Passage to Eastern Europe Viking River Cruise
October 28, 2022 - November 11, 2022
Summary
We really enjoy the Viking River Cruises. This is now our third. While some people like to take the
ocean bound cruises - not that there is anything wrong with those - we prefer the river cruises.
We prefer having land visible from the ship at all times.
Three years ago (as of this writing) it was the "Danube Waltz" (Passau, Germany,
to Budapest, Hungary), and last year (as of this writing) it was the "Rhine Getaway"
(Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to Basel, Switzerland).
We print a packing list and a house checklist (thanks dad) before we leave. One item on the list is to turn the clocks back or ahead, in case. Since the time change was going to occur the weekend we were away, we turned them back just before leaving. And Europe turned them back the weekend we were leaving - so we didn't "gain an hour of sleep", we had to adjust for 5 hours of time zones instead of six. Or however that works.
Like last year, we planned a post-cruise extension - this year's was pre-cruise.
We left the house on Friday, October 28, and returned Friday, November 11.
The first day - the 28th - was just a travel day, and the travel started at 7:30 PM.
The extension lasted four days, from the 29th until November 1 when the actual cruise window began.
We embarked on November 2 and cruised until November 9 when we disembarked and transitioned to a hotel.
Trip statistics:
- 9,819 [approximate] miles traveled not including all the walking or location / local shuttle / buses
- 293,914 steps or 55.67 [approximate] miles walked by Linda
- 369,002 steps or 69.89 [approximate] miles walked by Steve
- 3,953 photos retained (yes, that's more than 200 pics per day... and "retained" because some images were deleted immediately after taking due to blurriness [probably] or a missed opportunity or whatever). This summary does not include all of them either, also because all phone pictures were taken twice due to the lack of preview, and some were combined to create stitches and or panaramic shots.
- 21 videos (though some were clips of the same event, then pieced together)
- 5 countries visited
- 0 PCR tests taken as they were not required like they were last year
- 4 exotic cars spotted: a Lamborghini Urus, a Bently (don't know the model), a Rolls Royce (don't know the model), and a Ferarri (not sure of the model)
This trip was great. The weather was pretty good and there was only one day with some brief drizzle.
Temps were generally in the mid to upper 50's F, with a couple days in the beginning in the 60s.
Day 1: Travel, USA
Day 2: Bucharest, Romania
Day 3: Braşov, Romania
including Peles Castle, a walking tour
Day 4: Transylvania, Romania
including Bran Castle, and driving sights
Day 5: Bucharest, Romania
including Mogoşoaia Palace and Snagov Monestary
Day 6: Bucharest, Romania
including a bus tour, the Village Museum, and a walking tour, and performers at lunch
Day 7: Veliko Ternova, Bulgaria
including the Church of the Nativity of Arbanasi, a house-museum, performers at lunch, and Veliko Tarnova
Day 8: Vidin, Bulgaria
including a bus tour, Belogradchik, Baba Vida Fortress, and a wine tasting
Day 9: Lepenski, Serbia
including river sailing, an outdoor art collection, an old town's ruins, and Golubac Fortress
Day 10: Belgrade, Serbia
including St. Stephen Cathedral, a walking tour, Kalemegdan Fortress, Naive Art Colony, and violin maker
Day 11: Osijek, Croatia
including Ilok museum and wine tasting, Holy Name of the Virgin Mary church with a soloist, Osijek Fortress, and an in-home visit
Day 12: Kalocsa, Hungary
including scenic sailing, Assumption Cathedral with organ concert, Hungarian plains with a horse show
Day 13: Budapest, Hungary
including a bus and walking tour, St. Matthias church, Market Square Mall
Day 14: Budapest, Hungary
including a bus tour, walking tour of Sentendria, Margit Kovács Museum, Gödöllő Royal Palace, St. Stephen Cathedral at night
Day 15: Travel
