2018 Romania & the Danube

Tuesday, 7th August 2018 Today we  set out on our main train journey of the year. We are travelling over two weeks through the middle of Europe, ending up in the town of Tulcea [Romania], where the River Danube joins the Black Sea at the Danube Delta. This is handy as this is where we […]

Wednesday, 8th August 2018 Robert woke up at 03:00 to the sounds of carriages and buffers and when he went to investigate he realised that the sleeper carriage we were in, and the two behind, were stationary at a platform at Salzburg. We had been uncoupled from our engine and the rest of our train […]

Thursday, 9th August 2018 A leisurely start to the day, partly because of the promised temperatures of 34º, but also because, unusually for us on a train trip, when we are often up to catch an early train, on this occasion we had a second day to explore/enjoy a location, so we were able to […]

Friday, 10th August 2018 Our fifth train of this trip, departing at 08:23, took us on a two and a half hour journey to the city of Debrecen. Debrecen is the centre of the Northern Great Plain region and was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century.  As the site of the uprising,  it […]

Saturday, 11th August 2018 When booking today’s train Robert had several choices. Bear in mind that it is 45 miles between Debrecen [Hungary] and Oradea [Romania]. There is only one direct train between the two cities each day, all the other routes take one to two hours longer and involve one change. So he decided […]

Sunday, 12th August 2018 A much more leisurely start to today. We were able to lie in at the hotel, have breakfast at 08:15 and then walk to the railway station to catch the 09:57 from Oradea [Romania] to Cluc-Napoca [Romania]. Today’s journey takes 2h 36mins and is approximately 100 miles. We had elected to […]

Monday, 13th August 2018 An early swim before breakfast helped to get the day off to a healthy start. Following Robert’s friendly criticism of her backstroke technique yesterday, Matilda googled this and realised she was using the recreational technique, not the racing technique he was recommending. Looking in the wardrobe we found bathrobes and slippers […]

Tuesday, 14th August 2018 One of the things Robert likes about the main stations in Romania is that many have a vintage, stationary, steam engine on display out side. We left Cluj-Napoca on a train at 09:37, the rail route to Sighisoara is about 120 miles [approximately equivalent to Birmingham to London]. We are scheduled […]

Wednesday, 15th August 2018 Today was an unusually late start for us. We normally like to get a train around 08:00 which allows us to get up about 06:00, pack, then breakfast at 07:00 and then leave the hotel at 07:30-ish. This means that if we do a train ride of around two hours we […]

Thursday, 16th August 2018 We planned to visit Bran Castle, but rather than take a guided tour – you should be aware of Robert’s opinion of those by now – we decided to take a local bus from Bus Station 2. Buses leave every hour, on the hour in both directions and we caught one […]

Friday, 17th August 2018 An early train at 07:40 meant foregoing breakfast and we were caught in a rain shower just as we were putting our luggage in the taxi to the station. The rain is the second we have experienced this holiday and was very short lived: it was dry again by the time […]

Saturday, 18th August 2018 After breakfast we took the metro to see Ceauşescu’s Palace which is an extraordinary monument to one man’s power and sense of self-importance to put it mildly. To put this building into perspective, it took only six years to build, from 1983 to 1989. However, it is still not finished, of the […]

Sunday, 19th August 2018 Today started with our eleventh train journey of this trip, the 09:00 from Bucharest to Constanta, arriving at 11:00. Constanta is located on the Black Sea; is the second largest city in Romania and its largest port. It also has a very large beach stretching north from the city, which includes […]

Monday, 20th August 2018 Only a short post today as it has been a very lazy day with just one purpose. We caught the 12th train of the trip, a short ride from the coast at Constanta to Medgidia, from here we changed to a small modern DMU train for a three hour trip on […]

Tuesday, 21st August 2018 So today is our first day of 12 on the River Danube, the second longest river in Europe, after the Volga [Russia], and at 2860km long, travels from Donauesschingen [Germany] to the Black Sea. It winds its way through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Where […]

Wednesday, 9th August 2018 The boat had travelled through the night southbound through Romania, before curving westwards along the Danube on the border between  Romania and Bulgaria. At 10:00 the boat docked at Oltenita on the Romanian side of the river, south south east of Bucharest. With the exception of us and about 8 others, […]

Thursday, 23rd August 2018 Overnight the cruise boat moored in Ruse, which is the fourth largest city in Bulgaria. While the majority of passengers had a guided coach and walking tour of Ruse, we walked into the city to see the sights including the Monument to Freedom in the main plaza; The Court House; The […]

Friday, 24th August 2018 The day was spent cruising through Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, passing through the 140km scenic gorge on the Danube between the Carpathians and the Balkans, known as the Iron Gates. The two hydroelectric dams, built as a collaboration between Yugoslavia [now Serbia] and Romania are called Iron Gate I and Iron Gate […]

Saturday, 25th August 2018 We awoke in Belgrade for breakfast and left the boat at 08:00 as it needed to leave the dock to refuel. The majority of passengers went on a guided tour whilst we went on our own to look around this capital city. First we had to cross the border controls [we […]

Sunday, 26th August 2018 This morning we had to go through passport control on board the boat to enter Hungary. This involved completing a declaration the night before about the amount of alcohol, cigarettes and currency we were bringing into the country and presenting ourselves to the customs officers in an orderly fashion in the […]

Monday, 27th August 2018 Travelling Herd needs all the technology available to keep the blog up-to-date… As we were conducting our own tour of Budapest we were first off the boat after lunch and headed straight to the Great Market Hall so that Robert could invest in some paprika to perfect his goulash and we […]

Tuesday, 28th August 2018 Bratislava is quite compact and approaching by river is dominated by the castle on the hill. The walk from our mooring took in the local transport. . . . . . the landmark statues. . . . . . which it is obligatory to pose with and photograph . . . […]

Wednesday, 29th August 2018 The food on board offers very little in the way of variety for vegetarians and two three course meals a day is more than any of us require so we agreed that we would forego the lunch onboard and try to find something lighter and more interesting to eat at lunchtime. […]

Thursday, 30th August 2018 Melk is a picturesque town in Lower Austria overlooked by a beautiful and imposing monastery. On arrival we decided to forego the meal on the boat again in the hopes of letting Jaime have a choice of vegetarian options and set off for a day in the town. Between 2004 and […]

Friday, 31st August 2018 The Pöstlingberg hill in Linz is 539 metres high and is served by the Pöstlingbergbahn, one of the steepest railways in the world. This takes you up to the top of the hill where there is a pilgrimage basilica, panoramic views and the Grottenbahn – a fantasy ride through the kingdom […]