Eastern European Odyssey--Bucharest to Budapest

Greetings from Budapest, Hungary. Monday, July 5, 2010.
Yesterday morning at 6:45, along with a half dozen friends that we’ve met on the tour, we had a brief worship service on the Sun Deck looking out on the Danube and this beautiful city. We’ve added the following new pictures with this post (latest photos appear at top):

Buda Castle Fortress and Matthias Church
Budapest—Hungarian Parliament Building
Budapest Chain Bridge, Parliament, and Viking ships
Budapest Chain Bridge and Parliament
Budapest Chain Bridge and Royal Palace
Hungarian Cowboy Rides 8 Horses
Betty Learns Hungarian Wife Training
Six-Ox Wagon Team in Hungary
Flooded Danube River in Serbia
Betty on Ceaucescu’s Palace Balcony (in Bucharest)

In our last post on June 27, we told you about the high water that had trapped our ship upstream in Serbia because the ship couldn’t pass under the bridge at Novi Sad (about 50 miles upstream from Belgrade.) They say this has been the highest flood in this region in over 50 years and CNN reported that it has caused the death of over 2000 people in eastern Romania. One of the pictures with this post shows an example of the flooding on the Danube in Serbia.

Viking kept us at the Hilton in Bucharest, Romania, until Wednesday June 30, when they flew us to Belgrade and took us by bus to Novi Sad, Serbia where we boarded the Viking Primadonna. During the time in Bucharest, they organized bus excursions to the Black Sea cities of Constanta and Mamaia on Monday, and to the Bulgarian cities of Russe and Veliko Tarnovo on Tuesday. However, because these tours involved many hours of bus riding, we opted to stay in Bucharest where we had tours of the Palace of Parliament (Nicolae Ceausescu’s massive palace and government HQ), and other sites of interest.

In Belgrade on Thursday we visited the Kalemegdan Park, a medieval fortress from the Byzantine era of the 12th to 18th centuries. Then on Friday, we arrived in Vukovar, Croatia, whose people were enemies of Serbia in the Balkan wars of 1991-1999--remember that? Today, they're both applying for membership in the European Union--a good thing for future peace. But they have to change some internal laws to move away from the socialist past and adopt a true market economy before EU will admit them.

In both these countries, the guides told us that the combined total tax rate for a person's earnings comes to 78%. That’s even worse that the People’s Republic of California!

Saturday, we docked at Kolacsa, Hungary, where we visited a local horse farm that is sort of an outdoor museum, showing examples of Hungarian farm life from days past. We were treated to a horse show where the local "cowboys" demonstrated their horsemanship skills, riding beautiful horses that were mixed Arabian and Hungarian breeds (see the photos).

Then early Sunday July 4, we docked in Budapest and had a tour of the city and the scenic spots. We're docked right upstream from the Chain Bridge, the center of the historic city, with stunning views of the Royal Castle and cathedrals across the river. The Danube runs up the middle of the city, which is composed of the former two cities of Buda on the west and Pest (pronounced Pescht) on the east.

It's a beautiful city--very old Europe with beautiful Baroque building architecture. And like the Austrians, Germans and Swiss, they keep the streets pristine clean in most parts of the city. Everything here in the city center looks Baroque because the Austrians controlled it in the 1700s and 1800s until WWI (part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the Habsburg monarchy). The Austrians rebuilt the cities here after the Mongols and Turks had destroyed almost everything in previous conquests and occupation.

Sunday night we had a "Budapest by Night" tour including a visit to the Royal Castle on top of Gellert Hill, across the river from our ship. Today, Monday, we are still in Budapest until afternoon when we sail for Bratislava, Slovakia, part of the former Yugoslavia.

We hope you’re enjoying your July 4 holiday weekend. At dinner last night, the Viking staff served us red, white and blue cake with sparkler candles, and we sang "America The Beautiful." Happy Birthday, America!

Best wishes,
Betty and Bill