My husband, Alan Carmichael, left, and friends Julia and Gary Bentley in Budapest.
I don’t know how much money Viking Cruises is spending on advertising, but it’s working. I mean, who can resist the tagline, “Spend less time getting there and more time being there?” We couldn’t.
Alan and I and our friends, Julia and Gary Bentley, just returned from a Viking River Cruise up the Danube River from Budapest to Nuremberg. And we added a three-day visit to Prague onto the end.
What does everyone want to know: Was it worth it? The answer is yes. We had a blast. We think you should go.
Safety first! Here’s our gang during the safety drill on the first day of the cruise. Fortunately, we did not have to put these lovely garments on again!
We have been on two cruises before and both were fun. But they were on huge boats with thousands of people. Viking’s “longboats” only accommodate about 190 passengers. That’s a much better number. The food is better. There is no standing in line. And you get a lot of personal attention from the staff.
Plus, with a river cruise, you are very close to your destinations, for the most part. You can just hop off the boat and there you are in Vienna or Passau or Regensburg. Those last two are charming cities in Germany, as you will see.
I’ll show you the highlights of the trip. And then, at the end of the post, are some tips you might want to consider if you plan to go on a similar vacation. All aboard, Explorers! (That’s what our cruise director called all of us passengers. Cute, huh?)
We were welcomed aboard with food — including this Hungarian Rakoczy cake. From this point, Alan knew it would be a good trip.
After settling in to our staterooms, we set out on a guided 45-minute orientation tour of Budapest. Home to over a million people, Budapest spans both sides of the Danube River — historic Buda on the east side and cosmopolitan Pest (pronounced “Pesht”) on the west.
The so-called “Liberty Statue” — she’s holding a palm leaf — is dedicated to “the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary.” Ironically, it was first erected in 1947 in what was then considered Budapest’s “liberation” by the Soviets. That didn’t work out so well, so the statue’s inscription was changed in 1989 to what it is today.
Here’s our Viking guide, Sonja. She did a great job.
A street in Pest.
Hahaha. Sign in a little shop.
The Great Market Hall was closed because we were there on a Sunday.
We had a whirlwind tour of the area right across from our dock.
Cool street view.
We ducked our heads into many churches at the beginning of our cruise. By the end, I didn’t care if I ever saw another church or castle again!
Soon, we split from our group and headed out on our own. (I know. Big surprise.)
Here’s a view of the Danube from a bridge as we crossed from Pest to Buda. (There is something magical about the sky over there.)
The longboats, including ours, were lined up.
Our destination was the “cave church” in Buda.
Here it is. Inside Gellert Hill.
It is built in a series of natural caves.
All the little openings are used to display statues. Interestingly, the church is not that old. It was started in 1926 and expanded during the 1930s.
Nearby is the Gellert Spa and Baths, built between 1912 and 1918.
It seems that Budapest is home to 118 natural thermal springs, several of which feed this landmark facility.
Appropriate statue.
We were welcomed back on board the Viking Atla, one of Viking’s 52 ships, with a cocktail reception. “Atla” is the name of the beautiful giantess who is the Norse goddess of water. Julia and I had martinis.
The guys enjoyed gin and tonics.
A word about alcohol on the ship. Viking offers a special beverage package. All you can drink for 300 euros per stateroom. Don’t buy it! You already get all the drinks you want at all meals plus several free receptions. You can’t possibly drink enough during non-meal times to make this purchase make sense. We skipped it and were glad we did.
After dark, the Atla set out for a little mini cruise so we could see Budapest at night.
Beautiful.
The Parliament building.
The next morning, we set sail for Visegrad and Vienna.
We enjoyed the little terrace on our stateroom.
I absolutely loved seeing all the scenery from the boat.
Seeing these little towns made me excited about setting up my Christmas snow village this year! That’s what they reminded me of.
This is the Hotel Var in Visegrad. Another snow village piece, don’t you think?
Leaving Visegrad and now on the way to Vienna.
See what I mean about the sky?
Meanwhile, on the boat, it was tea time. (Or, in my case, wine time.)
Pastry chef Marlon demonstrated the making of apple strudel.
Here it is.
Alan thought he’d died and gone to heaven. I gave him my piece, as well.
A short time later, it was dinner time.
Hungarian goulash was on the menu, natch.
And a Hungarian version of Strawberry Shortcake.
After dinner, as we continued making our way to Vienna, the crew led us in a competitive game of trivia in the lounge. A pianist who sang American standards in broken English entertained every night and we loved him.
We awoke the next morning to the Vienna skyline outside our stateroom.
Alan at the Imperial Palace in Vienna.
This statue of Emperor Francis II is at the Imperial Palace. Its inscription means, “I give my love to my people.”
That white building is City Hall. I couldn’t help but think how poorly our own City Hall — in the City County Building — compares!
A statue of Empress Maria Theresa in a city park.
Two beautiful museums flank the park: the Museum of Fine Art and the Museum of Natural History.
St. Stephens Cathedral in the heart of Vienna.
Outside the cathedral. Time warp.
Roman ruins in downtown Vienna likely date to 27 B.C. All of this area once was part of the Roman Empire.
Julia made a special friend.
Hmmm.
I guess when your horse falls apart, you sit on the ground.
The most expensive street in Vienna, according to our guide. All the famous designers you see on Rodeo Drive or in New York City had shops there.
Here’s another very crowded shopping area.
This made me laugh!
The architecture was stunning. It makes you realize why Europeans think the term “American history” is an oxymoron.
Another example.
We broke from our crowd and settled in to a light lunch at a sidewalk cafe called X-Celsior Caffe-bar by Chef DiDario Trucco. One of our fallback plans for the trip became to order tomato soup at these kinds of places. Why? We could recognize it on the menu and we could pronounce it! (And we like tomato soup.)
After lunch, Alan returned to the boat and Julia and Gary continued to explore Vienna. I signed up for a tour of the farmers’ market led by our boat’s executive chef, Mihai Olteanu.
We took a subway to the market — only five stops away. The market is lined with sidewalk cafes.
And booths of every kind. This one offered olives.
Nuts.
Spices from everywhere.
I had never seen a Jackfrucht (Jackfruit) before! It’s the size of a watermelon.
Finally, at the end of the market, we arrived at a little place called Roni’s.
The chef’s friend, George, put out samples of sweets, cheese, charcuterie and wine for us. Here he’s holding something called “hay cheese.”
Chef Mihai explaining things to us.
One at a time, please!
Some of the sweets.
I bought three bottles of wine there: a red, a white and a sparkling rose.
I dashed back to the boat in time for dinner.
Loved the puff pastry with mushrooms and asparagus.
That evening, we were bused into town (on a Viking-owned Mercedes bus, no less!) to see a special Viking-commissioned production of “The Marriage of Figaro.” Here’s Julia with “Figaro” and “Susanna.”
We returned to the boat to cast off at midnight for Melk and the famous Melk Abbey.
Cruising.
More gorgeous scenery on the way to Melk.
Spectacular Melk Abbey is 900 years old.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much gold in a church.
The oldest wooden cross in Austria is in Melk Abbey.
The little town of Melk is charming with its cobblestone streets.
This was our one rainy day on the trip and we did not complain about it. You see, the water was extremely low on the Danube, causing big troubles for some of the river cruises and the shipping vessels. One small side cruise that we had scheduled had to be canceled. And our friends Joan and Victor Ashe, who were starting a Danube cruise a few days after us, had to be bused from one boat to another a couple of times because the water was too low for the boats to navigate. One morning our captain, Igor Sheyko, told us we had barely made it through one spot in the river. “There were 10 centimeters between the boat and the river bottom,” he said. “It was a terrible night.” That’s about four inches!
When we arrived back on the boat, we were given little glasses of plum wine.
Here’s our cruise director Terry Turnbull. We loved him. He led games in the lounge almost every night.
Heading to Passau, Germany.
Another castle on the way to Passau.
Passau is known as the “City of Three Rivers” because it lies at the confluence of the Inn, the Danube and the Ilz rivers.
We got off the boat and strolled to the end of the peninsula where the Danube and Inn rivers meet.
This is a big sculpture of the Sun.
A walk along the Inn River. We just loved this little town.
In Passau looking across the Inn River.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral (another one) houses the largest cathedral organ in the world. Julia and Gary went to a concert there.
Alan and I are not very fond of organ music, so we went around to the back of the church and found a cute outdoor cafe from which we took this picture.
We ordered tomato soup. Ha.
And Alan had a milkshake.
Back on the boat where we were served “German treats.”
Awww. Look what we found in our stateroom!
The Danube really was beautiful and blue as we left Passau.
My favorite picture.
We loved Passau, but we may have liked Regensburg even more. Another charming, charming town with lots of small streets and shops. And, importantly, a restaurant that Gary had been talking about since we left Knoxville.
A pink building in Regensburg.
Regensburg clock tower.
Charming little street.
We stopped at an art shop and met Snowflake. “She’s the most petted dog in town,” said her owner, who also owned the store.
Here’s the restaurant. It’s called Wurstkuche and it serves about five things: sausages, sauerkraut, bread, mustard and beer! (I did manage to get a glass of pinot grigio, though.)
That’s all she cooks! All day, every day. I guess that’s why she’s so good at it.
Julia and Gary about to dig in.
Yum! Alan ate his six and two of mine! They were very, very good.
For dessert, we found a shop that just sold these balls of fried dough with different toppings.
Alan enjoyed his.
In Regensburg, we ran into some of our friends from the boat. These are the Bentleys with Tom and Virginia Hartmann from New Jersey. “Don’t say Newark!” they pleaded.
As if we had not had enough German food, that night on the boat was a special dinner called “A taste of Austria and Germany.” I just couldn’t eat more sausages, though.
Big pretzels were the centerpieces for the tables.
Val brought beer.
We took a tour of the kitchen.
Where desserts were served.
Alan posed with Chef Mihai Olteanu.
Interestingly, Chef Mihai worked for 18 months at a resort in Point Clear, Alabama, which is in the same county where my family lives in Gulf Shores. He hated it. “They don’t have sidewalks!” he exclaimed, saying he had to drive to Pensacola or Mobile or Atlanta to find something to do on his time off. “I didn’t just leave Point Clear,” he said. “I RAN out of there!” Ha.
Julia posing with some more of our favorite people on the boat. The couple on the left, P.J. and Lori, are from Salt Lake City. “But we are not polygamists!” P.J. assured us. With Julia are Sally Tschannen and her mother, Dorothy Tschannen, who is 92 years young. She was amazing. We had a great time with all of these folks throughout the week.
Our favorite server, Snezana, posing with us. (Photo by Gary Bentley.)
Crew members were the contestants in a game in the lounge called Liar’s Club. From left, Concierge Christina Desmereanu, Maitre D’ Ivelin Bayraktarov, Chef Mihai, and Hotel Manager Robert Horwath.
The next morning, we docked in Nuremberg. We found Nuremberg to be not nearly as charming as Passau, Regensburg and Vienna, but we had fun there, nonetheless!
To me, the churches in Nuremberg looked dark and heavy. Not light and soaring as they had seemed in other cities.
Julia took this photo of the inside. I guess it is somewhat soaring from this vantage point.
On the day of our visit — a Saturday — there was a flea market all through town. The items offered for sale were just as cheesy as those you see at a flea market on Alcoa Highway. Used clothes, toys and stuffed animals. And notice that dark, depressing church.
There was a farmers’ market, too. But the produce looked like it was from a wholesaler — not from real farmers. I like the Market Square Farmers’ Market better.
The sunflowers were pretty, though.
We left downtown and headed to the castle.
Approaching the castle. (Photo by Julia Bentley.)
Castle tower.
View of the city from the castle.
Friends at the castle.
We headed back to town.
This canal was pretty.
And this one.
Typical Nuremberg street.
I am not an architect, but I couldn’t help but notice a trend in Nuremberg buildings.
This style of decoration is everywhere.
Another example.
A little goes a long way!
We found a great sidewalk cafe in the center of town.
Alan enjoyed a Schokobecher.
We ran into our boat friends, Fred and Norma Purificati. They live half the time in Ontario and half in Sun City, Arizona. We ate many meals with them.
This was our last stop of the cruise. In the next post, we’ll show you the fabulous city of Prague. But in the meantime, here are a few tips for planning your Viking River Cruise.
1. Choose your stateroom carefully. Although all the rooms on Viking’s 52 longboats have picture windows, we think you will want a veranda. We spent a lot of time on ours both when we were on the river and when we were at dock. Whatever you do, pick an upper floor. We were on the third floor, which is the top. The passengers who had first-floor rooms complained that the sloshing water and the noise of the ship’s operations sometimes made it hard to sleep at night.
2. Don’t stick to Viking’s programs for tours and excursions. Make your own fun. We loved the 45-minute orientation tour of Budapest, for example, but the longer tours were too slow for us. On almost all of the stops, we opted out of the guided tours and just grabbed a map from the concierge and struck out on our own.
3. Let the staff know up front if you have special dietary considerations and they will gladly accommodate you. Alan is on a low salt diet, for example, and so every morning, he would be presented with lunch and dinner menus for the day so he could select his meals. His food was prepared separately without salt. It worked beautifully.
4. If we had it to do over, we would eat more meals off the boat. The food is good, but it is, after all, banquet food. The staff is serving 190 people at each meal. But don’t miss breakfast. It is outstanding. There is a huge international buffet, plus a chef making omelets or fried eggs to order. Alan and Julia had egg white omelets almost every morning. Gary often ordered French toast, which was made to order in the kitchen. My favorite was smoked salmon on delicious wheat rolls with cream cheese and capers.
But wait until you see the food in Prague!
Explorer, you had me at “balls of fried dough with different toppings.” What a wonderful adventure!
How much fun! We’ve loved traveling with Viking, and hope to do it again. Your pics and descriptions make me feel as if I were in those charming cities with you eating tomato soup!! Thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to learn more.
Surprised we didn’t run into you in Budapest and Vienna. We are just home from Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna along with other smaller towns. Loved the whole area; especially the desserts!
The trip was fun. I was hoping to say that I veered off my diet only a few times, but unfortunately the photographic evidence shows otherwise. For the record, I did not enjoy the dough ball. I gave most of it to the pigeons.
Wow Cynthia, beautiful pictures and it sounds like a wonderful adventure. Art and I will definitely be doing this when he retires.
And I do get tickled with all of Alan’s desserts
What a delightful trip! I thoroughly enjoyed each and every picture! Especially the ones of Alan eating desserts!! (Alan, I’m a huge fan of milkshakes and desserts myself!). Thanks so much for sharing all of your adventures. A wonderful European ‘tour’ for me on this dark and rainy Friday!
A question and three observations:
What is in Alan’s blazer pockets (little bottles?)?
Does that elephant towel on your bed mean you’ve turned into a Republican??
Mox — You let yourself be in 2 photos!!
Looks like you all had a great time — fun to read and see.
Shelba Murphy, Mickey Mallonee, another friend and I did a variation of the Danube trip on Viking.
The difference is that we went after Thanksgiving to see the Christmas markets. They were okay but the Viking boat and staff were great. We would go back to Prague jusr for the music.
Cyntha,
Wow! So very sorry that we were unable to join you all on this fabulous trip!!! Thank you for posting this- I at least got to see the wonderful sites!!
What a trip! All the photos give me a taste of actually being there. I’m a little worried about Alan’s sugar level, though… 🙂
Scott: Haha! We found through our “research” that some of the balls were better than others. Surprisingly (not!) the ones with the most icing were the most delicious.
Rusha: This was our first Viking trip and we loved it.
Gretchen: It would have been so much fun if we had run in to each other! A lot of Knoxvillians seem to have been over there at about the same time. (Although I know you aren’t a Knoxvillian anymore. Boo.)
Alan: The pigeons thank you.
Cammie: Why wait for retirement? Go now!
Regina: You and Jerry should go!
Katie: Those are bottles of water. Every time we left the boat, they handed us bottles of water. Which was nice since water was more expensive than beer or wine!
Diana: I bet you didn’t have the low water problems going later in the year. We never even thought about that when we were planning.
Juduth: Next time!
Stephanie: Well, at least he’s better behaved (dessert-wise) now that we are home. Thanks for reading!
Fabulous photos….I loved them all!
I love this article, Cynthia. Your writing makes me feel a part of the trip. You should send it to Viking and maybe they will offer you another trip at a reduced price!
Fabulous pictures and looking at all those castle and churches made me want to take a trip thanks for sharing
Thanks, Marsha, Celeste and Fay.
Really enjoyed seeing the photos and reading comments. Haven’t been to any of these places but it is fun to compare them with those I have traveled to in Europe.
You are so right about Viking’s advertising. Every time I get a brochure from them, I am so incredibly tempted. Now, I’m even more interested in taking one of these cruises. Thanks for the tips about staterooms, meals, tours, etc.
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