Viking From Budapest to Bucharest

Viking Lif, sailing down river Danube from Budapest to Bucharest. 11 days starting 3 June with two days in Parisi  Udvar hotel in Budapest, seven nights on the boat and one night in Radisson Blu, Bucharest.



View from cabin in Budapest


The Danube was swollen and the boat we'd been scheduled to board, Embla, had been unable to pass under a bridge upstream on Budapest so they'd swapped the passengers onto the Lif.
Parisi Udvar entrance and restaurant
Parisi Udvar ceiling

Parisi  Udvar had opened only two weeks before we got there after a massive renovation. The entrance hall is magnificent, the rooms are spacious and well equipped but the restaurant was luxury priced for inexperienced, slow, inefficient non-luxury service.
Driving 10 horses, standing on last 2

The cruise was, as usual, excellent, though the included trips mostly featured castles and churches. The Bakodpuszta horse farm (Kalocsa, Hungary) was the best with a welcome glass of wine and a snack on arrival, and amazing display of horsemanship,  a drink at the finish and a ride in a horse drawn cart.


Croatia flag on Osijek fortress


Stork and nest, Osijek, Croatia
Serbian flag

t
Just opened, Golubac Castle at entrance to Iron Gates, Serbia

This sign was at the entrance to and in Golubac Castle and I saw a snake swimming in the river under the castle, but the guide said the snakes were harmless and the sign were to discourage anyone from leaving the paths.



Sailing through the Iron Gates
The 'Iron Gates' is the gorge the Danube flows through with cliffs or iron rich stone. The local guides said that they attract lightning leaving nearby habitations safe. A dam has raised the water level flooding  roman and mediaeval remains


Dacian King Decebalus on Romanian side







These statues were in a waterfront park, near the boat mooring in Vidin, Bulgaria.




Useful sign in Viking lunch restaurant in Bucharest, Romania


BA meal LHR > Budapest





BA meal Bucharest>LHR

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