Today we traveled to the Sea of Galilee stopping en route to visit the Mount of Beatitudes where according to the bible Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount.

Next, we visited Capernaum home of the apostles Peter, Andrew, James, John and Matthew. We saw the ancient synagogue and the house of St. Peter who was then the head of Tabagha.

We went to the shore of the Sea of Galilee and those brave enough to go down the rocky and treacherous shores were rewarded by filling their empty water bottles with “pure” water from the Sea of Galilee.

Then we headed to Tabagha to visit the church commemorating the miracle of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread!

The group went to Magdala where Mary Magdalene was from. Magdala has ongoing excavations.

After visiting Magdala, we took a one minute bus ride to a very busy restaurant where we had a choice of fried or filleted tilapia, chicken, and lamb kebab with unlimited salad bar. I chose the fried tilapia and pushed it down a bottle of the local beer (tasted flat as it had only 3.5% alcohol). The food was better than yesterday’s fare but many of our group members complained of the prices! Oh well…

After the heavy lunch, we drove about 15 minutes to the River Jordan as there were people interested on getting re-baptised (after learning that it was not cheap most backed out and only one went through with the baptism).

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

We stayed in the River Jordan watching people getting baptized. After about an hour (with shopping of course) we headed back to our hotel. On the way our tour guide, Geva asked us if we wanted to stop by a diamond center explaining that Israel has one of the finest diamonds in the world. Guess what? loud affirmative responses from the ladies. So off we went.

While the rest were watching a video about diamonds, I and a couple of other guys were invited to the store manager’s office for some “refreshments”. We were offered a finger or two of Chivas Regal whiskey which we didn’t hesitate to accept.

The ladies were shown different sizes and quality of the rocks but when they saw how much they cost their enthusiasm rapidly evaporated! Super-expensive indeed. To make a short story shorter we left the store without any purchases. I can visualize the manager’s face as he looked at his almost empty bottle of Chivas….

The City of Nazareth as seen from our hotel room terrace

Yesterday was a very interesting trip with a couple of “bumps” along the way, figuratively, of course. First, the hotel forgot to turn back the clock so the automatic wake up call roused us from our much needed sleep at 5:00 am instead of the usual 6:00 am! Then there was the issue as to where to eat a decent lunch since everyone was disappointed at the previous day’s set menu (mostly salad and the chicken was super-dry) and the restaurant’s rude staff. Geva, our tour guide promised us an a la carte menu and would consist of meats like shish kebab (not sure of the spelling) and beef. However, when we arrived at the restaurant their menu was similar from the day before except for the shawarma. To make a long story short, every one ordered the expensive lunch and ate while Trini and I and Luz and my brother-in-law sat in the restaurant’s patio since we refused to eat. It was not the price but the choices of food that the restaurant offered was the reason we did not eat.

There was also the issue of rotating seats as some of our fellow tourists wanted to seat up front. Geva let us decide among ourselves but with a large group of 40 a unanimous decision was impossible. Those with the louder voice was heard – first come, first serve!

We went to hear a Catholic mass in a nearby chapel in Arabic and we were welcomed warmly by the congregation. After the mass, the bus drove us to BET SHE’AN, one of the world’s best preserved Roman cities. Ongoing excavations at this UNESCO World Heritage site have revealed time-worn colonnaded streets, bathhouses, theaters, etc. (This was very similar to the ruins of Ephesus in Turkey). It was so awesome to visualize the thriving modern city during that time! I wanted to walk around and explore the area more and climb the steep stairs up a hill with more ruins but the temperature was going north – and the majority of our group refused to move an inch (bragging aside, there must be only a handful in the group including myself that is physically fit to do the strenuous walks).

The Church of the Anunciation

The Church of the Anunciation

After the disappointing lunch break, we went to CANA where all the couples in our group renewed their wedding vows (including us) at the Sanctuary of Our Lord’s First Miracle.

According to the bible, CANA of Galilee was where Jesus turned water into in a wedding feast He attended, His first miracle.

After the renewal of vows came the souvenir shopping and wine-tasting (the wine was so sweet, not my kind of wine)! We saw Geva holding a chilled bottle of Corona beer and we asked him where he got it. He said there were three more bottles left in the souvenir store where we had the wine-tasting. Luz and Bob quickly grabbed them and sipped it slowly savoring them. The Antonios (Trini’s cousins) also wanted some beer. They were directed to a juice store and we all stood along the narrow street enjoying the cold cerveza while our “newly wed” spouses sat around drinking delicious fresh pomegranate juice. The boys decided to buy a case to take back to our hotel and we grugdingly paid $3 per bottle!

Despite a few disappointments of the day, we ended up laughing and chatting with other tourists from different parts of the world! Ahhhh, what a big difference a cool alcoholic drink can do to your attitude….

Wifi is not up to par in the two hotels we stayed in in Tel Aviv and Nazareth. It takes forever to upload photos and twice I lost all data in my blog as a result of not having the patience to wait before it was saved.

I will be brief as much as possible in my travelogue and will send as much photos as the wifi would allow me.

We started our Holy Land Tour arriving in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 26, 2018. Our group consists of 40 other people, about half of whom Trini and I are related and know. The rest came from the East Coast and are meeting them for the first time.

Our group after an interminable wait in the immigration line

Our tour welcoming guy

The second day of our tour took most of the day: visiting Jaffa, Caesarea, Megiddo, Haifa and finally Nazareth where we will be staying for 3 nights.

It has been six months since Trini and I returned from our 48-day adventure covering three continents.

A week from now, Trini and I and about a dozen other relatives and friends are going on another journey to visit The Holy Land; Petra, Jordan to see one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World; Egypt to finally experience a once in a lifetime visit to the iconic Great Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx; and a side trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to see the world-famous ultra-modern structures in the United Arab Emirates.

As always, I will keep you posted of our itinerary and hopefully bring the world to you via this blog vicariously.

Yesterday our river cruise ended although Viking is still paying for our two-night post-cruise stay at the Hilton Budapest City. It was a mixed feeling – sad that our adventure is winding down but glad that we will be finally flying home after 48 days away from home.

We took the included panoramic tour of Budapest after disembarking from the ship and before we checked in at our hotel.

Trini and I were in a European land tour in 2006 and one of the cities we visited was Budapest. We were amazed at how clean and crowded the city is now compared in 2006. I mentioned this to our pretty tour guide and she told me that tourism in Budapest had boomed and attracted millions of tourists from all over the world during the last ten years and continues to grow!

The weather was brisk and rain showers on and off but this did not detract the beauty of this former communist city.

Riverside beauty, a vibrant cultural scene and astounding 19th century architecture and romance blend together in Budapest to form one of Europe’s most rewarding cities. It straddles the banks of the Danube River, with traditional hilly Buda on one side and modern Pest on the other.

We immersed ourselves with the unique charm of Budapest while driving and strolling on both sides of the Danube. We stopped by the Heroes’ Square where we gawked at the iconic monuments commemorating the Magyar state where tourists were doing selfies to save this moment.

After driving around for a while it became apparent to me that the wide boulevards and the buildings’ striking façades resembled that of Paris, hence, this should be designated as Little Paris of East Europe.

The last leg of our city tour was a stop in the city center in Pest side where there was a huge Easter Fair where mouth-watering food were cooked right in front of you – pig’s knuckles, extra-large foie gras, super-long sausages made from various meats, pink large filleted salmons, different breads and pastries! It was difficult to decide where and what to eat.

After the tour, our buses took us to our hotel to check in – what a mob! There were about 190 of us that disembarked from Viking Lif and the same number who will be embarking on the same ship going the opposite itinerary that we just took.

After taking a long nap, Trini and I decided to walk back to the Easter Fair as I spotted a KFC there! It was past 7:00 pm and there were a lot of strollers like us. I took photos of St. Stephen’s Church – the largest in Budapest and the train station. On our way back we saw groups of young people sitting in park benches drinking beer (surprisingly, they were not boisterous). Very few stores where open since it was Good Friday which is considered a holiday here. Hungary is predominantly Roman Catholic.

Budapest must be in every traveler’s “bucket list” of places to visit. Two cities in one – you can’t beat that! We found Budapest to be much cheaper than Prague or Luxembourg. Even though the Hungarians do not speak very good English they are very warm and extremely helpful!

Hungary  is a country in Central Europe^[2] that covers an area of 93,030 square kilometres (35,920 sq mi) in the Carpathian Basin, bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Austria to the northwest, Romania to the east, Serbia to the south, Croatia to the southwest, and Slovenia to the west.^[12] With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a medium-sized member state of the European Union. Wikipedia.

It was interesting to hear from our guide that the Hungarians were descendants of tribes from Mongolia and Siberia, hence, they were originally Asians.

Yesterday, the Viking Lif pulled in Kalocsa, Hungary which was once the seat of the archbishop and is more than a thousand years old. This quaint town surrounded by 8,000 acres of farmland growing fiery red peppers (paprika), is brimming with traditional Hungarian culture and steeped in the piquant flavors of paprika, the “red gold” that has been giving local goulash its distinctive taste for centuries.

Our tour started after lunch and it was a gloomy day. By the time we reached our destination it was raining and very cold! At least snow was just a thing of the past now.

After we listened to a short but beautiful organ concert we continued on to the Bakodpuszta Equestrian Center. We were entertained with the Hungarian cowboys’ horsemanship!

The place has a huge barn filled with horses and other animals that I’ve never seen before like a very big boar with furry hair; a goat with extra-long horns and cattle with equally long horns.

Croatia is a small country in the Balkan regions that used to be part of Yugoslavia along with other countries like Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia. They gained their independence when the Berlin Wall fell and the USSR disbanded and after a bloody war with neighboring Serbia. Croatia has a population of just over 4 million; however, our tour guide indicated that the country has a negative birth rate and that there is a “brain drain” meaning that Croatians are going abroad to find better employment.

Unlike the other Eastern European countries we recently visited Croatia is predominantly Roman Catholic.

Our ship, Viking Lif pulled in the port city of Vukovar. Our buses took us to the small town of Aljmas about a 30 minutes drive from the port to have a taste of Croatian hospitality. Our bus was divided into four groups and each group were assigned to a hostess who took us into their homes and served us coffee, cakes, and home made liquer. Our hostess, Suzy is originally from Germany near Munich and is married to a Croatian. She now operates a bed and breakfast and has the most popular bakery in this town. Her home is tastefully decorated and very cozy and comfy.

Next we drove to Osijek, we did a short walking tour of the city’s citadel. We all went inside the Rising of the Holy Cross Church where we were treated to a beautiful concert by a young Croatian lady with operatic voice.

After this inspiring concert we explored the Holy Trinity Square and saw the town’s only surviving gate and passed scenic streets lined with elegant baroque and Belle Epoque buildings.

Note: My posts are a day late due to the woefully weak wifi signal aboard the ship.

Yesterday, we spent the entire day cruising the Danube coasting between Romania to the north and Bulgaria to the south. The picturesque stretch is famously known as the Iron Gate with the Carpathian Mountains to the north and the Balkan Mountains to the south. On the Bulgarian side, Trajan’s Tablet was laid to mark the construction of a Roman military road; on the Romanian side we admired the enormous rock sculpture of Dacian King Decebalus.

The Viking Lif went through the “locks” similar to that of the Panama Canal. It was fascinating to see the ship while eating breakfast raised by increasing the water level in the lock.

After breakfast, we joined the group tour to Belgrade, Serbia. Belgrade used to be the capital of Yugoslavia and is now the capital of Serbia and is one of the oldest cities in Europe. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Danube and Sava. Throughout history, the “White City” as its Serbian name translates, has been destroyed and rebuilt 20 times.

We went to see the citadel housing the Kalemegdan Fortress where it protected many of the structures that still remain intact like the Orthodox Church. The Cathedral of St. Sava is one of the largest Orthodox buildings in the world and is currently undergoing renovations.

Later that night a group of Serbian musicians and dancers gave us the best entertainment onboard so far! The show was marvelous with their colorful traditional costumes. The musicians, especially the drummer, showed off their talents and wowed everyone.

Today, we are docking in Croatia….

Like my title indicated, that’s how the Bulgarians do it!

Bulgaria is situated in the Balkan area of southeastern Europe. It borders Romania to the north (just across the Danube River); Serbia and Macedonia to the west; and Greece and Turkey to the south. Its eastern border is formed by the Black Sea.

Bulgaria like Romania and other eastern European countries used to be part of the USSR. As we drove around the city of Vidin we still saw many apartment buildings built during the communist (our guide referred to it as Socialism) regime. These building, from the outside, looked very inferior in construction and paint or concrete appeared to need repairs.

This country like most of the European countries has a very interesting and chaotic history due to the numerous conquerors that came and went. The last was the Ottoman Empire as evidenced by many of the houses’ and buildings’ architecture.

As we drove through the countryside, our tour guide pointed at many of the abandoned factories that used to “employ” Bulgarians during the communist era. Presently, the country is mostly dependent on agriculture and is famous for its yogurt and dairy products and other crops like wheat, quinoa that they export. Tonight, we drank a Bulgarian Merlot that tasted better than many of the Merlots we’ve consumed in the US.

We drove an hour to get to Belogradchik Rocks. These rocks are supposed to have formations that bear the names like, “Adam and Eve”, “The Bear”, “The Madonna”, etc which were all formed millions of years ago; however, we were all disappointed as the snow was falling like crazy and just distorted any rock formations that we were supposed to see.

After a brief coffee and pit stop. off we went to Babini Vidini Kuli fortress or simply known as Baba Vida – the best preserved medieval fortifications in all of Bulgaria.

When we reached Baba Vida fortress it snowed more and when many of our fellow cruisers saw how steep the climb is to reach the other levels of the fortress and they begged off to go back to the bus. But I wouldn’t miss this opportunity!

The ascent was a slow process since you have to hold on to the rail and many of the cruisers were not wearing shoes appropriate for snow not to mention that some of them may not have been physically prepared for such climb.

There was a stray mixed St. Bernard’s dog who the guide said was the village dog. He went up the ascent with us and sat in a higher level and just watched us pass by probably thinking, “suckers!” On our way back down the dog just flew by us and went sliding and running at the same time while everyone cheered him on! For me, that was the highlight of the tour.

The rails were wooden and was probably very sturdy and safe when they were new but there were several that were shaky and ready to break and the only thing keeping them together was a duct tape!

After the somewhat disappointing tours (we blame it on Mother Nature) we went back to the ship for a late lunch. At least lunch was excellent. I was so famished I ordered hamburger and got a plate of spaghetti in the buffet line.

At 3:30 pm we had a visit from the local dance group whose ages ranged from 8 to 18 and wowed everyone with their talents showing off their traditional dances. Just like yesterday, many of us danced with them.

Tomorrow we will be cruising all day and will not stop in any port until the following morning. Time to catch up with my naps…

We docked in Russe (or Rousse), Bulgaria which was just across the Danube River from Giurgiu, Romania where we embarked on our first day of the river cruise. It was still cold when we left at 9:00 am to go on a tour. Again, our tour guide, a Bulgarian lady apologetically informed us that they have never seen snow at the end of March! Global Warming changes????

We did a little drive through to the coastal city of Russe which used to be an outpost of the Roman Empire. Here too, the Ottoman Empire’s railway was inaugurated and considered the longest span over the river and the only link between Bulgaria and Romania.

It took us two hours to reach Veliko Tarnovo, a fascinating medieval town built around the Tsaravets Hills. We had a magnificent view of the surroundings from the bridge with a backdrop of the monument of the Assenev Brothers considered the heroes of the town for defying the Greeks.

The next stop was the restaurant where we had a quick coffee break and to use the bathrooms getting ready for another drive to the mountains.

We went to see the medieval fortress that reminded me of the Great Wall of China.

After strolling the fortress grounds the most awaited hour for the day – lunch! We all went to this rustic restaurant and hotel where we were entertained while tasting the Bulgarian cuisine. Yours truly joined the dancers and they taught me Bulgarian dances. I asked for the local beer and I was served Tuborg (a beer from Denmark)!

Now rested, we proceeded to Arbanasi, rich in history and Greek influence. We entered a medieval Orthodox Church with no windows with lots of icons painted on the walls and ceilings. Sort of stories from the bible for those practitioners who could not read.

After the church we went to see what the house of a rich local merchant looked like.

Exhausted after the long drive and tours, we all ended napping on the way back to our boat.

The Lif ship is a very little cruise ship meant to coast along rivers, hence, its name Viking River Cruise. Ours has a crew of about 50 with cruisers no more than 200. Yes, what a big difference with that of those enormous cruise ships with thousands of passengers! Trini and I decided to be Viking cruisers from now on….