

On the way back Ann tried to obtain a lift on a scooter, but the rider refused to move, he obviously didn't realise how tired she was.

Before entering the hotel we rewarded ourselves with an ice cream as we judged we had earned it.

St Stephen's Basilica

 Just when I thought it was safe to take off my shoes and relax, Ann decided that we should go for a walk up towards the Parliament.  We crossed the road in front of the hotel and walked through a park before turning up a street towards St Stephen’s Basilica, the largest RC church in Budapest.

From there we walked along towards Liberty Square, first arriving at a small square where a man was addressing a small crowd, along the edge of the square there were about forty riot police lined up and the streets leading to the square were blocked off, we couldn’t find out what the meeting was about.  Further along we arrived at Liberty Square where parts were also blocked off.  In the square is a large monument commemorating the Soviet troops killed in the siege of Budapest in 1945, this is the only communist monument in the city still standing in its original position.

Nagy Imre Prime Minister of Hungary

On the edge of the square Ann stopped to speak with Ronald Reagan, who looks a lot better than last time I saw him on TV.  Further along the street leading to the Parliament we found a statue of Nagy Imre, Prime Minister of Hungary on two occasions , his second term was during the Revolution of 1956.  He was put on trial and executed in 1958.

Tongue-less Lion guarding the Chain Bridge

At the end of the street we were greeted by the view of the Parliament, the largest building in Hungary, it has 691 rooms and I hope the Hungarian people don’t elect enough politicians to fill them.

Walking on towards the river we headed back to the hotel, stopping to photograph one of the four tongue-less lions guarding the bridge, a pair at each end.  From there it was a short walk back to the hotel where I finally was able to relax.

Budapest Continues

Wednesday May 21

Budapest

Another quiet day spent walking, we left the hotel and made our way along Andrassy Avenue, similar to St Kilda Road in design and lined on both sides with buildings from the 19^th century , including the Opera House and many residential blocks with inner courtyards, several embassies are situated along the avenue.

The avenue terminates at Heroes’ Square and the Millennium Monument erected to mark the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar Conquest, the monuments are adorned with large statues of warriors on horseback representing the Magyar people.  As we took many photos on our last visit we didn't take any this time.

Agricultural Museum

On either side of the square is situated the Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery.  The Art Gallery doesn't have its own collection but is used as an exhibition gallery.  Behind the square is a large park with the City Park Lake which is used as an ice rink in winter and nearby is the Budapest Zoo.

Also on the edge of the park is the Vajdahunyad Castle built for the millennium exhibition in 1896 it was made from cardboard and wood, it was so popular that it was rebuilt in stone and brick.  Part  of the castle complex contains the largest agricultural museum in Europe and in the garden there is a large statue of Anonymus, who wrote the first history of the ancient Magyars in the 12^th century.

Main Entrance to Spa

Walking on through the park we arrived at the Szechenyi Baths built over 100 years ago, a most impressive structure.  This spa features 15 different pools and is one of the largest bathing complexes in Europe; we had brought our bathers with us but decided that the entrance fee of $20 each was a little too much for an hour’s dip.

Main Outdoor Pools

As the day has been quite warm and we have covered five kilometres we decided to travel back to the hotel on the Millennium Underground.  This was Europe’s first sub-surface railway built in 1896, each train has two carriages and their combined length is about the same size of a Melbourne tram.  Train run around every five minutes and the ticket is valid for an un-interrupted trip for an hour or two hours at night for a cost of $1.70, we travelled eight stations and thought this was good value as it saved us the 5 km walk back to the hotel.

Several days ago outside the market a man promoting the “Hop On, Hop Off” bus tours gave us a flyer promoting a restaurant in a side street, the prices appeared to be half those of the restaurants in the main street, so we decided to try it out.

Walking down the main pedestrian street we refused the invitation of around twelve restaurants to dine and eventually found Grinzingi’s restaurant, a small venue compared to many we has passed.  We ordered a beer while we studied the menu and selected a pork dish with a cream and paprika sauce, served with rice, most delicious and the total bill was less $20 for two including a tip, less than one main course in some of the other restaurants.  Well worth the extra walk.

Budapest

Monday May 19

Budapest

The boat docked around 4:00am, we weren't disturbed but we were up early to complete our packing to prepare to leave the boat for our hotel at 9:30.

The history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia, Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century. Their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–42. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture in the 15th century.  Following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became a global city after the 1873 unification.  It also became the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918, following WW I. Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils of 1919, Operation Panzerfaust in 1944, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, and the Revolution of 1956.

Cited as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, its extensive World Heritage Site includes the banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter, Andrássy Avenue, Heroes' Square and the Millennium Underground Railway, the second oldest in the world.  Other highlights include a total of 80 geothermal springs, the world's largest thermal water cave system, second largest synagogue, and third largest Parliament building.

While sitting in the boat’s lounge, we heard the Tour Director announce the departure time of a tour for some APT passengers to a farm and Puszta Horse Show, as we had nothing planned for the day we inquired if we could join the tour and were able to be included.

Checking the meaning of Puszta we found that the word means "plains", a vast wilderness of grass and bushes. The name comes from an adjective of the same form, meaning "bare, empty, bereft". Puszta is ultimately a Slavic loanword in Hungarian (compare Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian pust and Polish pusty, both meaning bare or empty).

After a drive of around an hour through farm land, we arrived at the farm and were greeted by the horse(-herds)men csikos (pronounced chikos) or Magyar Cowboys and then welcomed with the famous Hungarian welcome drink, “Barack Pálinka” (Apricot Schnapps) and the “Pogácsa” (salty scone).  The horsemen then took us by horse-carriage to a farm area with ancient Hungarian sheep and pig breeds on display and we were able to enter an old farm house still in use, with furnishings over 100 years old.

We were then taken back to an area with a small grandstand for a traditional horse show, which includes carriage driving, csikoses showing the horses trained to sit and lay down, while riding they displayed their whip cracking skills and horsemanship.  The highlight of the performance was a csikos driving a team of ten horses, in four, four and two formation while standing on the backs of the rear two horses, a very skilled performance.

 Following the performances we walked to an open thatched roofed dining area for a three-course lunch including Hungarian goulash soup and local wines, while being entertained by Hungarian gipsy music, a most enjoyable outing.  We then returned to Budapest with a large percentage of our group sleeping on the way and checked into our hotel on the bank of the Danube on the Pest side of the river.

Tuesday May 20

Budapest

After breakfast many of the group we were with yesterday left for a city tour and most are flying back to Australia tomorrow. 

We decided that we would have a quiet day and strolled around the river for several kilometres, passing many of the river cruise boats ready to receive their new passengers and depart for the next cruise.  On the way Ann renewed an acquaintance with an urchin girl she met here six years ago.

The Kiskiralylany Szobor (Little Princess Statue)

We eventually arrived at the old multi-storied market building with the basement and ground floor stall holders selling all kinds of fresh food, including fish, meat and cheese.  On the first floor the stalls sold souvenirs, clothing, leather goods and many stalls sold food and drink for those cruise passengers who could not wait to return to their boat for a meal and the many locals who had completed their shopping.

We returned to the hotel by a different route which was a car free zone, stopping to view several old churches on the way.

European Trip - First Seven Days

Today, Sunday 18,  is the first day that I have been able to access any Google site, everybody on the boat has had the same problem.  I wonder if it is blocked in Romania, Serbia and Croatia,

I am publishing this while I can, I'll check it for errors and attach some photos later.

Sunday May 11

We were picked up at 12:30 pm to drive to Tullamarine, arriving about 2 ½ hours before departure, so we went into the lounge for a light lunch before boarding the flight to Singapore, where we arrived at 9:30 and strolled around Changi Airport before boarding our flight to Munich.

The Munich flight departed at 11:10 and as we had been served dinner on the Singapore flight, as soon as the seat belt sign was switched off, we made up our bed, turned on the “Do not disturb” sign and settled down to sleep and didn’t hear the crew serve dinner to the other passengers.

Monday May 12

After a good sleep, at around 3:00 am Munich time we were served breakfast and landed at Munich at 5:05 about 30 minutes early, leaving us four hours before our flight to Bucharest departed but as the inward flight was delayed we were 30 minutes late.  However when we landed at Bucharest we had made up the time.

By the time we walked to the luggage carousel our bags had arrived but what has been our experience over the past years there was some damage to our cases.  We purchased new cases for this trip and one of the wheels on Ann’s case was damaged and won’t turn.

Passing through immigration and customs we found a representative from the tour waiting and were escorted to the coach which was to take us the on the 1 ½ hour trip to the Bulgarian side of the Danube to board our boat.  Two problems, one couple hadn't exited the terminal and after waiting an hour we left without them.  The other problem was the Bulgarian customs and immigration system had collapsed and there was a four kilometre “tail back” of traffic waiting to cross the border.  We eventually cleared the check point and crossed the “Friendship Bridge” to Bulgaria and travelled to the boat.  Checking our watch we found that from the time we left our house to the time we boarded the boat, 35 hours had elapsed which probably explained why we were so tired.

Tuesday May 12

Before breakfast the boat moved to the Romanian side of the river and after breakfast we boarded buses for the 1 ½ hour trip back to Bucharest.

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 70 kilometres north of the Danube.

Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459.  It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture and art. Its architecture is a mix of historical (neo-classical), Communist-era and modern but many of the building are in need of repair.  In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of "Little Paris", although buildings and districts in the historic city centre were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes, and above all Ceausescu’s program of systematization but many survived.  However Ceaușescu used the excuse of earthquake damage to demolish over 100 churches but there wasn’t another building in Romania that was demolished after the earthquake.

The current government is providing 50% of cost of building a new Orthodox Cathedral costing 400 million euros which many think is to compensate the Church for its losses during the Communist rule.

Our first stop was at the Open Air Museum which contains some fifty houses, building and churches dating back to the 1700s.  These had been collected from the various Regions in Romania and reassembled at the village providing examples of the many styles of building over the centuries.

We were then taken to a restaurant for lunch which could be an antique shop as the walls were lined with painting, clocks and shelves and tables covered with antiques silverware and glasses.  The tables were set with silver cutlery and old glassware and all the other items were very old.  A most impressive site when the tables were set for 160 people.  Our meal was served in silver bowls and plates; everyone was very impressed with the style and the speed in which everyone was served.

Palace of Parliament

From the restaurant we travelled to Ceaușescu’s Civic Centre, now known as the Palace of Parliament.  This building is the world’s largest civilian administrative building and second to the Pentagon as an administrative building.  Construction of the 1000 room building commenced in 1984 and the actual structure was completed at the time of the revolution in 1989 which saw the overthrow of the Communist government.  The new government was unsure if it should be completed but as all the carpets, curtains, timber work, marble columns and flooring together with the hundreds of crystal chandeliers, some weighing 5 tonnes, had been completed and were in storage, the decision was made to complete the building which was done by 1994.

Over the years we have visited many palaces and this building would be the equal to any we have seen with up to16m. high ceilings and many of the rooms over 1000m².  It is amazing to consider that this was built in the 20thC. by a communist government and that they could find the craftsmen to prepare the marble columns and floors, carve the panels for the doors and other panels and make the huge carpets. All the materials used in the construction were sourced and made in Romania It is estimated that 10,000 workers were employed on site and up to 1,000,000 off site.

We then returned to the boat which sailed shortly after we boarded, next stop Vidin, Bulgaria.

As well as the main dining room which serves wonderful meals, there is another restaurant at the rear of the boat which seats 20 people and every passenger has the opportunity to dine there once during this cruise.

Tonight it was our turn and when viewing the six course menu which included two mains and three desserts we decided we would just have two courses.  Wrong!! Apart from the main course, we were expected to eat it all.  However the serves were tiny which was just as well because when the desserts arrived we had the three choices on the one plate.  The only downside of the evening was that we had a three course lunch so we have warned other passengers to only have a small lunch if they are dining in the restaurant.

Wednesday May 14

Vidin, Bulgaria

Returning to our room after breakfast we were greeted by a dog on our bed made from folded towels, crafted by our housekeeper, very clever.

It was 2:00 pm when we arrived at Vidin which is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as the seat of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since 870).

Vidin emerged at the place of an old Celtic settlement known as Dunonia. The name itself meant "fortified hill" with the typically Celtic dun found frequently in Celtic place names. The settlement evolved into a Roman fortified town called Bononia. When later on, in the 4th-5th century, Slavs settled in the area, they called the town Badin or Bdin, where the modern name apparently comes from.

Vidin's main landmark, the Baba Vida fortress, was built in ancient Roman times. Between 971 and 976 the town was the centre of Samuil's possessions while his brothers ruled to the south. In 1003 Vidin was seized by Basil II after an eight-month siege because of the betrayal of the local bishop.

After receiving passport clearance we boarded buses to travel to Belogradshik in the Stara Planina Mountains where a fortress built using the natural rock formation.  Construction of the fortress commenced during the Roman Era in the third century and its present construction was completed by the Turks in the nineteenth century.

Returning to the town we visited the Baba Vida fortress which is the best preserved stone fortress in Bulgaria, built in the 10^th and 14^th centuries and then later rebuilt by the Turks.  We arrived back at the boat just in time for dinner and afterwards were entertained by young people from the town performing traditional folk dances.

Thursday May 15

Today is a day of sailing without any town visits and around 9:30 we entered the largest lock on the Danube, a two level lock which lifted us up 60m. to enter the part of the river known as the Iron Gates, a gorge stretching 134 km and is the narrowest section of the Danube.  This gorge is between the Carpathian Mountains and the foothills of the Balkan Mountains.

Decebalus

Shortly after sailing into the gorge, there is a Roman marble plaque on the Serbian side, commemorating the conquest of Dacia in the first century by the Emperor Trajan.  About twenty minutes later, on the Romanian side, we saw a large rock carving depicting Decebalus, Trajan’s Dacian opponent.  Also on the Romanian side there is a small church dedicated to St Nichola.

The rest of the day was spent sailing past small towns and villages and the occasional camper on the river bank which I don't think would be very comfortable as we were told it has been raining for several days.

St Nichola Church

Frisday May 16

Belgrade, Serbia

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers; its name translates to White city. 

One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city, naming it Singidūn. It was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid-2nd century. It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times between the Byzantine Empire, Frankish Empire, Bulgarian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary before it became the capital of Serbian King Stephen Dragutin (1282–1316). In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and it frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. 

Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841. Northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times. Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia (in various forms of governments) from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006.

For the previous three days, it has been raining and today is no different.  Over the last two days in Serbia they have received more rain than the four months average, with the result many rivers are in flood and some houses are under water.  The worst floods in living memory and the amount of debris and trees floating down the Danube is incredible.  A group of upright trees which floated past our cabin window looked like a small island.

Bombed Building

Leaving the boat we boarded the bus and drove through the city, where there are several buildings that haven’t been repaired following the NATO bombings but most of the city has been rebuilt.  Our first stop was at St Sava’s Temple, dedicated to the first archbishop of Serbia.  The church is being built over an earlier church and the exterior is nearly complete but inside it is still a raw structure with a temporary altar on a carpeted area.  Like all Orthodox churches, there aren't any seats and the interior will accommodate 8000 worshippers comfortably, 10,000 if squeezed in.

We then walked around the city centre for a while before driving up to the Kalemegdan Fortress which overlooks the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers.  The original structure dates back to the first century and it has been continually expanded, destroyed rebuilt and modified.  Its strategic position allowed the occupiers to control traffic along the Danube.

After lunch those that wanted to walk around the city were provided with a shuttle bus but as it was cold and still raining we elected to stay on board.  In the evening after dinner we were entertained by a troupe of young dancers who performed dances from all the different regions in Serbia, a most entertaining and athletic performance.

Following the performance a passenger suggested that we may like to contribute some money to be used for flood relief in Serbia.  The equivalent of $US 2000 was collected on the night and next day.

Saturday May 17
Novi Sad, Serbia

The city was founded in 1694, when Serb merchants formed a colony across the Danube from the Petrovaradin fortress, a Habsburg strategic military post. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it became an important trading and manufacturing centre, as well as a centre of Serbian culture of that period, earning the nickname Serbian Athens. The city was heavily devastated in the 1848 Revolution, but it was subsequently restored. Today, Novi Sad is an industrial and financial centre of the Serbian economy, as well as a major cultural centre, having recovered from the devastating NATO bombing during the Kosovo War of 1999.

We started a little earlier this morning with a walking tour of Novi Sad, beginning at the Danube Park and then strolling, through the old town centre, passing Bishop’s Court the home of the Orthodox patriarch and St George’s Orthodox Cathedral.  Further on we arrived at the city square with the City Hall on one side and a very large R.C. church on the other side.  It was interesting that the old part of the city and the churches were untouched by the bombing.

We then boarded a bus and were taken to the 18th-century Austrian-Hungarian Petrovaradin Fortress.  There has been a fortress on this site for many hundreds of years before the existing structure was constructed and in the 1600s a 200,000 strong Ottoman army laid siege to the fortress which was successfully defended by 70,000 troops.  Being on the higher ground the defenders inflicted heavy casualties on the Turks with their cannons, killing their commander and forcing their withdrawal.  The Turks built a mausoleum for their commander in Belgrade and it still stands in on of the city parks.

Returning to the boat we had to hand in our passports to obtain clearance from the Serbian Police and were then able to sail for Croatia.

Vukovar, Croatia
The Amacerto docked at Ilok, where we went ashore and boarded the waiting buses, some to go on a winery tour and the others, including ourselves, on a tour of Vucovar and the memorial cemetery.
Our guide announced that we were departing on a winery tour and we told him we were going to Vukovar which caused a slight delay while he left the bus and found the guide who was to accompany us.

Our first stop was to a farm storage building used to house some 200 wounded people and medical personnel from the Vukovar hospital, who were subsequently taken out and murdered and buried in a mass grave. The building has been converted into a memorial with photos of the victims around the walls.

From the farm we drove to the Memorial Cemetery were the Defenders of Vukovar are buried together with many hundreds of citizens murdered by the Serbians.  A memorial with an eternal flame is near the graves.  We noticed a large area of graves without headstones, we were told that these are un-inhabited and are reserved for people buried in yet to be discovered mass graves.

Driving into the town a water tower damaged by shell fire, dominated the skyline.  This originally supplied the water for the town and had a restaurant on the top with the Croatian flag above.  Every time the Serbs shelled the tower and destroyed the flag, the defenders climbed to the top and erected another flag.  The tower has been left as a symbol of their resistance.


This city was heavily damaged during the Croatian War of Independence. Approximately 2,000 self-organised defenders (the army of Croatia was still in an embryonic stage at that time) defended the city for 87 days against approximately 36,000 JNA troops supplemented with 110 vehicles and tanks and dozens of planes. The city suffered heavy damage during the siege and was eventually overrun. It is estimated that 2,000 defenders of Vukovar and civilians were killed, 800 went missing and 22,000 civilians were forced into exile.

The damage to Vukovar during the siege has been called the worst in Europe since World War II, drawing comparisons with the World War II–era Stalingrad.  A museum dedicated to the siege was opened in the basement of a now rebuilt hospital that had been damaged during the battle. On 27 September 2007 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted two former Yugoslav Army officers and acquitted a third of involvement in the hospital massacre.

As a result of the conflict, a deep ethnic divide exists between the Croat and Serb populations.

Sunday May 18
We entered Hungary and tied up at the town of Mohács this morning and we were advised that we had to be at reception at 6:30 for a passport check but it was after 7:00 before this happened. 

As everyone had to be up early they all went into breakfast at the same time, instead of the usual practice where people arrived over a one and a half hour period, the result was the staff were run off their feet.

Mohács is a town in Baranya county, Hungary on the right bank of the Danube.  Two famous battles took place here:  Battle of Mohács, 1526  and Battle of Mohács, 1687.  These battles represented the beginning and end, respectively, of the Ottoman domination of Hungary.

In Roman times there was a camp on the banks of the Danube near Mohács and in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, Mohács was part of the historical Baranya County, and during Ottoman rule it was the administrative seat of the Sanjak of Mohács, an Ottoman administrative unit. After the Habsburgs took the area from the Ottomans, Mohács was included in the restored Baranya County.

After breakfast we boarded buses to travel to Pécs which is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county.  Pécs is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs.

The city Sopianae was founded by Romans at the beginning of the 2nd century, in an area peopled by Celts and Pannoni tribes. By the 4th century it became the capital of Valeria province and a significant early Christian center. The early Christian necropolis is from this era which became an UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 2000.

Its episcopate was founded in 1009 by Steven I, and the first university in Hungary was founded in Pécs in 1367 by Louis I the Great. (The largest university still resides in Pécs with about 34,000 students).  Pécs was formed into one of the cultural and arts centre of the country by bishop Janus Pannonius, the great, Hungarian, humanist poet.  Pécs has a rich heritage from the age of a 150 year long Ottoman occupation, like the mosque of Pasha Qasim the Victorious on Széchenyi square.

Arriving in Pécs we walked through a park past St. Peter’s Basilica, the main Catholic Cathedral in the city, before entering the excavations of the the underground Christian burial chambers dating back to the 4th century.  On the ceiling of one were frescos of St Peter and St Paul.

Pasha Qasim Mosque

Walking from the burial chambers to the city square we passed the mosque of Pasha Qasim which is closed for restoration, and a large decorated column commemorating the end of the “Black Death Plague”.
At the edge of the square is large, 20 feet high, model a horse.  This was originally sculptured in clay by Leonardo Da Vinci but before it was caste the city was attacked and the 85 tonnes of bronze collected had to be used to make weapons.  The attackers destroyed the clay model by firing arrows into it.  Some years ago researchers found, in a library, all Leonardo’s drawing and notes which has assisted in the reproduction of a full size replica of the horse.

Returning to the boat through fertile farm land and very prosperous looking farms we arrived back at the boat shortly after 1:30 and immediately set sail for Budapest where we will leave the boat at 9:30 tomorrow morning.

Where did the week go?