It has been two weeks since the conclusion of our river trip and I am now home in Michigan, catching up on these very important last diary posts. Our final three cities – Belgrade, Bucharest and Istanbul – certainly deserve their due…and Bulgaria must be discussed, too.… Friday, July 6, 2012: Belgrade is a gray and gritty city. You would be too if you had been completely destroyed 44 times, witnessed 115 major battles, had 40 different …
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So, we have discussed the ship and the service on Uniworld’s River Duchess, so let’s take a look at what passengers do while on board. First, let me say that my perception of river cruising was sitting on the top deck for hours at a time watching the scenery and small towns go by. I was wrong. For a couple of reasons: First, river cruises in Europe are port-intensive. This means they stop almost every day …
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One thing we have learned about river cruising is that it is very tour-intensive. On our trip we had tours every day but one and most of them departed by 9 a.m. So I have been writing a lot about what we saw and did but not so much about the ship experience itself. So, let’s backtrack a bit and talk about the lovely River Duchess. This river ship is one of 12 in the Uniworld Boutique …
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“The Serbs began a campaign of ethnic cleansing, systematically removing Croats from their territory — often by murdering them. The bloodiest siege was at the town of Vukovar, which the Yugoslav army surrounded and shelled relentlessly for three months…” VUKOVAR and OSIJEK, Croatia – We are now in Croatia and tomorrow we visit Serbia. These are two of the major players in the breakup of Yugoslavia. It is hard to believe that these wars were so recent. …
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MOHACS, Hungary – The past two days have absolutely sped by. We toured for most of the day both days in wilting heat. (I don’t think I have ever experienced such a stretch of 100-degree days anywhere.) As a result, when coming into the cool River Duchess at the end of an afternoon, all you can think about is a shower…and, just maybe…a nap. After several visits to large European capitals, these days were spent visiting …
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BUDAPEST, Hungary – We had heard many times that Budapest was one of the world’s most beautiful cities and now we understand. It is, indeed. We entered the city midday on the River Duchess in grand manner. Capt. van Meerveld sailed us all the way through downtown on the Danube and our cruise manager Bart Roelofs narrated, explaining all the sites such as the spectacular Parliament Building and St. Stephen’s Basilica. We easily grasped the main …
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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – The River Duchess left Vienna, Austria, at 3 a.m. this morning and traveled about 40 miles down the Danube to another country. In fact, a very brand new country: Slovakia.Over its long history, this small country has been ruled by many powers, including 400 years under the Hapsburgs, but is best known to most Americans as the Slovakia part of Czechoslovakia. That country was formed in 1918, after World War I, and was …
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VIENNA, Austria– Check off another city on my to-visit list. The lovely city of Vienna, Austria. I had never been to this famous city of Strauss, Mozart and Beethoven and so was pleased to learn that we were going to spend a couple of days here at the beginning of our river cruise. Yesterday morning we flew from Amsterdam to Vienna and boarded Uniworld’s River Duchess at about 1 p.m. Everything went perfectly, from the airport pick-up …
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We have crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary 2 and spent two days in Amsterdam and a day at Floriade, the world horticultural exhibition located about two hours outside of that city in Venlo. (www.floriade.com) I will be writing about those is upcoming posts. However, tomorrow we fly from Amsterdam to Vienna, Austria, where we board the River Duchess for the beginning of a two-week river trip. It begins with a few days in Vienna, …
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