Bucharest - the Final Day

Our trip came to an end in Bucharest. We had two nights in town. In addition to touring Ceausescu's home, we had a brief bus tour of the city, learning some the history. We enjoyed a few strolls through the area near our hotel. Then... it was time to pack the bags and head to the airport for the long trip home.

I adored this sign!

It seemed there was quite a bit of juxtaposition of old and new.

This is the life! 

Stretch out at an outdoor cafe, under an awning. 

Food and shelter... and companionship if you want it!

Last Day on Board

Oh, wow, it's been a long time since I posted... life got busy! 

So, we had one more day on board the Beatrice, and I wanted to share a few pictures of life on board. 

It is all about 

Food,

Fun,

and Friends!

Our "cocktail crowd"

Ranee, Kathy, Jim, Shirley, Scott, Marc and Earl

Sadly, Earl passed away after a major heart attack a month after the cruise.

This was one of my favorite evening entertainers

 

Seeing the bags lined up is always sad.

But wait...

There's more!

We are on to Prague for a few days before heading home. 

Between the Iron Gates

October 7, 2018

We had a rocky night. It was one of the first where we left our window open, and we enjoyed the sound of the passing waves and being rocked gently as we slept. We heard that folks on the other side of the ship were inundated with splashing water! Waves? On the Danube?!

This portion of the river is very wide, and the wind whipped the water into a fury. The waves may have been 3-4' high!

We were on our way to Golubac Fortress, Serbia. The fortress is at the narrows of the river. It is the opening to the "Iron Gates", so called because of the bald mountain comprised of iron ore. 

We enjoyed a tour of the fortress, which is undergoing major reconstruction. One thing we noticed is that many of the Eastern European countries are working to renovate some of their ancient sites to encourage tourism. For this landmark, the first challenge was that the main regional road was routed through the old fortress. The ancient gates were torn down or widened, to allow a modern road to go through the fort. The road has been reconstructed to one side, and amazing efforts are underway to reconstruct the structures. 

A second challenge is that the river was dammed downstream from the fortress. Much of the original structure is underwater. 

We were invited to taste local wine and brandy, as well as honey and local treats. Our host was dressed in chainmail. 

After leaving the fortress on the bus, headed for Lepenski Vir, we saw our ship sailing on the Danube.

Lepenski Vir is an amazing archeological site. Before the dam was completed a group came together to save the artifacts from this ancient civilization, estimated to be from 7,000-9,000  BC. Wow! That's old! 

Sections from the ancient village were carefully moved to the current site, far above the water of the dammed Danube.

Settlers in this area created structures of similar shapes. All of the doors faced the "iron mountain", a bald peak on the other side of the river with enough iron ore in it to attract lighting. 

The citizens of this ancient town used clay to created images. 

This early civilization created or traded for utilitarian items. 

Numerous skeletons were also found, laid to rest in differing positions. It was found that almost every skeleton, aged 40-65 years of age, still had every tooth and there was no decay evident in the teeth! There were no signs of traumatic injury, as would have been seen in conflict with other bands of humans. They were a peaceful group.

I often laugh when I think of things that are "old". Buildings classified as such in the US are mere babies compared to what we see in Europe!

Belgrade

October 6, 2018

Visiting Belgrade was an eye-opening experience for this WASPy, sheltered, privileged (by comparison) optimist. It made me realize just how fortunate I am and how sheltered my life has been. Our first activity was a bike ride around Belgrade.

We rode across the Danube and stopped at the site of a Nazi extermination camp just across the river from Belgrade. Originally the site was used as a fairground, similar to a World's Fair. During the war it became an extermination camp. Over 20,000 people were annihilated. It was sobering to hear the details. A few of the buildings are used for industry today, others house squatters.

The central point of the fairgrounds was a tower, which Phillips used to broadcast the first television signals from in 1925. It was later used to patrol the concentration camp's borders.

From there we rode by The Federal Executive Council of Yugoslavia. This HUGE building was constructed under Tito's administration. Several of our guides commented that the public loved Tito and that life was good under his regime. Everyone got paid. Everyone had housing. The economy flourished. Upon Tito's death, all was dissolved. Yugoslavia, a nation of six republics, began to crumble. Currently most of this grand building is unused. 

We peddled on and went along a promenade on the Sava River. As it was Saturday, and sunny, families were out en masse and the promenade was crowded with kids, strollers, scooters, lovers walking hand-in-hand... many things to dodge on our bikes. We stopped for a glass of beer, then peddled through an old section of town (Lord knows where we were) dodging cars, market-goers and more people, before heading back to the ship. 

We had a bit of time to visit the fortress of Belgrade. Like many European cities, a medieval fortress was built, and improved upon over the centuries, to protect the town. I confess, that I did not take too many photos as I stole 30 minutes or so to make a sketch.

Gates into the fortress

This appears to be a more modern tower in the fortress

From there we walked across the street to the "shopping district"; a pedestrian-friendly promenade crammed with tourists and locals. As I said, it was a beautiful day and EVERYONE was out and about. I was not enjoying strolling along back-to-front, shoulder-to-shoulder with mankind in Belgrade, so we tromped down 128 steps (with blistered feet) to the ship. 

This is the view of a church steeple, with gold accents, from the ship. 

It glowed in the sun.

So, we got a brief snap-shot of Belgrade. We didn't spend a lot of time here. But, our overall impression was that Belgrade today is a lot like Budapest when we visited in 2006. The city seemed dirty and the citizens seemed weary. I can only hope that time will be kind to those living in this Serbian nation.