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Diary of a River Danube Cruise


Follow myself and husband Ian (he’s the photographer) as we cruise along the Danube from Nüremburg to Budapest. Rivers fascinate me; they are the arteries of history, the lifeblood and reason for existence of the cities along their route. This is our first river cruise – we chose the Danube as one of the great European rivers and besides it’s romantic. I know the history and scenery will be rich, of the on board ship life I am not sure what to expect but I’m looking forward to the experience.

Our Danube Cruise on the map

We stepped aboard Viking Danube in Nuremberg, a week of cruising through the heart of Europe ahead of us. The capital cities of Vienna and Budapest (our final destination) looked like highlights and we anticipated a wealth of sumptuous baroque architecture. Regensburg and Passau, both places I didn’t know of though they sounded as if I should, were unexpected; charming, long established towns grown rich in the past through their position and trade. Regensburg in particular appealed with its patrician towers lending a romantic air. We’ve put the Danube Cruise…

Day 8 – Disembarking

Woke this morning to find it had snowed in the night the Fisherman’s Bastion and Mathias Church in the historic Castle district of Buda on the hill across the Danube are looking pretty.  A final generous breakfast – we’ve been spoilt for choice and attentively looked after – with a now depleted party as some of our fellow cruises have already left to catch flights. Last goodbyes and we leave Viking Danube crunching through the snow. So this is our cruise day by day; we’ve got many images, lots more…

Day 7- Budapest

The week seems to have flown by, here we are already in Budapest moored on the Pest side right next to the iconic Chain Bridge. Budapest feels different west mixed with east, a city in the process of rebuilding and regenerating itself.  Our guide today for the bus tour of the sights turned out to be most refreshing: we had the history mixed with insights into life during the Soviet, comments on Trabant cars, “like another child in the family, only you had to wait four years for it to…

Day 6 Vienna

Options this morning for a guided bus tour of Vienna or a ‘roughing it’ tour of the city using local transport.  We decided to go with the bus and then make our own way back to the ship.  Once again the Viking Danube is very conveniently moored, about a five minute walk to the tube station and then four stops (maybe 7 minutes) to St Stephen’s Cathedral at the very centre of Vienna. Grand  and important buildings galore along the Ringstrasse, I was impressed with our guide who talked without…

Day 5 – Melk & the Wachau Valley

During breakfast we moored at Melk for a visit to the Benedictine monastery of Sift Melk perched on a ridge above the town here.  You can’t miss it – it’s huge, Baroque in style and dominates the landscape. Inside it is truly splendid, marble and gold leaf in abundance, painted ceilings made to look higher with the use of perspective – it was no surprise to learn that many of famous painters, stucco craftsmen and sculptors of the 18th century had a hand in the building of the monastery.  Though…

Day 4 – Passau

Today we are in Passau – it’s a very watery place sitting on a peninsular at the junction of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers.  Despite being grey and almost snowing (it is the end of November) a combination of elegant rococo mansions painted in warm pinks, greens, yellows and creams and bright cheery shops, traditionally decorated for Christmas make Passau feel welcoming and  besides there’s plenty to see inside, St Stephan’s Cathedral  and the Bishop’s Palace for a start. The pipe organ in the cathedral, Europe’s largest was every…