In April and May 2024 we took a Vikikng Danube River Eastern European Capitals cruise with a pre-cruise extension in Prague and a post-cruise extension in Türkiye.
Click here to see some of the best pictures from this trip, or click one of the pictures below to see more pictures from that part of the trip.
Below is the map showing where we took photos. Click the picture to see an interactive map. Click any of the pins in the interactive map to see more details on that photo and a link to the blog entry.
April 11 to 13, 2024 - Prague
As part of the Danube River cruise, taking us to Eastern Europen Capitals, we'd booked a precruise extension of 3 nights in Prague.
This is where the "real" Budweiser beer was brewed in the Czech town of České Budějovice which has the German name Budweis. Brewed for hundreds of years before Anheuser-Busch started using the name in 1876, which resulted in a global legal battle. Due to that, this beer is sold in the US under the name Czechvar. It's actually a pretty good beer!
2024-04-13 Terezen
April 14, 2024 - Prague to Vienna
April 15, 2024 - Vienna
Schonbrunn Palace was the main summer residence of the Habsburgs who ruled up to 30% to 40% of Europe between 1273 to 1918.
April 16, 2024 - Salzburg & Lake Region
We did a day trip tour from Vienna to Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart. On the way to Salzburg we stopped this church near Mondsee Lake.
Mirabell Palace and Gardens is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the background you can see the medieval Hohensalzburg Fortress.
Our day trip to Salzburg was 3.5 hours each way and we returned late at night to find our ship was no longer where we'd left it! Since we'd left early that morning we'd missed the announcement that our boat would be moving to be behind another boat. It took us a while to find which boat our boat was now behind and gave us a scare.
April 17, 2024 - Bratslava, Slovak Republic
Our walking tour of Bratslava took us to a scenic view of Michael's Gate, built around 1300.
April 18 to 19, 2024 - Budapest, Hungary
We spent the next two nights in Budapest Hungary. Originally two cities, Buda and Pest, where Buda was the richer side and home to the Royal Palace. During the Industrial Revolution the Pest side grew exponentially becoming a commercial powerhouse. They were merged after Hungary gained greater autonomy in 1873 and made their capital Budapest.
Before becoming the capital, the combined city was usually referred to as Pest-Buda, since by that time Pest had become the more prosperous. But Budapest was smoother to pronounce in Hungarian.
Below is the site of the one of the worst atrocities of World War II. In the winter of 1944 - 1945, a Nazi-collaborating militia rounded up thousands of Hungarian citizens, primarily Jewish men, woman and children. Brought to the edge of the freezing river they were ordered to take off their shoes, a valuable commodity, so the militia could keep or resell them. They were then shot so the river current could carry away the bodies.
April 20, 2024 - Mohacs, Hungary
Our tour today took us to the nearby city of Pecs.
April 21, 2024 - Vukovar, Croatia
Our day trip took us to the nearby town of Pecs.
April 22, 2024 - Novi Sad, Serbia
Our tour today took us to the nearby town of Novi Sad.
April 23, 2024 - Belgrade, Serbia
Today we had a walking tour of Belgrade. One of our stops was at the Kalemgdan, a large park featuring an historic fortress, museum, walking path and scenic river views.
Saint Sava is the first Serbian archbishop and Serbia's patron saint. The Saint Sava Church is the fourth largest Eastern Orthodox church in the world per Wikipedia.
April 24, 2024 - Donji Milanovac, Serbia
These locks lowered our boat 45 feet to go past the Iron Gate Hydroelectric Dam. Click the picture below to see what the other side of the dam looked like.
April 25, 2024 Vidin, Bulgaria
This waterfront fortress dates to the 10th century. It was built on the site of an even more ancient Roman fortress Bononia built in the 1st century AD and whose ruins still exist in the foundation and walls.
April 26, 2024 - Pleven Bulgaria
Today we had a walking tour of Pleven Bulgaria.This included a stop at a temple dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker who is revered as a patron of sailors, travelers, bankers, and families. In case you hadn't heard of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, he's better known in the west as St. Nick, or Santa Claus.
This mausoleum honors the thousands of Russian and Romanians who died during the Russo-Turkish war in 1877 to 1878.
Pleven Panorama is famous for its panorama depicting the liberation of Pleven in 1877. This bloody siege resulted in the surrender of Ottoman forces to the Russian-Romanian army on December 10, 1877, paving the way for Bulgarian indedepence from the Ottoman Empire after centuries of rule.
April 27, 2024 Constanta, Romania
Our river cruise ended with a day trip to Consta, Romania before flying us to Bucharest the next day.
April 28 to 29, 2024 - Bucharest, Romania
April 30 to May 2, 2024 - Istanbul Turkey
We'd booked a tour extension for three days in Istanbul. The first night there we had a non-Viking food tour which took us across the Bosporus from the European side of Istanbul to the Asian side.
It was a good thing we'd taken a tour the night before because all of our May 1 tours were canceled due to security concerns. May 1 in Istanbul is Labor and Solidarity Day, an official public holiday characterized by severe localized disruptions, massive police deployments, and transit lockdowns.
The next day, May 2 was super busy as we made up for lost time!
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