We went on a Viking river cruise from Istanbul to Vienna. We were on the ship Viking Rinda in cabin 341, again one of the explorer suites that we have become accustomed to, this time on the starbord side. Rinda is one of their older ships, and there were a few small differences from the more recent ones we have been on in previous cruises (like fewer USB ports in the room), but it was basically very familiar and nice. We are pretty much hooked on explorer suites. The cruise started with an extension in Istanbul (in the Westin Istanbul Nisantasi Hotel, which is a nice place). I had no idea Istanbul was such a huge city -- population 16 million (although the guide said 20 million), which is more than 18% of the entire population of Turkey. Starting on the Black Sea in Turkey, the cruise followed the Danube through Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria. Except for Budapest and Vienna these were all new to us.
The Istanbul extension started with an excursion to the Blue Mosque, a famous old (completed 1617) mosque. The second photo shows a couple panels on a pillar that have been restored to the original blue color. The rest have been allowed to fade naturally.
Blue
Mosque
We then visited the Hagia Sophia, a very old mosque. It was completed in 507, but the site was a Christian church from 360 to 1453. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it served as a mosque, having its minarets added shortly later. It contains a number of ancient, truly amazing, Christian mosiacs, some of which have been partially hidden. For example, the third to last photo shows a madonna and child in the main area of the mosque that has been partly hidden by fabric strips from the ceiling. And the last photo shows a holy family that one sees over a door if one looks back after exiting.
So long to Istanbul. "Bayram Sevinci" means "joyous celebration". Our visit to Istanbul was during Ramadan, but this was the only obvious expression we saw of it.
There's a gap here because Debby got food poisoning in Istanbul and we basically lost a day. The hotel got her medical attention and a doctor had her on an IV in the hotel room with the bag taped to the wall. He filled her with antibiotics and by that afternoon she was pretty much OK, although her stomach was somewhat delicate for a couple days. So next stop was Bucharest, the capital of Romania. We didn't take a real lot of pictures here, mostly because it was pretty depressing. Huge ugly govenment buildings, and buildings used by people had room air conditioners through the walls below most windows -- with the electric cables for the A/C's festooned along the exterior walls. Obviously no central air in most buildings -- I have no idea how they get heat in the winter. Most of the non-government buildings were pretty close to decrepit. Romania was on the Nazi side in WWII and after the war was occupied by the Soviet Union and the goverment followed repressive policies. One was to use middle class and professionals to build a canal between the Black Sea and the Danube, cutting off a navigable but lengthy loop of the river. Tens of thousands of the workers died and their bodies were tossed into the concrete of the canal. In 1965 Nicolae Ceaușescu took over and became an absolute dictator, modelling his policies in imitation of North Korea. He ruined the economy of the country, bringing a large portion of the population to starvation. One of our guides remembers his family standing in line for hours to get a loaf of bread. One of the buildings he had built is apparenetly the second largest building in the world -- after the Pentagon. It is huge above ground but goes nine stories deep underground. Ceaușescu was unable to fulfill his dream of addressing thousands, as in North Korea, from the balcony of this building. He was executed by firing squad before the building was completed -- on live TV broadcast on Christmas day. Those Romanians really know how to celebrate. Later Michael Jackson gave a concert from that balcony and opened it by booming, "Hello, Budapest". This did not exacly endear him to the citizens of Bucharest, although the DVD of that concert has had a huge commercial success. The revolution that toppled the repressive Communist dictatorship was in 1989, but after their supposed return to "democracy" more than thirty years ago it doesn't seem that they have recovered very successfully. The guides seemed to imply, without saying it straight out, that the country has been hampered by widespread corruption.
In the photos below the second to last is some Roman ruins, the last a Black Pearl look-alike used for tourists.
On to Constanța (pronounced Constantsa), a major Black Sea port at the mouth of the Danube. We met the ship there, and Chris and Katelyn (Debby's son and his girlfriend) joined us. They took many of the same excursions as we did throughout the trip and afterward went on for a couple days in Prague
We visited the Murfatlar winery outside Constanța, a gigantic operation that apparently produces most of the wine in Rumania.While there we had a wine tasting and we really liked the Merlot, so we bought two bottles. Amusingly, the retail cost locally, from the internet, was €17/bottle but at the winery we paid €35/bottle. Oh well -- it's not available at all in the States and I'm sure we will enjoy it now that we got it home in our luggage. The wine tasting had a small band that was not bad at all, particularly the hammered dulcimer (or whatever that instrument is). An amusing incident occurred when we were leaving the winery. We were descending several stories of stairs in single file and those of us in front recognized the ground floor, left the stairs and went out into the parking lot. There was a gap in the line, however, and the rest of the tour kept going down into the basement of the building. Chris dove back into the stairway, went down and got the lost people back.
The cruise got delayed by 12 hours because the port of Constanța was totally closed due to fog. This had the Rinda people pretty annoyed, since the ship could easily have navigated safely in those conditions, but there was nothing they could do. So the next few days had improvised excursions, some of which actually turned out to be very good indeed, until they caught up with the schedule. I can imagine a winery employee getting a call at 2 AM saying, "We'd like to bring 150 people for a wine tasting this afternoon. Can you handle it?" But our next excursion was the Architectural Museum of Adamclisi and then the Dervent Monastery. The former had Roman ruins, the latter was a church under construction that they let us into even though it was incomplete. That explains why it seemed to me a rather strange place unlike any church I have been in.
Now on to Pleven, Bulgaria at which we visited the Pleven Panorama. This is an amazing display that depicts the events of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–78, specifically the five-month Siege of Plevna which contributed to the liberation of Bulgaria after five centuries of Ottoman rule. The museum starts on the ground floor with drawings by children depicting events of that period. One goes on to paintings depicting the battles, then to the panorama which is a large round observation area under a dome that completely encloses it. The dome has a realistic sky above, and below, near the viewer. a collection of physical objects like trenches, military equipment and the odd body. These objects connect seamlessly into the painting on the dome. It is almost impossible to discern where objects end and painting takes over, so skillfully is it done.
Along with Romania I guess we got a glimpse of the blood-soaked Balkans.
We then continued to a church in Pleven, the "Chapel of St. George the Victorious".
On to Belgrade, capital of Serbia and the church of St. Sava. Bur first through a lock or two. These locks are a lot bigger than those on the Rhine, which are almost exactly the size of the Viking ships. The locks on the Danube can accomodate a barge or two along with the Viking ship. After the church an ice cream snack, a walk through a park that did not result in any very memorable photos, and then back on the river again.
Now Novi Sad, Serbia and something a bit different after all these churches -- a Jewish synagogue and a short concert. The mezzo was quite good and very expressive. Here are a couple Youtubes of her solo and in concert: Oganj - Jana Rancic - Magla padnala live, Jana Rančić - Marijo bela kumrijo, Jana Rančić - Moje milo banjačanče
Another wine tasting in Ilok, Croatia this time in a winery with eggs for fermentation as well as the usual metal vats. The castle is near Šarengrad , Croatia. Then some local talent in the lounge of the ship in transit.
Now to Pécs, an ancient city in Southern Hungary near the Croatian border, and the Pécs Cathedral, including Roman ruins.
First arriving in Budapest, then Hungarian horsemen, near Budapest. The horsemen were amazing, particularly the guy standing on the backs of two horses and driving three in front of him. The circled the field three times, and the last time they came around the turn toward us they were going at a flat out gallop. Past us so fast I didn't get a very good photo. I couldn't help feeling that things like this might have happened in a Roman arena a loong time ago.
Budapest. The Rinda moored in probably the most scenic spot in the river, just upstream of the Chain Bridge. Here are some views from the ship at night.
Still Budapest. Left late at night, got some more night pictures.
Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.
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Finally on to Vienna. The church with the red roof is the St. Francis of Assisi Church, also known as the Mexico Church, located in Mexikoplatz (Mexico Square). The square was named Mexikoplatz in 1956 to honor the support Mexico gave to Austria in 1938, when it was the only country at the time to protest the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria by Nazi Germany. Then the much larger St. Stephen's Cathedral. A little farther on the statue of the Jewish guy bound with barbed wire is a holocaust memorial.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (Vienna Museum of Fine Arts) is a major museum that we blew through too quickly for my taste. I'd like to spend a full day, or maybe two, there like we do at the Louvre. Here are some paintings I have identified:
Then the Vienna town hall and the Austrian National Library. A night view of the Mexico Church.
We went to the airport from the ship, Really early in the morning.
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