Farewell to the Lower Danube
It was a great voyage, but it’s time to “leave her Johnny, leave her”
YouTubeLink: Leave her Johnny, leave her. The Longest Johns.
This morning, as I sat down to write up this final summary of our trip, I thought of Leave her Johnny, leave her, one of my favorite shanties.
This version is well worth your time.
I thought I heard the old man say "Leave her, Johnny, Leave her Johnny, leave her. It's a long, hard pull to the next payday And it's time for us to leave her "Leave her, Johnny, leave her! Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her For the voyage is done and the winds don't blow And it's time for us to leave her!
But before we walk down the gangplank to shore for the last time, let’s take a minute for a quick summary of the trip.
The Trip
Above: The Danube River flows majestically through the heart of Europe from the Alps to the Black Sea. We started in Hungary at Budapest and ended just south of Bucharest, between the red lines.
The Ship, Crew and Food
Our Ship was the Viking Uller, shown above, details here: Viking Ullur.
This was our first trip on Viking. There were 190 passengers on board. It was a wonderful trip. The smaller size (from an ocean cruiser) does limit you in some small ways. There is one sitting for dinner, for example. But the benefits of a smaller ship far outweigh any disadvantages.
The Queen size beds were a bit small because the ship is narrow. We chose to have them separated into two twins. The Brilliant Wife found the bed a bit too firm, but the staff provided a nice waffle pad and her sore back quickly resolved.
Best of all, you have the chance to meet and get to know many more people than on a bigger ship. And we did meet some wonderful travelers and made new friends.
The Food was wonderful. I always chose the tasting menu. The portions were reasonable, and the talented Bulgarian chef would explain his selections each evening, always including fresh local ingredients and recipes. The wine that was offered with the meal was excellent as well. We found no need to upgrade the provided selection, although one could.
We enjoyed our made-to-order breakfasts on the Aquavit deck several times. It’s a sunny bright place to start the day, with the river flowing below and the bright blue sky above.
The Crew gets high marks as well. Every member of the crew, from the Captain down to the room stewards, were helpful, interesting, and fun!
The Tours
Above: We made it to the top! [Hi Dear British Friends~!]
The tours that were offered provided some nice options as well, always graded by level of difficulty. The hike to the top of Golubac Castle and along the rim of the Iron Gates was marked difficult, and it was, particularly the steps up to the top of the castle, shown above.
The hike at the top of the Iron Gate Gorge was probably my favorite, providing a wonderful vista from the southern mountains of Serbia across the Danube to the Carpathians in Romania. When you look at the picture above, remember that here the river has been dammed, raising the water level 35 meters (115 feet).
We also particularly enjoyed the home visit in Croatia, which gave us the chance to meet someone local up closes and personal. We upgraded to take the Belgrade tour, and it was worth it. Our small group got to see the surprising city of Belgrade up close, first at the castle, then the visit to the city, including the mausoleum of Tito (statue above) and the huge Orthodox cathedral, ending the tour with a nice candle-lit wine and food pairing in an old Roman-era cellar.
A Hidden Gem
But you’re not locked into any of the tours. I particularly enjoyed the day spent wandering the town squares and museum of Ruse. Those who chose the bus trip came back tired.
Above: Boomerangs (Ruse Tell, 4500 - 4200 BC) made of horn, the only boomerangs found in Europe. To the right of these, pottery fish net weights (Ruse Tell, 4500 BC).
Once you leave the ship behind, the group takes a bus up to Bucharest, about a two hour ride, then there is a lovely tour of the city, ending with a wonderful meal with entertainment. We didn’t realize at the time that it was the last time we would see most of our new friends.
Transfers
The entire trip rolled smoothly in part because of the transfers. At the beginning of the trip, once we landed and collected our luggage the Viking staff met us and smoothly took control of our luggage and transportation to the hotel. Similarly, on the return flight, the luggage was picked up outside our hotel door, we went to breakfast, then boarded a small van with some others, arriving quickly at the airport. The Viking Agent led us right up to the ticket counter and we were on the way home without worrying about cabs or gates or airlines.
Our frame of reference
The inquiring reader may ask, “OK, but what’s your level of experience? How many trips have you taken? How many times in Europe or elsewhere?”
While this was our first river cruise, we have done about a dozen ocean cruises, including two around South America, one around the Baltic, and three through the Mediterranean. Our 8 Rick Steves’ tours showed us Europe from the ground. We’ve also spent a good bit of time driving and riding the trains through Europe. We loved all that, but now that we are getting older these river cruises are more manageable and less stressful.
Future Plans
What does the future hold for us? We’ve booked a Christmas Market tour on the Rhine for next year. I’d also like to do the upper Danube, starting in Budapest again and traveling upstream. And as the heavy cold clouds start to roll over Michigan, we are reminded that the sunny Mexico Pacific will be welcoming us in January. So stay tuned as we travel along together!
Travel Hacks
We did discover a wonderful way to get up and running quickly when traveling east to Europe from North America: the TimeShifter App.
It’s a great app that helps you adjust your internal clock so you can hit the ground running. We didn’t adhere to it very closely on the way back, but for us it is always easier flying west than east. Thanks to the Brilliant Daughter and Sister in Law for this one! Highly recommended!
Travel Agent
Finally, here’s an unsolicited, unpaid plug and strong recommendation for our Brilliant TA, Sonya Yassi! Link: Sonya Yassi Travel Agent - Dream Vacations!
She’s taken us to the Galapagos, the Amazon, South Africa, Victoria Falls, and probably best of all, Botswana. If you have ANY interest in these places, drop her a line. I also hear she’s drumming up interest for an Australian Adventure in the future.
Conclusion
We had a great time, and it was so nice to have you all on board virtually. I will be linking each day’s journals back to this page at some point. I will also be adding a bibliography article discussing the various reference books we used to provide future cruisers with some reading suggestions. Your ideas and comments are always welcome and greatly appreciated~!
Thanks for traveling along~!
Here’s another nice group sing I hope you enjoy: The Wellerman: Community Choir Project You Tube Link
Loved it! :) Thanks for sharing all of the posts along the way!! It was great and your writing is an easy read!
I'm so glad you had a wonderful time on your tour + it seems that it was just the right size of party to not feel impersonal. It seems to me this area,that central land between western Europe and Turkey + the east has always been a bit opaque and mysterious to us,well in Britain anyway.