Today we stopped off at our second German city, Regensberg. Again, this city was spared destruction from bombing in WW2. Being Sunday afternoon, all the German residents seemed to be out enjoying eats and drinks and the many street cafes or walking around the city or along the riverbank. We decided it was a great place to try out the bikes available on the ship and saved our legs by riding around the cobblestone streets. We were also very lucky to hear the magnificent pipe organ and world famous boy’s choir in the cathedral when we walked in on an ordination service for two new priests.
Today we visited the Czech Republic’s historical town of Cesky Krumlov. After a 2 hour coach ride through the countryside we arrived at the town and were not disappointed that we had chosen to make the trip. Unlike many European towns it has survived the bombing from wars and remains as an outstanding example of a small medieval town. The buildings were amazing, and we enjoyed a great lunch at a little restaurant beside the river which flows through the town. I climbed up through the 5 courtyards in the castle to get some spectacular photos of the town.
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Passau
After our visit to Cesky Krumlov, we rejoined our ship at our first German town of Passau and had time to wander through the historical part of the town to take some photos. Again, a feature of the town was the cathedral and the narrow little cobblestone streets.
Today we left the big cities behind and cruised down the Danube River through the UNESCO protected region of the Wachau Valley in Austria. Our first stop was at Durnstein, a delightful little town made famous by the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned during the time of the Crusades in 1193. It is also famous for everything made from apricots and we purchased some apricot soap and apricot liquor as mementos. I even got up early and went for a run through the town before all the tourists arrived. As usual, the monastery cathedral was a spectacular feature of the town.
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Melk
After leaving Durnstein we passed through the Wachau Valley which is famous for its vineyards on the hill slopes. Late in the afternoon we arrived at the town of Melk which is dominated by a massive Benedictine monastery and abbey which dates back to 1089. For over 900 years monks have lived in the abbey following the rules laid down by Saint Benedict. Over centuries the monastery has been destroyed and rebuilt several times and today it stands as a heritage protected site.
Cruising down the Danube to Vienna is a fantastic experience. I’ve tried to capture a little of the flavor in the video. Vienna is a wonderful city and although we’d been there before, we were still overawed by the incredible city and its buildings. Our favorites were the Imperial Winter Palace, Opera House, Town Hall and St Stevens Cathedral but you could include dozens of others.
Vienna is famous for its coffee and decadent cakes and we sampled coffee and Sacher Tort (named after the hotel) at the Mozart Cafe. We were also lucky enough to visit the famed Spanish Riding School in the Winter Palace and to experience an orchestral concert featuring works of Mozart and Strauss. Hope you enjoy the photos and videos.
After 2 days in Budapest it was time to join our cruise ship, Travelmarvel Diamond. As you can see, it’s pretty swanky and I’m sure we will enjoy our travels down the Danube and Rhine Rivers over the next two weeks.
We began with a night cruise to see the lights of Budapest. In the morning we will set off up the river to Vienna, capital of Austria.
Faced with the prospect of getting around Budapest with Merryl not able to walk too far, we decided to buy 2 day tickets on the Red hop-on hop-off bus. This was the best thing we could have done. Apart from getting around to see all the tourist highlights, we scored a free one-hour river cruise and used the bus to get back as close as we could to our hotel numerous times. Still did lots of walking, but Merryl’s ankle stood up OK.
Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is the combination of 2 cities, Buda on one side of the river and Pest on the other side. It has an amazing history dating back many centuries and has experienced numerous foreign invasions, wars and uprisings. 70% of the city was badly damaged in the last world war, so the people have done a remarkable job in restoring the city and its buildings.
Highlights of our sightseeing trips included a visit to the Great Indoor Market, Sandon Palace, the Jewish Synagogue, the Buda Castle and Matthias Church, Heroes Square, Nyugati Railway Station and finally a night cruise on the Danube.
The Great Market was a great place to visit. Lots of interesting food and souvenirs and the building itself dates back to the 18th century.
We walked into Nyugati Railway Station and thought we had been whisked back 80 years in time. There were people everywhere dressed in 1930’s gear and a steam train belching out smoke and steam. It turns out we had walked in on the set of a movie shoot for an advertisement for Lacoste titled “Timeless Elegance”.
We visited Heroes Square (along with all the other tourists in Budapest) which features columns and statues commemorating former Hungarian national heroes and leaders. Like Sienna in Italy, the square hosts a famous horse race.
The Buda part of Budapest is on the hilly left-hand side of the Danube River (heading upstream) and is dominated by the Buda Castle. Apart from the amazing architecture of the castle, the views from the ramparts are quite amazing.
While visiting Buda Castle we were fortunate enough to get into Sandon Palace which was once the home of the King of Hungary. Now it is used for ceremonial functions and offices for the President of the Republic.
With Merryl’s Jewish background, she was keen to visit the Jewish Synagogue which is the second largest is the world behind New York. I had great difficulty keeping the paper Kippah on my head even with a hair clip.
Welcome to the Cousins European Vacation blog – the name inspired by the famous Griswold family vacation, but we hope our adventures will not be quite as extreme as theirs. We are flying to Europe where we will be doing a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam with Travelmarvel. After that we will be travelling by train to London, picking up a motorhome and driving around the UK for 3 weeks.
We flew out of Brisbane at 2:30pm on my birthday, Friday 15th September. Our first leg to Singapore was an eight-hour stint – no sleep and I watched 2 movies. During the trip, I was surprised by several flight attendants who brought us a couple of glasses of champagne and a birthday cake with dry ice providing a substitute for candles. Nice touch from Singapore Airlines.
We were met at Singapore by a guy in a golf cart to transport us to meet our connecting flight from the adjoining terminal – much appreciated by Merryl who would have had difficulty walking the distance with her ankle recovering from a bad break and operation three months ago. With a few hours to kill, we checked out the shops and the butterfly house, before boarding an A380 for the thirteen-hour flight to Frankfurt. We tried for an upgrade but the plane was full so had to make do with “cattle class” but it was comfortable enough and we both managed to get a few hours’ sleep.
We were glad we were picked up by the golf cart again at Frankfurt – the airport is enormous and we would probably have got lost trying to get to our next departure gate. Our last leg was a one-hour flight to Budapest and we were glad to arrive at our hotel at 11am after about 27 hours travelling. Too early for bed, so it was time to start sightseeing.
