Gazette travels: Cruise through Europe focused on good food and a healthy …
My wife, Cary, and I recently enjoyed an amazing trip in Europe down the Danube River aboard the Legend, one of the Viking River Cruises’ fleet of four dozen or so ships.
I admit I wasn’t thrilled when Cary first suggested it.
After a brutal series of flights, we landed in Munich, Germany, where Viking staff met us and took us by shuttle about 90 miles east to Passau, where the Danube meets the rivers Ilz and Inn (as in downstream from Innsbruck, Austria.)
Imagine my surprise when I boarded the Viking Legend and found it dispensed with all the nonsense of the big boats and focused on providing a relaxing experience heavy on personal service and quality food.
The ship was tiny, with only three decks, but adequate for our needs. We spent little time in our room and were happy with the queen-sized bed, chairs, desk, refrigerator, closet and bathroom. It also included amenities such as a flat-screen TV with on-demand movies and satellite channels.
Even better, Viking offered guided day trips at each river city and village where we docked. The ship hired knowledgeable locals who described the art, architecture, geography and politics of each town replete with a healthy dose of history.
Exploring ornate Passau
We didn’t set sail the first night. Instead, we got up the following day for a walking tour of Passau, a university town of 50,000 that traces its rich history to the 3,000 years when it was fought over by Romans and tribes from the Alps.
A 17th-century fire destroyed much of the city, and it was rebuilt in Baroque style, which remains today.
The history-heavy tour concluded in historic and stunning St. Stephen’s Cathedral, where we enjoyed a concert on its famous organ – the second largest in the world.
That afternoon, we were free to roam so we climbed to a 13th-century fortress atop a bluff that offered panoramic views of the city and river valleys.
We loved Passau, with its narrow, twisting cobblestone streets and its ornate buildings, churches and clock towers.
We set sail after dinner and enjoyed sunset from the top deck as we soaked in our surroundings on the way to Linz, Austria, where we would dock.
In the morning, we departed on a 90-minute bus trip to Salzburg, the historic town on the northern edge of the Alps where Mozart was born in 1756. It was also the setting for the classic film musical “The Sound of Music,” based on the singing von Trapp family’s escape from the Nazis before World War II.
Again we had a guided morning tour, including a rainy walk through the sculpted Mirabell Gardens and then into the Old Town with its mind-numbing assortment of churches, abbeys, cathedrals, castles, museums and shops.
By noon, I was suffering renaissance/baroque/Romanesque/gothic overload. So we stopped into a beer garden for some goulash and a couple of lagers. A trip to the market square brought more relief in the form of amazing apple strudel and a large pretzel.
Soon it was back to Linz and our ship for dinner and away we sailed for Melk, Austria, a town of 5,000 or so that lies in the shadow of a towering Benedictine monastery named Melk Abbey.
The abbey sits on a bluff that once held one of King Leopold II’s castles until the site was given to Benedictine monks more than 1,000 years ago. The abbey is an orgy of gold leaf sculptures and frescoes and more baroque architecture. Room after room is filled with priceless antiquities. There are still about 30 monks and 900 students who attend school each day.
After our tour, we walked the streets and marveled at Melk’s collection of buildings and shops, reminiscent of Passau. (I also was reminded of Manitou Springs, with its quaint shops and restaurants.)
Wheeling ’round Vienna
We would have loved to stay and poke around, but our ship was departing for Krems and the picturesque Wachau Valley.
Despite heavy rain, we enjoyed the valley, where we saw several castles – some restored and some in ruins. (It wasn’t hard to imagine the robber barons stretching chains across the river in ancient times, collecting tolls from passing ships.) Especially beautiful was the approach into Durnstein, Austria, with the ruins of a castle standing guard above the vineyard-covered hillside.
The morning brought us to Vienna and a tour of its old town with its Hofburg Palace, Opera House, government center and stunning St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed one of our favorite excursions of the trip as we accompanied the ship’s chef into the sprawling city market to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, meats and fish. We rode the subway to get there and wandered around for an hour or more, mingling with the locals and taking in the authentic atmosphere removed from most other tourists.
Afterward, Cary and I rented bicycles and cruised around on our own in a joyous tour of a spacious city park. That evening, we relaxed on the top deck, watching dozens of swans swim past our ship.
A day later, we received somewhat of a jolt as we arrived in Bratislava, Slovakia. Instead of the clean and polished German and Austrian towns we had visited, the former Eastern Bloc territory of the Soviet Union was a grittier city still recovering from its decades locked behind the Iron Curtain.
Our guide pointed out the cannon balls lodged in the walls of the old town buildings and chided the Soviets for their ugly contributions to the city’s collection of architecture, which included gothic churches and palaces.
Of particular interest to me was a hiking/biking path atop the opposite bank of the Danube. Our guide told us the path originally was the location of a Soviet-built wall and she said that many died trying to swim across the river and scale the wall to freedom in Austria on the other side.
Baroque Las Vegas
That afternoon, we sailed toward Budapest (pronounced Buda-pesht), where our trip would conclude.
The crew urged everyone to stay awake – early bedtimes were the norm on board given the average guest age of 75 – as we entered the Hungarian capital around 11 p.m.
Our patience soon was rewarded as we rounded a bend in the Danube and got the first glimpse of the lights of the city It was like sailing into a 17th century baroque Las Vegas.
On the left bank was the spectacular Parliament building shining under the brilliance of about a million candlepower.
The historic Chain Bridge was aglow, too, with its sculpted lions and stonework.
High above the right bank in the Castle Hill District of old Buda, there were the spires of Matthias Church, the Buda Castle, the Fisherman’s Bastion and the towering Liberty Statue.
Back on the Pest side, more lights turned the churches, museums and bridges into a festival for the eyes.
On board, passengers moved excitedly from side to side to get the best views and photos.
The landmarks were impressive in daylight as well. Cary and I couldn’t get enough in one day so we booked a room at a downtown hotel and explored for two more days.
We visited the famous thermal spas and climbed to the Liberty Monument and the Citadella, where Nazis holed up for 100 days as the Soviet Union attacked. We walked to the fascinating House of Terror museum on the site where Hungarian Nazis called the Arrow Cross and then Soviet secret police tortured and killed Hungarians during decades of atrocities.
I was glad to see the Hungarians are not burying the dark chapters of their history. Most poignant was the memorial “Shoes on the Danube Bank” on the Pest side near the Parliament Building. Dozens of pairs of shoes line the riverbank in honor of the tens of thousands of Jews killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen during World War II.
The Jews were ordered to take off their shoes before they were shot to death at the water’s edge. Their bodies then fell into the river and were carried away. It was a chilling reminder of the not-too-distant past.
Our final excursions included feasting on paprika chicken in a restaurant overlooking the Danube and having goulash and dumplings in a trendy eatery in the heart of Pest.
We also toured the Jewish Quarter, stopping for a beer at the famous New York Cafe, home to famous writers at the turn of the 20th century.
It was just about the perfect vacation for fans of historic ornate palaces, castle ruins or centuries-old art in ancient buildings.
While it wasn’t the kind of adventure I might have wanted at first, it turned out better than I could have dreamed. Already, we are talking about our next river cruise.
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