19 | Viking Explorer Society News
GETTING THERE: The 11-day Passage
to Eastern Europe sails from
Bucharest to Budapest or in reverse.
B la c k
S ea
I ro n G a te
Tr ans y l v ania
CZECH REPUBLIC
HUNGARY
ROMANIA
SERBIA
BULGARIA
CROATIA
DANUBE
DANUBE
Prague
AUSTRIA
Vienna
Budapest
Belgrade
Veliko Tarnovo
Vidin
Kalocsa
Giurgiu
Ruse
Osijek
Bucharest
Golubac
C r ui s e
M o to r C o ach
O ve r night in Po r t
VIEW
VOYAGE
party capital of the Balkans where the last
booming beats of its famous floating riverside
clubs are just winding up for the night. After
breakfast I set out to explore the pleasant
pedestrianised city centre, which is filled with
Viennese style cafés. Serbia is a great sporting
nation and after lunch I join an optional
cycling tour along the Sava River, a tributary
of the Danube, which is lined by beautiful
parkland filled with tennis courts where we
spot dozens of young players honing their
skills hoping to become the next Novak
Djokovic.
Following our misty transit through
Croatia, we enter Hungary where the Danube
widens and slices through the fertile
Pannonian Plain where farming communities
treasure their ancient traditions. Modern
Hungarians are descended from the Magyars,
a warlike nomadic tribe who in the Dark Ages
were renowned for their horsemanship.
Today their skills are kept alive by Puszta
horsemen and, on a remote farmstead near
the beautiful Baroque town of Kalocsa, we're
treated to a thrilling display of games and
acrobatics. The highlight of the show is when
the horsemen stand up on their saddles and
race around a track cracking whips in the air.
The circular flicks are so fast, they create mini
sonic booms that echo across the landscape, a
technique that must have terrified the
Magyars' enemies.
Our final port of call is Budapest which,
due to its sheer beauty, is always a wonderful
city to finish a cruise. The itinerary includes
two extra nights in the centrally located
five-star Corinthia Hotel. Over the next couple
of days, we immerse ourselves in the history,
culture and cuisine of the city, which shares
much in common with its southern
neighbours and is now familiar to us thanks to
this fascinating journey through the heart of
the Balkans.
"On a remote farmstead
near the beautiful
Baroque town of Kalocsa,
we're treated to a
thrilling display of games
and acrobatics."
Clockwise, from top:
Skadarlija, Belgrade;
a street in Kalocsa,
Hungary
