Rhine and Danube River Cruise, Part 2

The Danube River

We have been enjoying the half-timbered houses and flower boxes--fairy tale beautiful houses.  Now on the Danube we are seeing a different kind of medieval homes. They are solid stone and blocky. Germans have an expression that someone is “stone rich.”  Only the wealthy could afford to build large houses of all stone, faced with stucco and adorned with ornate windows.

Regensburg

Regensburg is the oldest city on the Danube dating to a Roman camp in 179.

It became wealthy as a trading crossroads when in the 1100’s they built a massive stone bridge across the Danube, the only bridge between Ulm and Vienna, some 750 kilometers.

Salt coming up from Passau was stored, taxed, and sold here.  

Patrician merchants showed off their wealth by building large Italianate homes with towers. The lower level was often a shop and storage of goods.  The tower was mainly for show as upper floors were not used. Note the balcony and how each window in the tower is different from the others.

Regensburg’s Gothic cathedral has magnificent stained glass windows.

Trade routes changed in the 16^th century, and Regensburg lost its status as Germany’s second largest city as trade floundered.

Passau

Passau, on the German Austrian border, is at the confluence of three rivers: the Inn, the Ilz, and the Danube, each with a distinct color.  The Inn here on the right is light with glacial deposits.  The Danube on the left is not really blue. 

Passau was an important medieval center for the salt trade coming from Alpine salt mines. Three rivers coming together leads to flooding possibilities and Passau has had more than enough of those, especially since the Inn River comes swiftly down from the Alps, glacial green and wild, sometimes with such force that it backs up the Danube flooding the city.  They are still repairing damage from the 2013 flood which is the highest water level shown here.

Passau’s jewel is St. Stephen’s Cathedral on the highest hill in the old city.  Baroque with a Gothic chancel, the interior is stunning with elaborate stucco statues and trim around countless frescos.

The star, however, is the pipe organ, the largest church organ in the world with 17,974 pipes, 233 stops, and 4 carillons.  We were fortunate to be there for a half hour classical concert.  It filled the huge sanctuary. Powerful experience.

Melk

Melk Abby has been here over a thousand years. The 60 monks who still live there follow Benedictine precepts of prayer, study, obedience, honor and listening—listen to God, to the order, to self, and to the heart. They all have jobs, many teaching in the Abbey school of 800 students or serving as priests to neighboring parishes. 

The library is phenomenal with 85,000 volumes and 80,000 medieval manuscripts In 12 rooms.

Wachau Valley

The Wachau Valley of the Danube is a UNESCO World Heritage site where the architecture, settlements and use of the land illustrate a harmonious medieval landscape.  It is perhaps the loveliest stretch of the Danube with ancient castles, vineyards, monasteries, and charming villages hugging the river.  Some cliffs are up 1000 feet high above the river.

Schoenbuehl Castle

Hinterhaus Castle at Spitz

Durnstein.  Here the vineyards are planted horizontally.

Kuenringer Castle where Richard the Lion-hearted was kept for a year after being captured after a Crusade.

Many bridges along the Main and Danube are lower than comfortable.  For a few days the top deck was closed and all railings and table flattened.  Here it was open again, but for this bridge we were warned to sit down.  The Captain's wheelhouse actually lowers hydraulically down into the third floor.

Tonight was Austrian night in the dining room with many of the staff dressed in traditional dirndls and lederhosen.  The food was a buffet of Austrian and German food—fabulous.  A pair of musicians played accordion and guitar to add to the festivities. Don and I danced a couple polkas, of course.

We also got to tour the kitchen.

Vienna

What a beautiful old city Vienna is.  The Hapsburg palace is enormous and beautiful. We toured the treasury and saw the Crown Jewels, coronation robes and endless valuable, jewel-encrusted treasures.

Expansive palace gardens.  This is the statue of Mozart.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral is another amazing church.  The multi-colored tiled roof is unique. 

We attended a Mozart and Strauss concert that included several opera singers and ballet dancers performing with some of the numbers.  We sat near the drummer and enjoyed watching him tossing the drumsticks and relishing his part. Many of the musicians smiled as they played.  Lovely evening. 

Bratislava

Bratislava was a contrast to Vienna—small for a capitol city, and trying to rebuild and recover from their liberation from communism only 25 years ago. 

Our guide was so much fun and informative at the same time.  She said that churches always remained open here.  Perhaps the Soviets valued their munitions factories so much that they looked aside from some practices. 

St. Martin’s Cathedral had beautiful old carvings on the choir seating area. 

Bratislava has a number of whimsical statues in the old town area.

Napoleon’s soldier looks over Don's shoulder.

The Happy Man, the real Ignac Lamar, wandered about town greeting people charmingly well dressed, though he was actually poor.  Jerry tries the hat for size.

Cumin, the sewer worker, would rather watch people than work. 

The cruise ends at Budapest tomorrow, so we began our good byes to favorite Viking people.  Raul was the wine waiter who kept refilling my wine glass at dinner and made sure I had a full glass to take with me for the later evening. He also brought Don’s beer the moment we entered the dining room. He is from the Phillipines.

Irina from Bulgaria was our favorite waitress.  She sometimes urged us to live on the wild side and have more to eat.

Joey from “Nederlands” is the program director who seemed to do everything.  He was a comedian during his briefings. He made the trip so much fun.

This was also the last of our cultural nights.  A three piece combo and pair of Hungarian dancers put on a delightful show.

Budapest 

We sailed into Budapest after dark to be treated to the amazing lights of the “Queen of the Danube.”

Parliament 

Castle Hill

The Chain Bridge was the first bridge between Buda on the west hilly side of the river and Pest (pronounced Pesht) on the Hungarian plain. The two cities soon became one. 

The Parliament building on the shore is a neo-Gothic wonder. 

Castle hill with the beautiful St. Matthias Cathdral

Fisherman’s Bastion was on the part of the wall the fishermen were obliged to defend, and in return they were allowed to sell their catch there.  The fanciful white turrets were built as part of the millennial celebration of 1000 years of Hungary’s existence in 1896.  

The royal palace on the hill in Buda.

We took a drive north of Budapest to Szentendre (St. Andrews), a charming arts village where we toured the Margit Kovacs art museum and indulged in a wonderful dessert at a coffee shop. Alice and I both splurged on jewelry:  an art glass pendent for her and a grey amber ring for me.

Dohaney Synagogue in Pest is the second largest in the world, but largest in seating capacity, nearly 3000.  It was designed by a Christian architect in 1859,  so the building is set up like a Christian cathedral with the shape, the pulpit and even an organ which Jewish synagogues never have.  Orthodox Jews believe organ music is bad because it distracts from the service.  Men sit in pews on the main floor and women in the balconies. Services are traditional to please the most of the Jews.

The museum had beautiful pieces of sacred service items.  Spice boxes used for Havadallah, the short Saturday sun-down service which is intended to purify the devout and prepare them for the coming week.  They light a braided candle, breathe in the scent of cinnamon and other spices and drink a bit of wine in a very spiritual service.

We wandered  in the garden to see the beautiful metal willow tree memorial covered with metal leaves containing names and the date and place of death for Hungarian Jews caught in the ghetto in the last year of WWII.   

We also saw the cemetery from that short year when Jews were forced stay within the ghetto and could not take bodies out to cemeteries outside the city.  The mass graves hold 3000 Jews who died during the war there.  

Hungary had 800,000 Jews before the war; 600,000 perished.  Many of the Jews before the war were successful businessmen, doctors, attorneys, and other professionals.  That meant nothing to the Nazi’s who took over their property and shipped men out to Auschwitz. Budapest has perhaps 100,000 Jews now.

During the war when the Soviets occupied Budapest, the Gestapo set up an office in the balcony of the Synagogue. That kept the Germans from bombing the building.  The allies would not bomb it because the Jews were there so the Synagogue escaped with minimal damage.  During the Soviet regime people were allowed to practice their religions.

The churches of Budapest have the same colored ceramic tile roofs as St. Stephen’s in Vienna.  St Matthias up on Castle hill is different inside from most of the opulent gold, stucco and carvings that we have seen in most of the cathedrals and even smaller churches.  This one is colorfully and heavily painted.  The effect is lovely, even without the millions spent in gold leaf. 

Our hotel is the Hilton on Castle Hill, next to St. Matthias.  This is a historic district, and the  Hilton was not allowed to remove the ruins on the site.   So they incorporated the ruined walls into the modern building,  The effect is charming.

The view from our room

The 500 foot high Castle hill is named for the large royal castle overlooking the Danube which has been renovated and contains the national library and national gallery.  

Various stairways lead up the hill for people to access the top.  In 1870 the funicular, a steep tram, was built to carry people up and down with no effort.  It is still popular.

Inside the hill is a warren of caves that were used for centuries for storage of food, wine and other things.  During WW II the caves were formed into an underground hospital that was safe from bombing. Built to serve 60 patients with triage areas, one operating room and several wards, the hospital saw hundreds of patients at a time.  Many died because of crowding and lack of sophisticated facilities, but many more lives were saved.  During the Cold War and Hungary’s revolution, the hospital was fitted out as a bunker for government officials and as a bomb shelter.  Fascinating place.

Don and I spent an afternoon at the Szecheni spa in Pest, a series of outdoor and indoor pools of hot mineral spring water ranging from 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) to very cold. It was a lovely relaxing afternoon.

We have had Hungarian goulash several times.  The national peasant dish is a delight.  Chicken Paprikash was also wonderful.

Hungary’s millennial celebration in 1896 celebrated 1000 years as a country.  It was at times large and small, independent and subjugated, pastoral and imperial, but a always proud magnificent country reigning over the beautiful Danube River.  Despite record heat while we were there, we wished we had more time in Budapest.

The Danube is not blue, but it is a lovely river with wooded banks, swans and low traffic compared to the Rhine.  We have decided that this is a wonderful way to travel. I hate to see it end. 


Our look at Europe from the water was a fascinating experience. We gained new respect for how vital rivers are for navigation and trade, for defense and escape, for recreation and esthetics.  We saw how water is the lifeblood of the towns and also an agent of death when they flood.  We were struck again as Americans usually are, by how old everything is.  Often we heard that the "new" church or city hall was a couple hundred years old.  The history is complicated and nuanced.  The people are friendly.  And the scenery is fabulous.  We can't wait to go again.