Viking Cruises

Call us on 138 747 (AU), 0800 447 913 (NZ), contact your local Viking travel agent or visit viking.com | 21 day. It seems the famous gladiator and rebel leader Spartacus was born in the region of modern-day Bulgaria not Rome, and that I can eat seven Romanian doughnuts in one sitting. All this and it's only day three. With a name meaning the Norse Goddess of Comfort, Viking Lofn carries just 190 passengers with a crew of 53. While the Danube's entire journey from the Black Forest of Western Germany to the Black Sea in Romania and Ukraine covers 2850 kilometres, we'll be tracing a still substantial 800 kilometres of it in what is referred to as the Lower (eastern) Danube. Our voyage passes through five vastly different countries, where the landscape changes rapidly, morphing from raked vineyards to dramatic cliffs to Soviet-era villages with each bend of the river. My interest in the breakup of both the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia (and love of Balkan sweets) has led me this way before but only by plane, train and automobile. By cruising upstream from Romania through Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary I'll gain fresh insights while sidestepping the crowds of the better-known European hotspots. And unlike the broiling heat of the recent summer, I've chosen to travel in mid-autumn, where the only thing burning is the colour of the chestnut trees. BUCHAREST, ROMANIA: The real Paris of the East If Eastern Europe is the less predictable cousin to the West, it makes sense to travel with a cruise line well-versed in its nuances. Founded in 1997, Viking offers destination-focused journeys designed to help guests untangle the mysteries and histories of the cultures they travel through. Throw in expert guest lecturers, a curated reference library, regional cuisine and optional privileged access to places otherwise difficult to visit, and it's easy to see why Viking is billed as the Thinking Person's Cruise Line. We board in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, where the Scandinavian-style design and paired-back elegance of the Viking Lofn is immediately obvious, but over the coming days it's the depth and variety of excursions I grow to value the most. A "Sights and Flavours of Bucharest" tour leads us around the city on a progressive dinner, where traditional dishes are served with a side of architecture. We start at Becker Brau brewery for beer and appetisers before moving to a classic art nouveau-style inn in the Interbelic district for a hearty main served with matching wines. Dessert sees us scoffing Romanian fried doughnuts inside a graceful Neo-Romanesque villa before a slug of sour cherry brandy warms our bellies for a stroll around the Old Town. This is my third visit to Bucharest, and I am still smitten by its Beauty and the Beast charm, where Beaux-Arts architecture and wide, French-style boulevards are tempered by brutalist communist buildings. "At first glance, Bucharest is a difficult city to love," says our guide Catalin Calaceo, as she leads us on a morning tour of the city. "But dig a little and you will find it has many treasures." There's been a lot of digging going on at Vlad the Impaler's former THE BELOG R A D C HIK ROC K S FOR TR ESS

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