Passage To Eastern Europe Viking River Cruise
Day 9: Saturday, November 05, 2022 - Donji Milanovac, Lepenski Vir, and Gobulac, Serbia
The day's statistics:
- Weather: mid-50s, overcast
- Steps: 10,846 Linda; 13,095 Steve
Usually, the first entry of the day has something to do with breakfast.
Today, though, since I woke at about 12:30 AM, I happened to notice some light from outside near the curtain. I
opened the curtain and looked out.
I quietly opened the slider and got a couple pictures.
Overnight, while underway, we passed from the Eastern European timezone to the Central European timezone.
While this generally wouldn't be a big deal, in this case, our cell phones were picking up a tower in Bulgaria
or in Serbia. The reason this matters is because Bulgaria was in a different time zone than Serbia. So a
couple times our phones were correct, but then they weren't. One of us synced our FitBits® when our
phone was picking up the right time zone, so at least that was usually right.
This screwed with the time tags on our pictures too.
Stepping into the shower this morning I happened to notice that there was some water seeping up from below.
It just didn't seem right to me, and I'm sure there is some sort of barrier to prevent this from being a problem.
But I took a picture of it and told a staff at the Guest Services desk.
This morning's breakfast was with Mariam and Nina from Canada, and Leslie and Jon from the UK.
We had our usualy breakfast today of egg benedict for Linda, and buffet for me; with pineapple juice and coffee.
While I'm not capturing pictures of breakfast everyday - if you want to see a picture of egg benedict, just go back to
Day 5 - I did capture this new one becaues there were two items that weren't there before.
First. the "poultry sausage" that looks like little hot dogs, tasted like little hot dogs. Second, there was fried rice on the breakfast
buffet. While I've seen pizza on a Chinese buffet in the states, I've never seen fried rice on a breakfast buffet (not that there's
anything wrong with it, especially considering the Brits frequently have [what we call] "baked beans" with breakfast).
The first half of today was going to be spent underway. The mountains essentially on the east / north / right
were the Carpatean mountains of Romania, and the ones on the west / south / left were the Bulgarian Balkan
mountains. In addition to some sights, we went through locks.
On our first cruise - the Danube Waltz - I
recorded actually lowering while in a lock.
Here, I just captured a couple before and after shots for effect.
Another lock's before and after, with some mountains in the background on the last image.
We had started the sightseeing in our cabin. Eventaully, I headed up to the lounge for pictures, and Linda followed
shortly thereafter.
The white "towers" at this lock are related to the hydropower system at this lock. This lock is the largest
hydropower plant on the Danube.
A giant flag on a mountain side that looks more like a county flag than a country flag because the only countries
it could represent - based on where we were - are Romania, Bulgaria, or Serbia. None look like that.
The second flag image, however, seems to remove the question as to what the flag is for as it seems to honor
Yugoslav communist revolutionary and Bulgarian statesman President Tito. The name in the first image is
obviously cut off by the railing.
The item in the lower left corner of this image is not garbage, but is actually a fisherman's net marker.
Some more sights, including some fishermen. Sorry about some reflections.
As the ship was progressing, Adrian said "There is something special coming up, but some of you have already seen it."
I did, though I didn't think that the red cross was that "special" (with no disrespect to the cross).
I was in the front of the lounge. The Aquavit Terrace - I'd say 20 feet deep - and the bow - probably another 20 feet -
were between me and the head of the ship. I point this out because there wasn't that much more of a lead anyone in
the front could have had. If we were still in our room, perhaps, but not from this point in the lounge.
I mention this because I think Adrian's comment may have been a little early because as we proceeded a little further,
it was evident that THIS is the "something special" that Adrian was originally referring to.
If you squint, you can probably see the cross on the peak above the head.
The image from a little futher above is NOT a crop of the image just above, that was a crop of one a little further
downstream.
This sculpture was in honor of the King. It is the largest stone sculpture in Europe at 40 meters tall by 10 meters
wide (about 130 feet by 33 feet).
This is a monestary.
The signal house. In the past, before radar and other technologies, the ball would be up or down
depending on whether traffic was clear.
Coninuting on.
A mileage - here, in kilometers - marker (should it be called a meterage marker? Maybe it should just be called
a distance marker, how about that?).
The opening to the Patavani cave. The opening is only about 20 meters (64 feet) wide, and the cave is 64 meters
(just over 200 feet) deep.
At merely 100 meters - about 325 feet, or a little less than a football field including the end zones - this is the
narrowest spot on the navigatable portion of the Danube. It is also the deepest spot at about 8 meters - 26 feet.
We made our way to the upper deck to do some laps because, well, we were doing an auful lot of sitting this
morning, rather than racking up the steps on an excursion.
Our very first ship had a chess board with two foot tall pieces on it. This ship lacked the game, but had a
shuffleboard court and a small putting green and, like most ships, a walking path (the narrowish light gray path).
We came to a fork in the river, and veered right.
Shortly before docking at the nearby port, the Serbian flag was raised.
On our walk around the top deck, we had an opportunity to take a couple pictures of the wheel house.
Let me first provide some background in case you aren't familiar / don't remember some of the technology of these
ships. Because these are river ships and sometimes have to pass under bridges or go through locks wherein height
may be a challenge, everything on the top deck has the ability to be lowered. Obviously some of this is manual, but
everything on the top deck can be lowered - the railings, canopies, antenna, and, of course, the wheelhouse.
While most of the components have hinges and just bet lowered to the surface, that isn't possible or even practical
for the wheelhouse. The wheelhouse has to be lowered in its entirety.
The wheelhouse itself actually sits atop a giant scissor lift. When the time comes, the wheelhouse just gets lowered
into the space below it. Here is what that space looks like.
Back to cruising...
We started to approach our next port, Ilok.
If you ever wondered if they have seagulls in Europe, the answer is yes, yes they do.
Some riverside fishing. There are at least 8 poles, and no more than 5 fishermen.
While a lone guy sitting on a riverbank fishing isn't a big deal, when I was looking at the picture, I discovered that
his fishing pole is long. Really long. Really, really long. It ends at the magenta mark in the lower left corner
of the image. And the cats in the picture were going after the bait and or catches in the buckets and the fishermen
had to shoo them away.
As can be seen in an image higher up, there are two buildings with banners on their sides.
The text on the right one reads:
Knex Milan Obrenovic
(21st October, 1839, Kragujevac to 8th July, 1839, Belgrade)
As the first heir from the Obrenovic family he was a Serbian duke from 13th June to 8th July, 1839. He was
He was the elder son of duke Milos Obrenovic I and duchess Ljubica, as well as duke Mihojlo's brother, in Serbian
history he is known as the ruler with the shortest reign (26 days only). Donji Milanovac was named after him.
Some ruins of a bridge across the river.
We shared a cup of coffee and sat outside the lounge on one of the love seats.
As we waited for the ship to finish docking and our 1:30 excursion, we headed to the restaurant for lunch.
Today we sat with Jill and David.
We reviewed the menu.
Linda had the Creamy tomato soup, Open-faced freshly baked croissant, and nothing (for dessert).
I had the Assorted crudité, Braised beef roll, and Banana split (though Linda did have a couple bites of my
dessert, but that wasn't why she didn't have a dessert).
This was one of those times where the ship would stop, let people off for an excurion, and then those travelers
would meet the ship in its next port.
By 1:30 the 24 of us were on the bus for our excursion, and our guide was Ivan. Next to the parking lot there
were some vendors selling some items.
We had a bit of a drive through the city, along the Danube in the area of the Iron Gate Gorge, and into the hills.
Here are some sights from near the parking lot, and then on our way to our next destination.
There was a section with a few small houses. These are supposed to be summer homes.
Our target destination was an outdoor museum called Kapetan Misin Breg, in Donji Milanovac.
This is a facility that has a lot - more than 400 - of sculptures. None are actually for sale. There
was also a restaurant. Some of the pieces were spectacular, and other were, shall we say, peculiar.
The owner talked to us, with Ivan acting as a translater, about the facility, while we enjoyed a light snack.
The Danube, stitched, as seen from the outdoor cooking and eating area.
Flowers in bloom on the property.
Our location selfie.
Our hour visit at the museum was over, and it was time to head to our next destination.
Not far from the outdoor museum, there were some bee houses.
This rock supposedly gets hit by lightening. A lot. It is believed to have a lot of iron in it - which explains it.
After less than a half hour, we were at our next destination: Lepenski Vir.
This was a dig site. There were house foundations, bodies, and artifacts that dated back between eight and ten
thousand years. This settlement is considered the "first city of Europe".
We arrived at the parking lot where there were stray puppies. Sometimes these puppies are given homes by visitors.
Here are a couple of them - they're cute.
Rather than retype all this, here is the information placard about the facility.
We had a little bit of a walk from the entrance to the dig location. Along the path we came across
a couple period houses.
A Serbian flag was flying on the property.
Some flowers in bloom.
The orange is the iron in the rock.
After what was probably about an 800 meters (about a half mile), we finally arrived at the excavation site.
While this isn't the real and original site, this is where it was moved to. The original site was "lower" (topographically)
and the artifacts were moved to this permanent location before the original area was purposefully flooded due to an added
damn on the Danube. The artifact's were layed out in the same pattern as they were original discovered.
After entering the facility, we proceeded to a theater to view a documentary about the dig, site, and the
discovery of artifacts.
Before viewing the layout of the discovered village, we continued to a room where there were individual
displays that included said artifacts, as well as some human remains.
A figurine, altar, small pot, small amphorae, sewing needle with eye, scraper, hoe, and awls; all circa 5900-5500 BCE.
Also on display were some skeletons.
In all there were 333 sets of remains found at the site. What is truly facinating is that only two - TWO - teeth were
missing, and they ALL died of natural causes.
Outside the facility, on the opposite of the entrance were some period huts. These were pretty much just used to
sleep in, primarily because they were so small.
We were scheduled to be back on the bus by 4:30, which included the return walk, giving us a little time
to walk around, and or do some shopping in the little gift area (I call it an area and not a shop).
The first set of images were captured from the walkway at the top of the village ruins, while the last is a stitch
of the entire village from the platform at the bottom.
We were done at the facility and headed back to the bus.
When we got to the bus, we found that there were a couple dogs looking for a new home or perhaps something to eat.
The sun had already set, and it was rapidly getting dark, so while we headed to our next stop - which happened
to be where the ship was too - there were no more pictures taken.
The ship was docked adjacent to our last stop.
Not only did WE (those that took the excurion) get to visit the Golubac Fortress,
everyone else on the ship that wanted to did as well.
We think visiting at night provided for better photographs, though others may not agree. As we approached...
Before entering the fortress, a selfie.
The fortress went through a reconstruction.
For some reason, at one time, the fortress was used sort of as a tunnel - and a roadway ran through the middle of it.
This is the archway that once had cars running through it. The grooves were cut into the arch to accomodate trucks.
This "cannonball" that "struck" the fortress is not real. Rather, it was put there to fake out invaders by
subtly telling them "we've been hit by cannonballs and it didn't even hurt".
A small catapult, and a trebuchet.
The pictures don't exactly reflect the height and grandure of these wall. There is a path - though a very steep one -
that traverses the front of the hill, with the railing posts visible in the first image.
We headed down a short walkway to the septoganal / octoganal / whatever-al area used as a guard stronghold.
The lowest level is no longer accessible due to the height of the Danube.
From this vantage point, here's another shot of the fortress.
A dedication / memorial / whatever plaque - it isn't translated.
There was a building within the fortress that housed a small museum, with some original artifacts,
including chainmail wear, weapons, and some armor.
An interesting "mobile" made of arrows.
A replica of Serbian Gospel from the 12th century.
There is a page missing and it was found in Russia. It has a description of a woman's body and is believed to be the
first "erotic story" ever printed.
Let's just say the walls of the fortress were very thick.
An archive image of what the fortress looked like before the renovation and, especially, before the damn was built.
Our visit had come to an end, and it was time to walk all the way to the ship. It had to be at least 200 meters,
possibly as many as 300 meters. It was quite the trek...
When we returned onboard, we dropped our things off in our cabin and headed to the dining room for dinner.
Tonight's dinner was buffet, themed "Taste of Balkans". We had a similar night on each of our previous two cruises.
We ate with Mary Elise and Linda, and Heather and Dottie.
There was bread (as always) and also some meats and cheeses already on the table as an appetizer. The spreads were
Vinete (white), Ajvar (red), and Kőrőzőtt (orange).
We had a shot of brandy.
Our first course was a soup.
The entree was a sampler. The plate included some roasted potatoes, grilled vegetables, rice pilaf,
roasted chicken, roasted pork, and lamb skewers with yogurt sauce.
Linda gave me some of her entree so she could have some salad.
I ventured up to the buffet. All the items were available for anyone that wanted more.
I wanted a little more lamb. That was the ONLY item that wasn't actually on the buffet. But I was told I could ask
my server for more. I asked Gede and a few minutes later he returned with more. A LOT more. Seven skewers more. I asked
around the table if anyone wanted any, and no one did. And I don't like to waste food, so... down the hatch.
I neglected to take a before picture, but I did get an after shot.
And then there were desserts including: mango ice cream, Lokum (a jelled-like confection), cherry strude,
baklava, Orahnjaca.
After talking with our acquaintences for a while, we eventaully returned to our cabin for the evening.
Fun facts:
- Serbia is [supposedly] the SECOND largest city with a Serbian population. Chicago [supposedly] has more.
- Serbia uses two alphabets, Serbian and Ceralic.