Saving the Bucharest for Last: 7/16/2025

Bittersweet, but here we were - the last day of our fantastic trip! This would be along day, but a good one, as so many had been. Of course, we had a wonderful breakfast on the ship, but then disembarked for the last time, boarded a bus and headed to Bucharest! Unfortunately, this day may not get as much detail as the others. There were combinations of fatigue, and feeling unwell, so a write-up in a timely manner never occurred.

The bus ride was long, the drive from the port, across the river from Ruse took nearly two hours. But, our first stop carried significant historical merit! First, we had some good views of the inner city, and particularly the palace at which the Romanian Revolution concluded. During our time there we saw a changing-of-the-guards, and listened to a first hand account of a local who had fought in the revolution!

Afterwards, we walked throughout the down-town areas of the city. We passed through a massive building where photos weren't allowed; it was full of lots of bars with smoking options. It was cool architecture but not a place we spent much time. We also visit a small local cathedral before visiting the Village Museum.

This place was so cool! When I think of a museum, this certainly wouldn't be it. Everything was outdoors, and simply, it was a museum of buildings, villages, and architectural styles of the region from years passed! The exhibits themselves were relocated and preserved buildings from different regions and eras, all around Romania. The diverse architecture and history, in the lovely outdoor weather was such a cool and unique experience!

Our final stop before heading to our hotel for the final day was the Palace of Parliament. Massive barely even begins to describe it. While it's footprint is massive by itself, the materials used in its construction have made this the "heaviest" building in the world. It is now used for far more than just government business, but it is certainly a landmark that stands out.

At this point we arrived at the hotel, and we took some time to repack and take a nap. We had another evening excursion upcoming, and would be needing to leave the hotel in the wee hours of the morning. 

Our final excursion was a chance to dine locally, and experience the cuisine of Romania. We enjoyed local beer and more of the typical brandy that we had experienced throughout our trip. The dinner that was served - to us and the other dozen-or-so guests, began with some small plates. There was bread, meatballs with dipping sauces, and a vegetable-cheese platter. 

The was then followed up by the main course which was a grits-esk style starch accompanying sausage wrapped in grape leaves and a giant pepper (the pepper was maybe just for show... it was quite spicy).

And finally, we headed to our concluding venue - both for the day and for the trip! It was a restaurant where we were prepared to have dessert, a collection of local sweets and drinks. We had a final toast, and thanked my parents as this would never have been possible without them!

With that, the trip came to an end ... accounting for the upcoming 24 hours or so of travel back home, but that is not so much worth writing about. :)

Nautical Term of the Day: No Great Shakes

“When casks became empty, they were "shaken" (or taken apart) so that their pieces, called "shakes," could be stored in a small space. Shakes had very little value.”

 

The Heart of Bulgaria: 7/15/2025

Today we were out for a long day. Most excursions we do are planned for only about 3 hours, but today we were headed for an 8-9 hour adventure. I had my concerns, but spoiler … it all worked out ok. The day started with the usual breakfast on the boat, and again as usual, we joined up the the tour bus for our excursion at about 8:30.

A large reason why our excursion was 8 hours was the travel time. The beginning of our outing today was a roughly 2 hour bus ride, away from the port city of Ruse along the Danube river and the Bulgaria-Romania border, south towards a more central area of the country, specifically the large town/small city of Veliko Tarnovo. The bus ride itself was again pretty, but offered little new narrative for our trip. We once again saw nesting storks, seemingly endless fields of sunflowers, narratives about the rose-bud crops, and general history of the area. 

After two hours of driving we arrived at the outskirts of Veliko Ternovo. Our first stop was a little bit of a silly one; it was a modern building made in the likeness of a castle, but in actuality it was an event venue - seemed great for weddings. This stop was to provide folks on the excursion a chance to have a snack, some coffee, etc before we got to the “main attractions.”

From there we headed straight to the Church of Nativity. For being a relatively unimpressive building at first glace, this turned out to be one of the most interesting churches I’ve ever visit. Unfortunately, photographs were not allowed, so any images provided I’ve simply found online and take no credit for. The church was three rooms, dark lighting, low ceilings. It had no towers or chapels, and new long pews for sitting. It had no chandeliers or statures, no stone or columns. However, every room from floor to ceiling was painted in elaborate murals. 

The inner-most room was the chamber for the men who were observing service. Apparently, at the time men and women could not be in the same venue for their religious practices. This room had rows and rows of different styles of mural, rising to the main images on the ceiling. There were a series of frescos showing angels, saints, and apostles. Another set above them depicting the life of Jesus. The wall at the front of the room included some of the most significant images; and one of the most unusual aspects for me were the two carved dragons atop the wall as a demonstration for the struggle between good and evil. Of greatest note in this room however was a mural in the center of the ceiling depicting the holy trinity in a vertical line, rather than a triangle (apparently that is the more normal thing).

The room just outside the main chamber was where the women would meet. The room was a little more humble but the paintings were no less inspiring. The front wall included a depiction of the judgement day, showing the sinners being taken by a river of flame to a great serpent, angels weighing souls and demons messing with the scales. On the other side we saw people gathering outside the gates of heaven. But my two favorite paintings - perhaps because I have no memory of seeing the likes before - were a complete family tree for Jesus Christ as well as a depiction of 12 haloed characters below them. They were not the apostles as I first assumed, but rather Greek philosophers, being credited for the knowledge that they’d brought into the modern world.

The final room was the last to be build and was where men and women could mingle together after the services. Once more, the paintings spanned from floor to ceiling, but again of their own themes. There were still some frescos depicting holy imagery, but also the months and the days of those months were painted throughout the hall; that was super cool and very unique! But, the most prominent piece here was a painting depicting the circle of life as the steering wheel of a ship. The wheel itself had rings, the inner most being the sun, followed by the four elements of nature, then the twelve Zodiak symbols, and finally the 12 months. Next to the wheel, on either side, was an angle of light and another of darkness. A man traveled around the wheel - gaining everything he wanted at the top, but then falling back down on the other side to age and returning to the earth.

I left the church just reflecting on how different and interesting this building was, and I would highly recommend it if you ever get the chance to see it.

Afterwards we headed to a local bar-like restaurant for lunch. Apparently the owners love animals, and that was clear as we approached. The grounds had many animals in pens, including a goat, many rabbits, lots of birds, and more. Of greatest note though were the various peacocks, and one was really showing off its feathers as we arrived! Lunch itself was great. It began with a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers topped with sirene (a Feta-like cheese). Several folks noted that these were some of the most flavorful tomatoes they’d had in a long time! Next was a small vegetable soup and then we had the main course: a chicken stew-like dish and it too was delicious. As our meal neared its end, we were served a sweet honey-yoghurt dessert, and just as we began a local music and dance group came in! Over the next 10 minutes or so they performed three songs and corresponding dances - pulling in some people from our excursion for the final one. It was a lot of fun.

After lunch we made a few small stops. First we visit a historical house, once home to a wealthy merchant family. It was amazing that it could look both like such a fancy house, and also like it was a shock that folks could live here as they did. The house was only of about 5 rooms (living, dining, sleeping, cooking, and a prepping room for the women). But, the home housed approximately 20 people! Families had upwards of 10 children and several generations of the families would live together, often all sleeping in the same room - if not the same bed! It was both impressive and hard to imagine. We then stopped into a local souvenir shop - but with the specific intention of sampling some rose-based foods. We tried a rose Turkish Delight candy, as well as a rose liquor and a rose brandy. The prior was very sweet and the latter tasted mostly of … alcohol. Finally, we headed towards Veliko Tarnovo “propper” and made a short stop at an outlook for some views of the city and the older parts of it. We saw long castle walls spanning the hills of the town in a classically “castle-like” manner. 

Our last stop was more into the actual part of the city, specifically as a series of streets dedicated to local stores and vendors, many of whom preformed their crafts by hand. This was a really cool area and it was fun to walk up and down the cobblestone roads to see what was around. We saw leatherwork stores and ceramics stores, silver workers and copper workers. The crafts they made were all unique and cool, artistic and colorful. We found a few select things to purchase for ourselves, but if we weren’t traveling it would be tempting to come here all the time!

At last, it was time to conclude our excursion, which unfortunately meant another 2 hour bus ride. But, the ride was both uneventful (as you often hope trips like this to be) while also continuing to give us lovely views of the countryside. The evening was queued up to be mostly like many, dinner etc. But we will be having a toast with the captain as it is our last night on ship, from there we will prep for our final day of adventure!

Nautical Term of the Day: Fly-By-Night

“This large sail, used only for sailing downwind, required little attention.”

 

Views in Vidin: 7/14/2025

Today was a shorter day, with one morning excursion and a simple short afternoon walk. We’d arrived overnight just within the Bulgarian border on the Danube, this time at a port of the small city of Vidin. The sun was shining, and the clouds were sparse - beautiful weather but threatening to reach 100 degrees (it didn’t, we just got to 99)! Unfortunately, our excursion for the morning was not set in Vidin, but rather at the small town of Belogradchik in the Balkan Mountains.

We hopped into a bus to take us on a roughly 1 hour drive to the venue. Along the way we received a monolog of local history. Some of the highlights included local crops like sunflowers and roses. The roses are particularly important to the area; apparently it takes roughly 10,000 rose-buds to manufacture 10 mL of rose oil - commonly used in perfumes. Secondly, the Cyrillic alphabet was invented in Bulgaria, and finally there is a common yoghurt here that apparently has a bacteria that leads to very little development of lacrosse intolerance!

Additionally, the drive was challenging, and my greatest KUDOS to the bus driver, these towns and roads were not made for the buses. The drive was a bit anxiety inducing as the narrow roads and step edges were precocious, and as we got near our excursion site we had to navigate the town traffic, road obstacles, sharp turns and steep hills. It was … a bit stressful.

But well worth it! We’d arrived at the Belogradchik Fortress; at the summit of a hill above the town, a brick rectangular wall surrounding the grounds, and a set of stairs rising up a set of massive red-stone towers. The original outpost built among the stones was constructed by the Romans, supplements to the elevated outpost were made in the Middle Ages, and the more complete rectangular walls and gates were constructed early in the 1800’s. The views at the entrance were already amazing, but nothing like we would be seeing soon.

The massive stones above the ground were each a unique shape; one described as a human face, one an elephant head, and my favorite was a rabbit eating up a cabbage. We climbed the 180 steps up into these rocks; the modern instalments were steep but small and easy to climb while the older stone steps were irregular and large - but could usually be worked though. The views at this point were breathtaking. In all directions we could look out from these rocky spires at the beautiful Bulgarian landscape. Endless forests upon rolling hills. Cliffs of red rock jutting up from the ground and rocky plateus sprinkled amidst it all. Looking immediately downhill we could oversee the uniform red rooves of the nearby town, nestled beneath the fortress itself.

It was one of the more stunning natural landmarks I’ve ever been to.

The drive back was much the same, though I think I found it a bit more pleasant. We returned to the ship for a quick lunch, though it was already approaching 1:00, and discuss plans for the afternoon. 

After lunch we took a short walk through the local town of Vidin. It is a small location, but it was easy to walk. Particularly, there was a dedicated walking-center of the town! We were tired so did not try to do a complete exploration of the town, but we did enjoy the center. The walkways were smooth and well maintained. There were restaurants and small shops on all sides to stop into as we liked. There was clear care given to the beauty of the place with maintained flower beds ands and several fountains. It was a short walk, but a pretty one.

We were unfortunately pretty tired, so we kept it at a short day and headed in. We took some time to rest before enjoying the evening announcements and another great dinner.

Nautical Term of the Day: At Loggerheads

“An iron ball attached to a long handle was called a ‘loggerhead.’ When heated, it was used to seal the pitch in deck seams. It was sometimes a handy weapon for quarreling crewmen.”

 

Good Views from Golubac Fortress: 7/13/2025

In some ways, today set out as a normal day; but it wasn’t! It was mine and Archer's 6th year anniversary, which was of course exciting, but also very fitting for the excursions for the day. That is, the 6th anniversary is apparently themed around “iron” and today we explored and sailed through the Iron Gates! But we’ll get to that later. We began, of course, with a hearty breakfast, supplemented by glasses of champagne before heading out to our first excursion shortly after 8:00. 

We met our guide at 8:10 for our first excursion which would begin with a hike to the top of the Golubac Fortress. This was an awesome excursion! The first few minutes were a gentle walk through the pristine grounds of the national park to the base of the fortress itself. All the while we approached through clean-cut grass and well manicured rose beds. The sun we rising high above the fortress while the Danube flowed along our left-hand side. The fortress stood tall on the cliff faces before us and we learned about much of its history. We learned that the fortress had never been conquered; sure it had been sold or given away from time to time, but it had never throughout history been taken by force. We learned that it was not always a preserved monument, and that at some point a bus-line would drive between its archways. And we learned that part of its design was to keep all nine of its towers independent of internal connections; therefore forcing invaders to conquer each tower individually.

We reached the base of the steps in the fortress and began our ascent to the top. The views along the way, and at the summit, were breathtaking as we climbed the 290 steps to the top. And, these steps were no easy feat; parts were of uniform metal grating, but other sections were a combination of original and restored stonework. The steps were not level, and the sizes of the steps were uneven. While we climbed steeply to the top of the second tallest tower we heard about the variety of historical finds in the ruins as well as how and what weapons were used to defend this place. We saw cannon-balls of all sizes, a catapult, a trebuchet, dozens of arrow heads (including those suited for poison and fire), chainmail and more! Then, the views from the tower we reached were amazing. We could see far down the Danube in all directions, and it was so clear the importance of this junction. Simply, you could not travel the river without passing within range of this fortress! 

The journey was certainly difficult, the excursion was described as “demanding” and that was accurate! But, it was also well worth it. This was easily one of the most interesting visits to a castle, palace, fortress, cathedral, or other in my many trips to Europe. But, be warned if steep steps or heights are a challenge for you, as both are highly present. 

After the visit to the fortress we boarded a bus for a near 1-hour drive along the coast to the Derdap National Park. Here we took a brief hike (roughly 2 km) to a viewpoint over the Danube. The trail included some small hills, but nothing extreme, and along the way we learned more history of the area and of Serbia more generally. Much of the narrative we heard while hiking was about the local wildlife, ranging from eagles and falcons to boars and wolves. The hike emerged from the forest to a stunning outlook over the Danube. We were also looking out over the small village of Donji Milanovac, which has apparently been fully flooded and rebuilt three times. Specifically, the construction of the hydro-electric dam that we would need to pass by later led to a 50 meter rise in the water level, and then the village had to rebuild their settlement notably further uphill. This viewing was also the first time that we learned that the “Iron Gates” referred to the entire region, not just the dam we needed to pass through. The rocks in the mountains here were apparently packed with iron, hence the origin of the name. When we finished our viewing we hiked the 2 km back out of the park to the bus. Of note, we saw a turtle(!), though none of the previously described wildlife. 

We returned to the bus, but before heading back to the ship made one final stop at the small village of Kapetan Misin Breg. Here we had another set of views (and saw our ship – the Viking Ulur – heading to it’s nearby port to pick us up), as well as a brief meeting with a local artist. He was a sculptor, using wood and antlers, and we were treated to a small set of snacks, including a fried leaf, a locally grown plum, and a honey brandy (which was delicious!). But, it was a short stop and we were soon on the road again to get back to our ship. 

The next few hours on the ship were quiet. We had time to relax, eat lunch, and generally rest. Mostly, we were excitedly waiting for the scenic views as the ship left port to sail through the Iron Gates (and the Iron Gorge) shortly after 3:00. We learned on this voyage that the “Iron Gates” referred to this entire strip of the Danube, flanked by mountains and rocks with high iron concentration. Meanwhile the “Iron Gorge” was a much more select strip of the river that was particularly narrow with steep walls. Finally there was (again) the “Iron Gate,” the name given to the dam and the locks that we needed to pass through later on. All this to say, we were sailing through the “Iron Gates” for a long time.

The views were, of course, stunning. Constant greenery on all sides with a light breeze in the air. Meanwhile the river was rocking, though not enough to make the boat uneven, and the skies were clear. As we traveled down the river we were flanked on either side by massive white cliffs and thick forest. There were also the occasional landmarks of ancient plaques, statues, monasteries, carvings, and caves. All the while the crew provided a terrific narrative. Most of the time this came in the form of historical significance to the many areas we passed, but sometimes it was also legends. My favorite referred to a love story between the sun and the moon and the Danube. The story was one of jealousy and became an origins story for the river and the mountains and forests that surrounded it.

Later in the afternoon we finally reached the locks of the Iron Gate. This wasn’t at first obvious, but we were in our room and there was suddenly a wall beside us, and then the wall began to move … upwards! It felt almost otherworldly! But, we quickly realized what was happening and scurried up to the top deck. We were fortunate that no other ships were in the area looking to pass through the locks or we’d have had to wait. Through two locks we descended a total of 115 feet - nearly a complete football field. If you’ve not been through a set of locks before, it is well worth being present and watching, it is an engineering marvel!

Finally, it was time to head inside for dinner. Unlike most nights we were not provided with a menu and numerous options. Instead this was a celebratory meal with many of the local traditional foods of the region. We were first provided with some sliced cheeses and meats, accompanied by a chopped vegetable salad (with no leafy-greens). That was followed by an oyster-mushroom soup, and then an assortment of meats (including lamp, pork, and chicken). Accompanying the meal were servings of honey brandy, and that was really the highlight from my point of view. There was of course too much food, but it was once again, incredible.

 Nautical Term of the Day: Taken Aback

“In this dangerous situation, the wind is on the wrong side of the sails, pressing them back against the mast and forcing the ship astern. This was most often caused by an inattentive helmsman who had allowed the ship to head up into the wind.”