I'm still playing catch-up on my writing, so here's another armchair tour from blogs gone by! The picture of me on the left is taken in the courtyard of Melk Abbey, a grand abbey on the Danube.
Riverboat Cruising
Years ago, I read an article about riverboat cruises in Europe, and the idea immediately appealed to me. As a friend says, rivers were the interstates of the past, and so much of European civilization developed along the waterways. How better to explore than in a boat holding maybe 150 friendly, intelligent passengers and serving lots of really good ?
Like a plot element, the idea of a riverboat cruise simmered in my lizard brain for years, and in 2006, I thought it was time to do a cruise in Southern France. Except that all the French cruises were booked for the time slot we had, and we ended up cruising the Douro River in Northern Portugal. It was great.
This year, I decided it was time to book that French cruise. Urp. Once again, Southern France along the Rhone was sold out. Which is how we ended up cruising the Danube. Again, it was great—the Mayhem Consultant and I are easily amused, and any interesting new place will be fun.
Prague
We started with a three day pre-cruise extension in Prague, which isn’t on the Danube, but really, how could we go to Eastern Europe and not see Prague? The city has been an intellectual and creative center for centuries, and under the blighting hand of five decades of Soviet rule, it was spared rapacious developers tearing down beautiful old buildings.
Prague lived up to its reputation, and the old city is truly spectacular, including the famous and incredibly complex astronomical clock, which dates to 1410 (!!!) and which performs its traffic stopping dance every hour on the hour.
A high point of Prague was our tour of the Lobkowicz Palace, part of the Prague castle complex on a hill overlooking the city. The Lobkowicz family had been Eastern European aristocrats for centuries, and they were collectors and patrons of the arts. Then the family was forced to flee twice—first when the Nazis came, then in 1948 when the Russians came.
And here the story becomes even more interesting. After the fall of Communism in 1989, former owners could go to the courts to reclaim the family properties, and that’s exactly what William Lobkowicz did. Born in Boston and educated at Harvard, he reclaimed the family estates and sold off several to raise the money to restore the others.
The Viking cruise line had a video about the palace tour, and I started salivating when they showed the family art treasures. Original Breughels and Canalettos. Hand written manuscripts by Beethoven, with his own scratch outs and annotations!
The tour included a lovely lunch in a gorgeous high-ceilinged chamber, amazing views over the city, and a half hour chamber music concert featuring works by composers associated with Prague. People like Mozart and Beethoven and Dvorak.
Music
That was the first of several concerts of classical music on our journey, and reflects how much music is a part of eastern European culture. Another concert was by the organ in cathedral of Passau, in Germany. It’s the largest cathedral organ in Europe with almost 18K pipes, and when it played the double bass notes, the reverberations were so powerful that I half expected the plaster cherubs to be shaken off the walls. <G> (Note: half an hour seems about right for a classical music concert for an audience of tourists.)
On a riverboat cruise, you tend to stop at a city a day and get guided walking tours of the old city in the morning, with free time or optional tours in the afternoon. So we got an overview of great cities of Eastern Europe. Regensburg in Bavaria has a stone bridge (called, logically enough,
the Stone Bridge, Steinerne Brücke) which was built in the 12th century (the 12th century!!!) and for centuries was the only really reliable crossing of the Danube for a very long stretch.
I loved medieval Passau with its cathedral and twisting streets. The tour there illustrated something else about Eastern Europe: the presence of war. As the guide said matter of factly, there were no war industries in the city so the only thing the Allies bombed in WWII was the railroad station. Hence, the medieval city survived. (The other omnipresent topic in Bavaria was beer, which was referred to often and enthusiastically.)
I have to say I wasn’t too taken by Vienna, though that surely is because we were shown lots of oppressive imperial grandeur from the heyday of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nor was I very impressed by the famous Sacher tortes, though the tea room at the Sacher hotel was very lovely, and full of tourists like us who were there for the iconic experience. (And the chocolate. <G>)
I like Budapest a great deal more—it was attractive and idiosyncratic and invited further exploration. In the afternoon, we went to a horse show at the farm of the two Lazar brothers, who are world champion carriage drivers, and which underlined Hungary heritage of riding and horsemanship. (Some of the riding tricks, like this one, must be like what Regency spectators saw at Astley's Amphitheater back in the day.)
I’m a born tourist and could say lots more, but what struck me most about the trip was the different feel of the region from Western Europe, which I know a great deal better. Central Europe is sometimes called Mitteleuropa—Middle Europe, a term that is political and cultural as well as geographic.
The history felt very close as city guides described the Roman origins of their cities, the bombing damage of World War II, and the tragically empty Jewish quarters.
Even more present was the history in the Czech Republic and Hungary, countries which were under Communist domination until 1989. Guides talked about how statues of Lenin and Stalin used to be in particular squares, how a particular square was popular for demonstrations "because there was more room for Russian tanks," and pointed out the stark, boxy Soviet buildings that were all about cheap practicality rather than aesthetics.
This part of the world has often been fought over—Hungary is largely a level plain, perfect for raiding horsemen or oncoming tanks. Maybe that accounts for the underlying fatalism of the culture: great music, world weary intellectuals, and brilliant scientists fleeing to the west. In the long history of the Central Europe, Communism was a blip that is already receding into the past.
Not that I should be drawing many conclusions based on a mere ten days in Mitteleuropa! But it’s a fascinating part of the world, and I’m glad we had a chance to see some of it.
Have you ever been to Central Europe? What did you think of it? And if you haven’t visited, would you like to? What dreams and fantasies come to mind when you think of the romantic Danube and Viennese coffee houses?
Mary Jo, adding a picture of a band of Prague musicians playing horns unlike any I've ever seen. But they sure were enjoying themselves!
Bucket List!!
Posted by: Cindy A | Friday, April 02, 2021 at 07:30 PM
Thanks for a fascinating post, Mary Jo. I've never been to Central Europe though my grandmother was born in Pest (part of Buda/pest).
Posted by: Kareni | Friday, April 02, 2021 at 09:21 PM
Never been to eastern Europe, but I can endorse river cruising. Much more interesting for bookish types who enjoy history and culture, both local and highbrow, than large, ocean liner trips that cater more to holidayers. There's something, too, about getting to know some of 200 travellers than 3,000 people predivided into self-contained family and friends groups. If I could still travel, I'd definitely want to follow in your footsteps, Mary Jo, and perhaps lead you in mine.
Posted by: Mary M. | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 12:14 AM
Thank you for the lovely post and wonderful pictures.
I hope that each of you are taking care and staying well.
Posted by: Annette N | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 08:58 AM
Thank you for this very interesting post, Mary Jo. The Hungarian's sound like the Irish of Western Europe. I'm going to have to try river cruising as I didn't enjoy my one taste of ocean liner cruises - just as Mary M. said. Your fan and friend in Riverside, CA.
Posted by: Mary Nudge | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 09:31 AM
I was in Eastern Europe, back in the 1970's. I loved Vienna, but maybe that's partially because my mother grew up there. I felt very much at home. Then I took a boat ride from Vienna to Budapest. I agree, Budapest is lovely but it was not as well restored from the war, you could still see buildings with bullet or bomb damage. In spite of parts of the city looking rundown, the subway was modern and gorgeous looking, and cost the equivalent of 2 cents in U.S. money. Since it was during the Communist era, there were very few tourists, and none of the locals(except for a few young students) spoke English. However some of the older ones spoke German, and I have a little bit of German, so I muddled through. After Hungary I took a train to Yugoslavia(it was one united country then). They were still running steam trains, fueled with coal, what a beast that engine was! Again very few people speaking English, very cheap prices, but the Yugoslavians, at least in the cities, seemed to have a better standard of living and more liberties that the other Eastern European countries. I still recall the mountains in Yugoslavia as being the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.
Posted by: Karin | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 11:11 AM
Cindy, cruising the Danube belongs on all bucket lists!
Posted by: Mary Jo Putney | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 06:39 PM
Kareni--you have a bona fide reason to visit there! You would not regret it. (We visited both Buda and Pest.)
Posted by: Mary Jo Putney | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 06:40 PM
Mary, I totally agree with your reasons for loving river boat cruise: up close and personal with the history, and fewer guest. All good.
Posted by: Mary Jo Putney | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 06:41 PM
Thank you, Annette. Most of the people I know are careful, and are getting vaccinated! Looking forward to more cautious freedom soon.
Posted by: Mary Jo Putney | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 06:42 PM
Mary, I think you'll find that riverboat cruising is indeed very different, and like Mary M and I, you might really enjoy it.
Posted by: Mary Jo Putney | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 06:43 PM
Fascinating experiences, Karin! I'm sure we would have like Vienna more if we'd seen the more small scale and human elements of the city.
Posted by: Mary Jo Putney | Saturday, April 03, 2021 at 06:44 PM
As an American expat living ten years in Budapest, I can only say that I still cannot get enough of the beauty of this area. Love the people and culture as well.
Posted by: Kathleen Bittner Roth | Sunday, April 04, 2021 at 03:19 AM
Kathleen, how wonderful to live in another country long enough to really learn and appreciate it in all its uniqueness. Budapest would be a wonderful place to be an ex-pat!
Posted by: Mary Jo Putney | Monday, April 05, 2021 at 01:12 PM