Day
1
You spend the night at the Radisson Blu Hotel Bucharest.
This hotel is centrally located beside the Parliament
Palace and
has a health club, a choice of restaurants and different
bars. A welcome dinner is served at the hotel this
evening.
Day 2
This morning we have arranged an included city sightseeing
tour of Bucharest. This sightseeing tour shows you
the city
centre, Parliament Buildings, and the Memorial to Freedom.
The highlight of the tour is a visit to the open-air
Village and Folk
Art Museum in Herastrau Park, on the outskirts of Bucharest.
Here you can see reconstructions of old peasant houses
from
all over the country, complete with furniture and fittings,
and other farm buildings including barns, granaries
and windmills.
After an included lunch, you are taken by coach to
the small port of Hirsova. You embark the ship in the
late afternoon.
Enjoy a welcome cocktail and dinner on board this evening.
Day 3
In the morning the vessel reaches the Danube Delta,
which covers an area of about 4,340 square kilometres.
It is famous for
the diversity of its wildlife, which includes 20 pairs
of white-tailed eagles and 3,000 meadow vipers. In
total, there are 5,140
species of flora and fauna residing in the delta, including
300 species of birds and 30 of fish. We continue along
St George’s
Channel to the very first kilometre of the Danube,
almost to the point where it meets the Black Sea. You
will have some time
to enjoy a walk in St. Gheorge.
Day 4
In the morning the vessel stops shortly in Silistra.
From here you can join the excursion (€ 50) to
Varna on the Bulgarian
Black Sea Coast. Varna is the largest seaport on the
Black Sea in Bulgaria. It is located about two hours
ride south of where
the Danube River enters the Black Sea, and is an interesting
day trip from the Danube River and eastern European
river
cruises. The Varna Archaeological Museum is the first
stop in the city. This museum is famous for its Varna
Gold, which was
found in graves at the Varna Necropolis, a cemetery
dating back to over 4000 BC. The museum has a map of
the cemetery
and many artifacts, all marked on a cemetery map. The
age and scope of the necropolis is amazing.
Lunch will be served in a local restaurant on the beach
close to the city. After lunch you can make a stroll
along the golden
beach. In the afternoon you will drive to Rousse, where
the ship is already waiting for you. There will also
be a traditional
Bulgarian evening on board.
Day
5
The ship will leave Rousse in the very early morning
reaches at noon the Bulgarian port of Nikopol, where
we start today’s
excursion to Pleven (€ 25). This takes us back
to ancient Roman times, when it was called Nikopolis
ad Istrum and was
known as the town of Victory. We then drive across
the picturesque Danube plain to Pleven, which is
one of the biggest and
most important cities in Northern Bulgaria and has
famous museums. There will be time to stroll through
the city centre,
absorb its atmosphere, buy souvenirs if you wish,
and end up at the Balkan Hotel for a glass of Bulgarian
wine. The ship
leaves Nikopol in the evening, and sails upstream
overnight.
Day 6
We spend the day at leisure, cruising through Romania
and into the waters of Serbia and Montenegro. Some
450 kilometres
from Rousse our ship reaches the narrow Kazan Gorge,
where a tablet with a Latin inscription commemorating
the emperor
Trajan can still be seen etched in the rock. A little
further on, we reach the Iron Gates, which for centuries
constituted a
hazardous stretch of the Danube, as ships had to
steer carefully through a narrow gorge with high
cliffs on either side.
Today, the water level has been raised and the shipping
hazards removed, but the journey is still of interest,
and you will be
able to observe the various manoeuvres as the ship
passes through the two locks by the Djerdap power
stations. In the
afternoon we ply a particularly scenic stretch as
the Danube passes through the Carpathians and the
foothills of the Balkans.
Day 7
We reach Belgrade, capital of Serbia and Montenegro,
in the morning. The city is built at the junction
of the Danube and
Save rivers, and has been destroyed and rebuilt 20
times during its 2,000-year history. A city tour
of Belgrade (€ 30) takes
place this morning. The main point of interest is
the Kalemegdan fortress, dating mostly from the late
18th century, which
encloses the tomb of the Turkish Grand Vezir, Ali
Pasha. You also enjoy a panoramic tour of the city
by coach. If you choose
to participate in this excursion, you will rejoin
the ship in Novi Sad, where the ship will be waiting
in the early afternoon. After
lunch there is an optional sightseeing tour (€ 30)
available. A stroll through the city recalls the
time of the Austro-Hungarian
Danube monarchy. On the way to Sremski Karlovci you
pass by the fortress Peterwardein, which was built
as one of
Europe's largest defence objects in the 18th century.
Sremski Karlovci awaits you with a series of cultural
and historical
monuments. Discover during a tour in the baroque
old town the cathedral, as well as the Patriarch’s
Palace and the
theological school. On the second-last evening of
your Danube cruise, the captain will be delighted
to welcome you to the
Captain’s Gala Dinner.
Day 8
Today the vessel reaches the small battlefield town
of Mohacs after lunch, from which there is an optional
Puszta-excursion
(€ 46). This excursion takes you through the
Hungarian lowlands to a Csarda (a large kind of farm),
where you witness an
unforgettable Hungarian horsemanship performance.
After tasting some regional wines, the tour continues
past the famous
red pepper fields back to the charming little town
of Kalocsa, where a short organ recital is scheduled
in its cathedral. Finally
you visit the world’s only red pepper museum
and a folklore museum, where you can buy among other
things, items from
traditional knitting handicraft. The ship leaves
Fajsz after dinner.
Day 9
Your cruise vessel docks in Budapest, capital of
Hungary, in the morning. Check-Out after breakfast.
End of the program.
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