May 4:

We entered Hungary today and stopped at the town of Muchas. Later there was a staff show and they told a story about another cruise boat captain. He was sailing at night and got a radio call on the emergency frequency to alter course 30 degrees north. He returned the call and said no the other ship should alter course 30 degrees south. The call came back, your ship is in danger please alter course 30 degrees north. The captain responded, “ This is the captain of a cruise ship, alter your course 30 degrees south. The response came, “ This is the keeper of the lighthouse you are about to hit, alter your course 30 degrees north”.

Hungary cat

Hungarian desert wine

May 3:

Today we arrived in Vukovar, Croatia, which was bombed out in the 1990’s in their war with Serbia. We walked through some of the town, and to the Green Market which is like our farmers market. We had some free time at the market and did a little shopping ( I didn’t get anything). When we got on our bus we drove to a fortress. We took a walk around the fortress and when we got back up on the bus we headed to a farm. At the farm we watched a short move, four hours (JK) and had a small snack. The farmer showed us the sheepman costumes they wore to fight off the Turks in the 1500’s. Then we all went to local families houses for lunch. Our family’s lunch was amazing and it consisted of tomato soup with noodles as a starter, then roasted peppers, pickled vegetables, meat patties, mashed potatoes, and bread. After lunch we went back to the boat and thats the end of this day’s tale.

Vukovar bullet holes

Excavation next to cathedral in Vukovar

May 2:

Another day in Serbia. We first took our bus to an big Orthodox church that was still under construction. Then we went to a shopping street for pedestrians and saw an exhibit about math (it wasn’t bad). Then we got back on the bus and went to a fortress used in medieval times to protect against the Turks. The fort had a display of small tanks used during the Spanish civil war to fight in cities but they were cute. In the afternoon we saw a folk dancing show.

Bombed out buildings in Belgrad

Start of 1st World War at Belgrad castle

 

May 1:

Today we went thru the rest of the Iron Gates (locks) and arrived in Serbia. We stopped at an archeological site called Lepenski Vir with with art from 10,000 years ago. Our guide said there was a nasty war started in 1991 by Serbia and everyone is very sensitive about it here. The war included all the area that used to be call Yugoslavia and now is 5 different countries.

Serbian flag

Leaving Romania

Iron Gates II

Trajan's bridge

Lepenski Vi

April 30: Today we went to the Romanian artist colony, where we saw lots of different sculptures of angels. At the art house we walked through a forest. we were on the boat for the rest of the day and on the way we used a lock. I have talked about locks before on the blog, but locks are a point in the river there the water changes elevation along with the boat.

Black Sea to Iron Gates

Romanian Artist Colony

Iron Gate

April 29: We woke up in Bulgaria and started the day with a tour of the ancient capital, Vliko. Then we saw some pretty cool stuff in the village of Arbanassi which is know for the rose products and we got some too. We went to a small church with lots of colorful murals inside and at the end to the day we saw folk dancing.

Bulgarian Flag

Tsarevets Citadel

Icon painter

Yellow canola fields