Viking Cruises

viking.com | 18 W I N T E R I S S U E 2 6 Clockwise, from top: A wooden door in the National Village Museum; banitsa pastry; Palace of Parliament, Bucharest Danube port of Giurgiu for embarkation on our Viking Longship and overnight we sail across the river to the Bulgarian town of Ruse. Bulgaria also has a distinct history from its neighbours and, for 500 years, was a fully integrated province of the Ottoman Empire. On a hilltop overlooking Veliko Tarnovo, we stop at the historic village of Arbanasi where wealthy merchants once lived in Ottoman mansions adorned with intricate arabesque window grilles. The Ottomans also left an indelible mark "Built in ostentatious Neo Classical style, the palace is one of the largest buildings ever built and the Boulevard leading up to it was designed to eclipse the Champs Élysées in Paris in both length and width." on Bulgaria's church architecture, which they decreed should not exceed the height of a Turkish soldier on horseback. This didn't stop Arbanasi's wealthy citizens employing the best artists to decorate their church and, after ducking our heads to enter the low portal, we're astonished at the beautiful frescoes of angels, saints and biblical stories that cover the walls and ceilings. The Ottoman Empire is generally viewed unfavourably in the Balkans with the notable exception of its influence on the region's cuisine where spicy mezes, köftes and kebabs are ubiquitously popular. The following afternoon in Vidin, I leave for an optional cooking class excursion with a local family where we learn how to make banitsa, a delicious filo pastry cheese pie which is Bulgaria's favourite party food. Banitsa is similar to Turkish börek, but has the surprising added ingredient of lemonade, which gives the filling extra fluffiness and lightens the taste of the sharp local cheese. North of Vidin we enter Serbia and the famous Iron Gates where the Danube cuts through the Balkan mountains in a series of dramatic gorges. It's a stretch of the Danube perfect for a day of scenic sailing and in late October the dense forests covering the mountain slopes are ablaze with crimson and gold foliage. In the Djerdap gorge, we sail past a Roman inscription dedicated to the Emperor Trajan who in the 2nd century AD crossed the river and defeated the last Dacian king Decebalus, a conquest that took the Roman Empire to the zenith of its power. But the plucky Decebalus was not forgotten and on the Romanian side of the Danube a colossal bearded face of the king stares out of a cliff face. The sculpture looks every inch like an antique carving but in fact only dates from 2004. In autumn on the Danube, the weak late afternoon sun stops heating the air, the breezes die down and mirror smooth conditions descend over the river. Just before sunset, we arrive at Golubac Fortress, a towering medieval castle that for centuries guarded the entrance to the Iron Gates. The castle, stained red by the setting sun looks magnificent and as we walk along the river bank the hushed silence is only interrupted by the occasional plop of carps jumping out of the river which send ripples fanning out over the castles reflection. Just before dawn we reach Belgrade, the

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