Sunday 7 September 2025: Vienna – Roger

When we woke up we had berthed on the Danube, just adjacent to Vienna. It was just before nine when Sylvia and I set off for a stroll into town. The area we walked through was a relatively new residential area with very tidy looking apartments with lots of green spaces and gardens.

We jumped on a tram for a few blocks and then walked the rest of the way to an art gallery, which also included an art village, which we walked through first – basically full of souvenirs and other stuff made in China, but it all related to a bloke called Hundertwasser. This guy drew a lot of stuff that looked like kids drawings to me. He was also involved with various city design in Vienna. He bought a property in the Bay of Islands in NZ, where he was involved in tree planting around the area, and designed the famous Kawakawa loos. He was buried there after dying on the Queen Elizabeth ship in the pacific. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the cafe at the museum.

From there we strolled to the cathedral in the city centre. As I was wandering around the square to get a photo of the cathedral, which seems to be in very good order – probably the cleanest one we’ve seen, I ran into Greg and Susan. They had done the tour with the Viking people and Greg informed me that the cathedral had burnt during World War II and was rebuilt.

After a look inside the cathedral, another Gothic style, we strolled out of the square and round to where the stables are. There I had watched the Lipizzaner horses do a display last time I was here. Next door to the stables is the old public library, not quite like a library we would expect in New Zealand. It is a rather fantastic building with huge columns and statues, and frescos on the curved ceiling. Surprisingly, none of the images in the frescos are reading books. The are doing all sorts of other stuff by the look of it, maybe they were talking about books, but they definitely weren’t reading books. Well that was my observation – maybe others would see it differently. Regardless, it’s a pretty amazing building.

From there we went around the corner and there’s another batch of amazing buildings. This was the Hofburg, the original palace with dozens of buildings. We walked through into the main grounds and there was something going on a bit like a local A&P show, but much bigger than the one they have in Fairlie in the South Island of NZ. There were different sorts of games for the kids, including a gondola car on the end of a crane which was hoisted up in the air for people to have a look around. We went and got a ticket to go to the palace of Sisi, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, and Queen of Hungary. We had to wait half an hour or so before we were allowed in so we wandered into another building through a large steel door which was hitched open. Up the stairs the Crown Jewels, uniforms, frocks and various other garments worn by the royalty in the past were on display. It is all quite overwhelming the amount of jewellery, gold and fine clothing that was owned by these people. Apparently that was the way for the Hapsburg dynasty that started in Switzerland around the seventh century and ruled most of Europe and many other countries around the world until Napoleon came along in the early 1800s and buggered it up. Maybe it was all his fault the world went to pot after that but we will never know.

Heading into the apartments where Sisi the queen lived, we picked up an audio device, which took us through room by room and also gave us a pretty good rundown on her life, which seems to have been less than a happy one. She was married at 16 to Franz Josef I. She had four kids, was addicted to keeping her body in shape and worked out for two hours every day, but seemed to get quite sick when in Vienna, so build a pad down in Corfu in the Greek Islands, where she spent a lot of time. She seemed to be in good health down there. She was assassinated in Italy in 1898.

Next we popped into the local gardens where there was a nice cafe, which was also quiet, We enjoyed a late lunch before heading back into the palace to visit the armoury. This magnificent building was built by Franz Josef for the queen, but was only partially finished when she was assassinated on Lake Geneva by an Italian radical. It was not finished until early in the 20th century. Today the top floor houses a magnificent display of swords, old guns and numerous sets of armour. Back in the day, when the Austrians had such a large empire, they had to be seen as the rulers and often went on long visits to various parts of the world to demonstrate that they were in charge. Part of this was looking the part of a ruler with lots of soldiers in armour. Both horses and soldiers were dressed to fit the part and impress locals. As roads back then were often just tracks an entourage of ~1000 people would accompany the king on these journeys.

The next part of this magnificent building was dedicated to music. Back in the early days the rulers made Vienna into the musical capital of the world, bringing the best musicians and the best instrument makers from all over Europe to keep the passion alive. In doing so, this also brought more wealth to the city as tourists piled in from all around Europe to hear them.

Heading out of the city by tram we passed more local farmers with their tractors and trailers dressed up, most of them with a bottle of beer in their hand, much like at the local A&P shows in New Zealand.

A couple of tram rides, a train ride and another tram ride, and we arrived at the Sigmund Freud Museum. This I had tried to visit when I was here a few years ago but it was closed that day. What we saw there is a little too complicated to explain as it went through his life in great detail. There were even some home movies of him and his family, presented by his daughter Anna, who was working with him before his death. She carried on the practice after the war. Freud, being a Jew, had had to escape the Nazis and move to England after Austria kind of gave themselves up to the Germans without a fight. He had a few different theories on things and was even given a professorship by the psychologists of England. At one stage he experimented with cocaine to see if it would cure addiction to heroin. I am sure there’s a whole lot more that I didn’t see that he did as well because the museum went on through many rooms.

A tram and a train bought us back to the boat where we relaxed for a while before heading out again. We took an uber into town to Deutchordenskirche, a small Catholic church and apartment complex, where Mozart lived for a couple of months in 1791. He played for the bishop in a little theatre there for a couple of years. About 70 mainly-antiques filed into the small theatre, with chairs placed in semi-circular rows around the small stage. In walked a quartet, dressed in period costume: two men with violins, another with a viola and a woman with a cello. They started with a piece from Mozart. The acoustics were excellent and the quartet was very skilled. Not that I know much about music but it sounded very good to me. This was followed by pieces from Mahler and Haydn, after which we all filed out into the courtyard for a drink, and in many cases a fag, (they smoke a lot in Austria) before returning for the last session with pieces from Mozart and Strauss. The quartet, bowed, left and then came back in and did an encore by plucking the strings on their instruments, a bit like you would a guitar.  From this one could assume that Vienna still attracts quality classical musicians from around Europe. All in all today we walked over 15kms around the city.

 

Monday 8 September 2025: Vienna – Sylvia

It was nice to have a night uninterrupted by banging and rocking as we stayed docked in Vienna overnight. A few more Viking boats had arrived and we were now docked in a group of five, three behind us and one more beside us. The crew have been busy washing windows and decks. There are many other river cruise ships docked in the area as well.

At about 8:45am we headed off again, walking to the subway station and heading into town. We had purchased a two-day travel pass and a two-day Vienna pass and this made getting around the city very easy. The Vienna pass gave us access to all manner of sights, often through a fast line so we avoided queueing in most places as well. Having both been to Vienna before we were able to do things that were a little off the beaten path.

After taking photographs of the stunning parliament buildings… as Roger put it “they put our beehive parliaments into insignificance”, our first stop was the Justice Palace. This is an incredibly ornate building that still functions. They only allow 25 visitors per hour and only for 6-hours a day. We arrived just after opening at 9:30am and were the last visitors allowed in for the hour. After undergoing a thorough security check and exploring the beautiful interior, we headed to the rooftop cafe for breakfast and fabulous views over the city.

We have both been very impressed by how clean everything is here. In many of the other towns we have visited the buildings are grey with grime but here they almost seem to shine. Around every corner there is another beautiful building with so much history to share. I have had a little giggle at times at the incongruity of a McDonalds, or other modern business in a building dating back to the Renaissance, or earlier.

We then caught a tram to the Belvedere Palace. Last time I was here I had spent time wandering the gardens but had not visited the museum inside. Today we spent time admiring the ornate interiors and magnificent artworks inside. The museum has a lot of works by Klimt, as well as at least one each by Van Gogh, Monet and Rodin, and many other artists. The top floor houses much more modern works, that didn’t do much for either of us.

By this time Roger’s knees were feeling the effects of all the walking we’ve been doing the last few days, so he took a Uber back to the boat. I continued to wander around the city a bit. I had hoped to visit the Opera House but it was fully booked today. I wandered through some of the gardens to the Rathaus (town hall) and stopped for lunch at Einstein cafe, where I enjoyed some traditional Weiner schnitzel.

Wandering around the town I was quite taken with the traffic lights for walkers… this is obviously an inclusive city.

I had thought about heading out to the Schonbrunn Palace but my phone was running out of battery and I didn’t want to get lost, as the boat was leaving in the afternoon. Instead I headed back myself.

At about 4:30 we pulled away from the dock and left behind at least 15 other river cruise boats as we set sail for Budapest. We sat up on the top deck, Roger enjoying a cigar as we sailed out of the city and under several more low bridges.

 

Tuesday 9 September 2025: Budapest – Roger

It was about 8 am as we sailed down the Danube, passing a lot of beautiful buildings, and parked up just near the Chain bridge in Budapest. Hungary originally became its own state about the year 1000. Saint Stephen took over as the boss and set the place up as a nation. It appears that the people originally came from Western Siberia as the language is closely linked to them and not Roman or Germanic like the other languages in the area. Like other people in Europe, the Hungarians have fought many wars and in most cases got their arse well and truly kicked. As our Hungarian cruise director said last night during the daily briefing “if you want to go into a war find out which side Hungary takes and then take the other side because Hungary is about to pick the losing side”. The city of Budapest was pretty much leveled by the Russians at the end of World War II and every nice building you see here today has pretty much been rebuilt so you’re not looking at a lot of historic buildings but rather recreated historic buildings that were raised from the ashes of World War II. Even many modern buildings being constructed at the moment are being built in the old style making it a very attractive city.

It was just after 9 o’clock when we left the boat and headed for Saint Stephen’s Basilica in the centre of town. It is slightly different than the other cathedrals we have seen along the way.  Just as well or I would be cathedraled out by now. We climbed up to the dome and had a look around the viewing platform giving us a good look around the city. We then descended some stairs to look at the so-called crown jewels, which were not particularly impressive compared with other ones we have seen.

After that we stopped in the square for breakfast and a cup of coffee before strolling across to the parliament buildings. Originally built between 1885 and 1904, over 1000 craftsman worked to complete what is a truly magnificent building. We made our way up a stairway to the fifth floor, then along a corridor to the top of the grand staircase, which is only allowed to be used by very important parliamentarians and visiting dignitaries. There was a large amount of 24-carat gold used in the construction of various parts of these passageways and other important parts of the building. From the grand stairway we moved into the centre dome where the 2kg crown is stored in a glass box with a couple of ceremonial guards alongside. Here we were not allowed to take photos, which is a pity because this particular part is quite grand and around the circumference on pillars all the leaders that have lit over the last thousand years are displayed.

From here we pushed on down another corridor to the secondary parliament chambers. Prior to World War II they had a two chamber system here; laws and legislation went before the crown for signing. As a Soviet state after World War II and up until the 1970s, there was no such thing as a parliament. This was reinstated after the Soviet collapse but they went back to a one chamber system so this chamber is now used as a backup. The other half of the building is apparently a mirror image of this one. Once again there are a lot of statues and the walls and the ceiling of the chamber are laced with gold so to speak. In the corridor surrounding the chamber were rows of brass cigar holders, so the parliamentarians could race out for a puff on a Cuban between debates. They have now stopped that practice. From there we made it back down another set of stairs, through the gift shop of course, and back out onto the street.

Next we took a tram down to the bottom of the yellow underground rail line, the second oldest in the world with the oldest being in London. It may be old but it still works rather well. Dismounting about 4 km east of where we started we popped up in Heroes Square with huge statues on one side and two large buildings to the left and right. It is very picturesque. In the background there’s a large castle, which we headed towards, stopping into a restaurant on the way for some lunch. There, a violinist serenaded a lady having lunch on her own, his skills nowhere near what we had heard in the chamber in Vienna a couple of nights ago. But he did try hard and even got a bit of money out of the lady.

We then wandered around the under-repair lake or skating ring to the Vajdahunyad castle. A little different than many we had seen so far, it almost looked like it had a vampire leaning. We strolled around one side until we could go no further, then back around the other side where there was quite a lot of activity, including an agricultural museum in the main building. a church, and numerous towers and buildings, none of which we could really go inside. As we crossed the bridge leading out of the castle we looked back to the huge gate with big spikes on it, I presume to keep the unwanted out. Across the park we saw the outside of what is Budapest’s oldest and largest hot pools.

Near there we descended back to the rail line and a rather vivacious chap offered me a seat because I looked old he said. He then got on the train with us and tried to get everyone to chant the local soccer mantra as Hungary was playing Poland tonight and he was on the way to the game, already somewhat lubricated, but about to have a good time no doubt. We got off the train by the river and strolled a few hundred metres back to the boat. Sylvia went a little further up the river to have a look at some bronze shoes that had been laid out as a monument to the Jews that lost been shot into the Danube during World War II.

There are a huge number of statues in this town where they must employ an army just to clean the pigeon droppings off them.

Just before 7pm we wandered a few hundred metres down the river and boarded the Buda boat. In the morning we had bought a couple of Buda pass tickets off a couple of smooth dudes on the side of the street, which included all our public transport, discounts to museums included this night cruise up the river and back again. It was just getting dark as we left. We headed up past the parliament building, then turned around and came back down under the Chain Bridge and the Liberty Bridge, and past the stadium, which was lit up in the Hungarian colours for the soccer match tonight, which our enthusiastic friend was no doubt attending, then back to where we started. The view of Budapest by night can only be described as outstanding, as shown by the many pictures we took. For anybody heading this way I would highly recommend this 60-minute boat cruise. And a tip for any antiques (over 65s) heading this way – public transport is free.

 

Wednesday 10 September 2025: Budapest – Sylvia

We had another leisurely start this morning, after a nice quiet night’s sleep with no vibrations or banging of locks, given we had stayed moored in Budapest all night. We met Susie and Greg just after 9am and walked across the magnificent Chain Bridge with its lion statues over to the Buda side of the city. Susie and I walked up to the castle area while Roger and Greg caught one of the small electric buses. We had planned to take the funicular but it was closed for maintenance. We strolled around, past the St Matthias church and then headed to the Hospital in the Rock, where we had booked a 10am tour.

This was one of the best tours I have ever been on. Our guide was knowledgeable and easy to hear and understand. The information shared was interesting and the museum itself was fascinating. Photographs were not allowed, but somehow Roger seemed to take several… Underneath castle hill are about 10kms of caves. These are natural caves formed in the limestone and have been used for at least a thousand years for various things. They had largely been abandoned when in the early 1930’s a decision was made to build a hospital. The hospital takes up about one kilometre of the cave system and was originally intended for up to 60 patients. During WWII it hosted many more, particularly during the siege of Budapest in 1945, when up to 600 people were hospitalised here. Conditions were incredibly bleak with supplies limited. Photographs showed the absolute devastation of the city. It is incredible how well it has been restored. At one stage the water system was shut down. Many patients died of disease.

The museum recognises the incredible efforts of the doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly to save people, in particular Frederick Bonn, the Swiss Red Cross man who managed the hospital and managed to save over 15,000 Jews.

The hospital was strengthened after the war and served a critical role during the Hungarian uprising in 1956 when many locals rose up against the Soviets. They were eventually shut down but did win some concessions from the Soviets. Later, the Soviets further reinforced the hospital and it became a top secret nuclear bunker. This section of the museum has a lot of information about the horrors of nuclear war, including photos etc from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At only 18m deep, the bunker is no longer of use and now forms part of the museum.

After the tour we wandered over to the Fisherman’s Bastion, where we stopped at a panoramic cafe for coffee, with fabulous views across to the Parliament building. Susie and Greg headed off to continue exploring and Roger and I walked over to the castle building. We had a quick look at the Hungarian history museum then wandered back down the hill towards the boat. Roger decided to head back and rest for the afternoon.

I kept walking, I visited the beautiful Opera house, which I had done a tour of the last time I was here. It is a really magnificent building.

I then headed over to the Dohany Street Synagogue, the second largest synagogue in the world. I have visited numerous churches and many mosques over the years but this is the first time I have been inside a synagogue. It was very ornate. All male visitors had to don a skull cap for the visit. Out the back was a memorial to the many Jews who had lost their lives during the holocaust.

I stopped briefly at the Grand market. This huge, covered market area has loads of stalls selling all sorts of different food and souvenirs. Paprika is a staple here in Hungary and many stalls were strung with the dried peppers. I bought a chimney cake, a specialty here in Budapest, and quite delicious. I saved half to take back to the boat for Roger.

From the market I walked across the green Liberty bridge, wandered back along the Danube river, climbed up part of Gellert Hill to have a look at some statues, then back across the Chain Bridge and back to the Lif.

About half the passengers that have been with us since Amsterdam disembarked today and were replaced by new passengers for the next part of the trip to Bucharest. From here on I will be in entirely new territory and am looking forward to some new experiences. Roger has visited all the countries we will pass through but very few of the specific towns we will visit so will be new for him too.