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….

 

Yesterday, the charming city of Bucharest was practically buried in snow! Our Viking tour guide apologetically told us that this is a most unusual weather at this time of the year in Bucharest. But the show must go on, so we all waited for the five buses to pick up all the cruisers and take us to a couple of highlights in Bucharest – The Parliament Palace and the Museum.

Our first stop was the enormous Parliament Palace which was very impressive since this is the second largest (by square footage) government building in the world – second only to the Pentagon!

The massive interior and the giant chandeliers were awesome. The inside of the palace was sparse with artworks and decorations compared to the other palaces we’ve already visited but very impressive nevertheless. Nicolae Caecescu built this humongous palace more for his enormous ego than anything else. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your nationalistic sentiments), the  communist dictator never got to give a speech on the balcony nor did he see its completion.

Our next stop was the National Museum which was equally impressive with its historical collections of artifacts and jewelries, crowns, weapons, etc. Our guide really educated us on how this beautiful country was created – starting with the Dacians until the merging of Transylvania, Valachia and Moldavia. Very interesting history!

After the tour we went to Pescarus restaurant where we enjoyed the regional cuisine and watched folkloric dances.

After lunch, we had an hour and a half to get to Giurgiu where our boat or small ship was located.

Bucharest is a very charming and vibrant city and I wish the weather was different from what it is now so we can really enjoy exploring it on foot. Maybe we can come back in the future when it is warmer to be able to appreciate its unique charm….

Trini and I have been practically cooped up in our hotel room for the last couple of days due to the snow. Temperature was hovering at 0 Celsius (32 F); however, the wind chill factor can make it feel below zero easily. We’ve done some walking but the slushy pavements turned us off. We’ll just have to wait until tomorrow when Viking Cruise will take us on a guided tour.

Bucharest has almost two million people within the city limits and is considered to be the sixth most populous city in Europe after Berlin, London, Madrid, Rome and Paris. It is a booming city that is undergoing a lot of infrastructure projects. It used to be known in the past as The Little Paris due to its similarities in the buildings’ façades with those of The City of Light.

Yesterday afternoon, we met with Izabella who I met in June 2017 while walking the Camino Francés (a walking pilgrimage that starts in St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela). Izabella and her friend, Lucy came to meet us in our hotel and we ended up in the Italian restaurant inside the hotel. Sharing some light snacks and a bottle of Romanian Merlot, we reminisced the joys and hardships of the Camino and how it had affected our lives.

We parted but agreed to meet for dinner along with Claudia Dan who I also met when I did my first Camino in 2015. Mugur Nuta, also a Romanian who I met in my 2017 Camino made a reservation at Caru’ cu Bere (The Beer Wagon). Unfortunately, Mugur did not make it as he had a business at Brasov and could not make it back on time.

Caru’ cu Bere is a very popular hangout for locals and tourists. It was established in 1879 as a local brewery and evolved into a restaurant serving great food and beer. They also provide the guests lively folkloric dances with colorful costumes.

Tonight is our last night at Radisson Blu Hotel. Viking Cruise will take us on a tour of the city tomorrow after breakfast and will take us to our River Cruise Ship after that. Trini is starting to count the days when we get back to the US, She misses our grandson, Geo very much…

 

Our hotel, Radisson Blu provided us an excellent reading book in our room pertaining to Romania. It was fascinating to know that fossils of the oldest human bones (Neanderthal) was found in present day Romania almost 35,000 years ago.

During the Dark Ages this territory was fought over and conquered by numerous tribes or peoples including the Goths, Visigoths, Huns, Gepids, Avars, Bulgarians and eventually Slavs.

“The earliest written evidence of people living in the territory of the present-day Romania comes from Herodotus in book IV of his Histories written c. 440 BCE. Herein he writes that the tribal confederation of the Getaewere defeated by the Persian Emperor Darius the Great during his campaign against the Scythians.^[11] The Dacians, widely accepted as part of the Getae described earlier by the Greeks, were a branch of Thracians that inhabited Dacia (corresponding to modern Romania, Moldova, northern Bulgaria and surroundings)”. – Wikipedia

Being in Istanbul yesterday, it was interesting to connect Turkey’s history during the Ottoman Empire’s rule and that of Romania who resisted in vain despite seeking assistance with other Balkan states.

Like many of the Eastern European countries, Romania became a satellite of the former USSR. It was a stable country until the Red Army occupied it in 1944. Romania’s deterioration continued under the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu (he was summarily executed in 1989) who ruled for forty years. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Bloc returned Romania to Europe.

Today, Romania continues to grow economically along with the other European Union countries (Romania joined the EU in 2007). It has a stable population of over 19 million. Like Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Catalan, Romanian is a Romanic language (I recognized lots of word with Latin roots).

This morning, Trini and I decided to go out and do some exploration. We donned our favorite water-resistant jackets on top of layers and layers of clothing. Careful of avoiding slippery ice we slowly trudged the sidewalks choosing the fresh snow from the slushy ones (more slippery). A few folks (some women) were shoveling their store fronts which we were thankful.

Several blocks after we started, we decided it was time to go inside a café to get warm and eat breakfast. French Bakery, a cozy café with bicycles hung on the walls for decor was the first open one we saw. We sat there for over an hour just like most of the customers (young ones who just wanted to use the free WiFi).

Warmed up and hunger satisfied, we went looking for a supermarket to buy fruits and bottled water. After asking at least three locals who were very eager to help, we found a small but well-stocked supermarket.

We are now in the warmth and comfort of our hotel room looking for a nice movie in the HBO channel to pass the evening.

 

 

 

 

Two different worlds, two different weathers! My last blog compared Turkey with other Western countries and how different their cultures are. It can be said the same with their climates.

Yesterday after checking out of our hotel at noon, Trini and I went to eat lunch across from our hotel one last time to eat Turkish food. Although it was sunny the breeze made it much more colder. We ordered café Americano to be on the safe side. The waiter brought us the pita bread on steroids. Entree for both of us was chicken (had enough of lamb and fish).

We left for the airport at 3:00 pm. We passed through several security screening points before we got inside the gate terminal. As it was still early the monitor still did not show what gate we should proceed to for our flight. So we sat in a bar nibbling peanuts and sipping our favorite liquid diets – beer for me and white wine for Trini!

We flew Turkish Airlines again and even though the flight only lasted an hour we were given hot sandwiches and drinks. What a contrast with Norwegian Airlines who didn’t feed us nor gave us water for ten hours! You had to buy everything and the flight attendants couldn’t care less if you died of thirst.

I’m glad that I made arrangements for the hotel to meet us at the airport, we didn’t have to stand in the cold queueing for taxis. I spotted my name right away and the driver took our luggage cart. As soon as we stepped out of the arrival terminal, we felt a freezing swoosh of biting wind hit our faces! Last week, temperatures in Eastern Europe were much more bearable – cold but not snowing! Oh well.

Brrrrrr……

 

 

Spontaneity adds spice to your life. Sunday morning and the streets of Sultanahmet – Istanbul’s old district where our hotel is located were still sparsely traversed by tourists and locals alike. Trini and I walked aimlessly just savoring the crispy cool air and enjoying the unique aroma of unfamiliar food wafting in the air. We saw the ubiquitous Starbucks and I was super-excited to be able to drink something that my palate is used to – Pike’s Peak dark roast. I slowly sipped the steaming “black gold” as we continued with our stroll.

Trini announced that she wanted to try the famous Turkish Baths. Two days ago, the carpet store owner recommended a clean and affordable hamami and wrote down the name. Trini asked the street vendor the location and directed us to this “underground” bath. While Trini went in to enjoy the baths, body scrub, and hot oil massage, I sat on the park bench and finished my already lukewarm Starbucks and watched people pass me by. I opted out of this unique experience since I was told that a guy would be doing the services to me – NO THANKS!

After Trini was done with the pampering we again continued with our aimless wandering when we spotted another ubiquitous American fast food establishment – the worldwide famous McDonalds. Eating Turkish food three days in a row was enough for us. We stood in the long line with a large group of teenagers and ordered number 1 meal – cheeseburgers, McNuggets, and fries. My stomach thanked me for this treat!

We sat in the Hippodrome near the Blue Mosque, by this time, the tourists and locals were already out and about. It was fascinating to listen to the prayers broadcasted from the two minarets’ (pointed spires) loudspeakers answering each other while the people continued on with their activities.

After a couple of hours we went back to the hotel to rest since we had the Bosphorus Dinner and Show Cruise at 7:30 pm. Istanbul by night is awesome with its lighted bridges and illuminated historical structures.

A bus took us to our boat. It was raining by the time we boarded the cruise boat but the water was relatively calm when we went out to the Bosphorus. We were served the usual Turkish fare – small servings of vegetables, spread, yogurt, breads and salad. Trini and I chose the grilled fish (which was overcooked and rubbery) for the entree. As the alcohol drinks were “bottomless” you know that they would be serving “cheapie” wine. After trying a glass of red I shifted to a draft beer.

We sat with a couple of interesting young ladies from Sri Lanka and India. The Sri Lankan is a doctor working in Dublin, Ireland.

The show was fabulous except we were seated in the farthest table and had trouble watching the performers. They performed several Turkish folk dances, belly dancing, and other whirling performances that really garnered applauses and whistles from the male audiences!

After dinner it was party time! This was really a party boat. Loosened with alcohol the guests let their hair down and danced the night away! Young and old alike danced the traditional Turkish dances and snapped selfies as a keepsake although the professional photographers took enough and you can buy it for 20 Turkish Lira (about 6 USD).

It was almost midnight when the boat pulled to port. People were tired. full, drunk, and happy and somewhat “poorer” but what counts is the fabulous experience they just went through that night!

In summary, Istanbul is quite magical in the sense that it is a culture that is very different from the Christian and Western countries. The chanting of prayers at designated time is so enchanting and captivating even if you don’t understand what the Imams were saying. Istanbul’s narrow streets seemed to be haphazardly constructed without any consideration of future conveyances traversing them. Fortunately, the Turkish temperament is much more laid back than the average American driver, otherwise, road rage would ensue at every other narrow street corner. Their women are so beautiful that the overused adjective – exquisite – is the only word I can think of to accurately describe their beauty. But then again, we’ve only spent four days here and I am only basing these observations from this short period of time. But one thing I can say is – Istanbul should be in the bucket list of everyone’s places to visit!