In July, 2024 we joined Grace’s son Larry and family on a cruise on the Danube River from Budapest to Vilshofen, Germany. Before the cruise began we went to Budapest, rented a car and explored three small towns (Gödöllő, Holloko and Eger) in eastern Hungary. After the cruise ended in Vilshofen we took a train to Halstatt, Austria for a couple days before flying home from Munich.
Gödöllő
Our flight to Budapest arrived in the late afternoon so we rented an Airbnb that was not too far from the city and in the direction that we wanted to go (East). Gödöllő fit the bill and also contains a famous royal palace. The palace is particularly well-known because it was the favorite home of Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria and the Emperor Franz Joseph.
The chapel of the palace
Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) was widely considered one of the most beautiful woman of her time and was much admired in Hungary.
Hollókő
Hollókő is a tiny village about 45 minutes from Budapest that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it contains well preserved 13th century village. Unfortunately the days that we were in eastern Hungary were unusually hot, with highs well above 100 deg F. So it was difficult to visit places in the heat.
Hollókő means raven in Hungarian
It was so hot on the day we were there that there were very few other tourists.
There were many fields of sunflowers along the highways in eastern Hungary.
Eger
Our primary target in eastern Hungary was the town of Eger, a town with a medieval castle and rich history. It is also a center of wine making and has a large thermal bath. The castle is well-known by all Hungarian school children because of the heroics of Istvan Dobo who led a successful and improbable defense of the city in Siege of Eger in 1552 against a much larger force of Ottomans.
Statue of Dobo with the castle in the background in the central Dobo Square
Saint Anthony of Padua church
Rising moon over Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Apostle
Géza Gárdonyi who wrote the popular account of the Siege of Eger, Eclipse of the Crescent Moon.
Eger Castle
A frieze commemorating the Siege of Eger (1552) in which Istvan Dobo led a handful of soldiers against the invading Ottoman Turks, despite being outnumbered 30:1
Looking down to Dobo Square from the castle
Dobo Square with Istvan leading the charge
The northernmost Ottoman minaret in Europe
City Under the City
Eger is famous for its winemaking which has been going on for over a thousand years. Beneath the modern city is a vast collection of tunnels and caverns that were used to store the wine barrels.
Attila the Hun
Eszterházy Károly College
Eszterházy Károly
Library
The baroque library of the college is a beautiful room with a vast collection of old books, all carefully preserved and monitored. On the ceiling is a detailed fresco painted in the 18th century.
Ceiling of the library
View from the roof of the Lyceum (Esterhazy College) building
On the top floor is a camera obscura or periscope that allows images all around the building to be cast onto a table top.
Budapest
Lazarspark Horse Show
We returned to Budapest to start our river cruise with enough time to catch a horse show at the outskirts of town. Hungarians are noted horsemen and the show highlighted their skills on horseback as well as in training the horses.
Shooting an arrow from horseback
Riding a team of 5 galloping horses while standing on two of them
Budapest
Buda Castle and the Chain Bridge at night
Church of Our Lady of Buda Castle with St. Stephen statue
Fisherman’s Bastion
Hungarian Parliament Building
Fountain of King Mathias
Heroes Square
We were supposed to cruise by the Parliament building at sunset but alas, the ship sailed too late
Bratislava
St. Martin’s Cathedral
St. Martin’s Cathedral
Knight in armor on St. Martin’s Cathedral
Man at Work
UFO bridge
Bratislava Castle at night
Bratislava Castle
Fountain of St. George and the dragon
Vienna
I took a bike tour through Vienna in the morning. This was a good way to see much of the lovely city but not enough time to see more in depth.
Johann Strauss Monument
Hofburg Palace
Dome of St. Michael Gate of Hofburg Palace
Hofburg Palace at night
The Trinity (or Plague) Column
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
Austrian Parliament Building
Johannes Gutenberg
Melk Abbey
This is a Benedictine abbey overlooking the Wachau Valley and Danube River. It was founded in 1089 but largely built in the 1700s. We took an extended tour of the inside of the Abbey but no photographs were allowed.
Durnstein Castle
Melk Abbey
Melk Abbey
Cesky Krumlov
One of the optional tours was a visit to Cesky Krumlov, a charming medieval town in the Czech Republic. This is probably my favorite town in Europe. It is nestled within a S-shaped bend of the Vltava River. A large castle with a colorful round tower, cobblestone streets with little traffic make it possible to imagine that you are visiting 500 years ago. Of course the large number of tourists and tour groups quickly disabuse you of this notion.
The colorful castle tower
Panorama taken from the top of the castle tower
Looking down into the bear pit from the tower
From the castle tower
Linz
On the day we docked at Linz, there was a very large and crowded street festival. The town square and many adjoining streets were mobbed with visitors watching a wide variety of street performers. It was so crowded that it was easy to get separated from the tour guide leading the way.
Vilshofen
The AMA Waterways tour ended with an evening in Vilshofen, Germany where they organized an Oktoberfest celebration with lots of beer and traditional dancing.
Historically the Danube River will flood occasionally, usually with devastating effects on the riverfront towns and cities. Several of the towns we visited had high water marks on city walls to show the effects of flooding in different years.
Memorial for the voluntary fire departments that fought the flooding in the years 1319, 1320, 1595, 1845, 1850, 1862, 1882, 1905, 1941, 1945, 1950, 1954
High sweat marks for July, 2024
This was a contest for two guests and one band member to see who could hold the liter stein of beer the longest.
Buderus’sche Eisenwerke
Sixty years ago in the summer of 1964, I worked for the Buderus’rusche Eisenwerke, a steel company in the small town of Wetzlar, Germany. Despite its small size, Wetzlar had several noteworthy traits. It is the home of Leitz camera works, famous for the Leica cameras. The greatest German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent a few years in Wetzlar, where he wrote the piece that first made him famous The Sorrows of Young Werther. And, of course, it was the home of Buderus’sche Eisenwerke which has been in business since the 1700s.
My job at Buderus was obtained through a program in the German Department at Princeton University where I was a sophomore. The department arranged summer jobs for students of German literature, language and history. That year they had more jobs than applicants so they opened up slots for those taking German classes. I applied and was happy to be accepted. As I recall they also paid for airfare to Germany with the only stipulation that we had to attend a reception for all students in Hamburg. Three of my roommates at Princeton were also working in Germany and France that summer so we got together at the end of our work and drove around German, France and Switzerland for a couple weeks. An idyllic summer!
One of the main products of Buderus, which was the most visible, was manhole covers so I was curious whether they were still on the streets of Germany. When we got to Vilshofen, I was happy to find many Buderus manhole covers in the streets.
Halstatt, Austria
After the tour ended in Vilshofen, we took the train to Halstatt for 2 nights before flying home from Munich. Halstatt is a scenic mountain village in Austria that is primarily reached by ferry that picks up passengers from a small train depot.
Halstatt grew up around an industry of mining salt from deep in the mountains. Now one can tour the salt mine which is still active.
One of the attractions of the salt mine is to ride the slides that were used to transport workers quickly from one level to another.
Looking down on Halstatt from the top of the salt mine
There was a funeral in town and the locals appeared in their finest attire.
Hallstatt during the blue hour after sunset