Isn't She Beautiful

Guy having fun in Bucarest, Romania

Baba Vida Fortress

Baba Vida Fortress

The Baba Vida Fortress at Vidin

On our last stop in Bulgaria, we docked at Vidin. Located on the Danube River was the Baba Vida Fortress. What is interesting in Eastern Europe is the free access we had to the Fortress. There was no ADA compliance as we climbed steep shakey wooden staircases, narrow spiral staircase, tall towers, and more. It was an explorers delight. Here is the description of Baba Vida on Wikipedia:

Baba Vida (Bulgarian: Баба Вида) is a medieval fortress in Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria and the town's primary landmark. It consists of two fundamental walls and four towers and is said to be the only entirely preserved medieval castle in the country.

The construction of the fortress began in the 10th century at the place of an Ancient Roman watchtower. The building of Baba Vida is tied to a legend, according to which a Danubian Bulgarian king who ruled at Vidin had three daughters: Vida, Kula and Gamza. Prior to his death, he divided his realm among the three. Vida, the eldest, was given Vidin and the lands north to the Carpathians, Kula was awarded Zaječar and the Timok Valley, and Gamza was to rule the lands west up to theMorava. Although Gamza and Kula married to drunkard and warlike nobles, Vida remained unmarried and built the fortress in her city. The name of the castle means "Granny Vida".[1]

Baba Vida served as Vidin's main defensive installation during the course of the Middle Ages and acted as the most important fortress of northwestern Bulgaria. The Baba Vida stronghold stood an eight-month-long siege by Byzantine forces led by Basil II, but was destroyed and once again erected during the rule of Ivan Stratsimir, as whose capital it served. Between 1365 and 1369, the fortress was in Hungarian hands. Vidin was suddenly attacked by the forces of Louis I of Hungary, but it took several months to conquer Baba Vida. In 1369, Ivan Sratsimir managed to regain control of his capital, albeit he had to remain under Hungarian overlordship.

In 1388, the Ottomans invaded Sratsimir's lands and forced him to become their vassal. In 1396, he joined an anti-Ottoman crusade led by the King of Hungary,Sigismund, placing his resources at the crusaders' disposal. The crusade ended in the disastrous Battle of Nicopolis at Nikopol, Bulgaria, with the Ottomans capturing most of Sratsimir's domains shortly thereafter, in 1397.

The fortress played a significant role during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, serving as a weapon warehouse and a prison, as it has been no longer used for defensive purposes since the end of the 18th century.

Today, Baba Vida is a fortress-museum, where finds and intelligence about its history are kept. Being a popular tourist attraction, the fortress was restored to its former appearance.

Vukovar and Osijek, Croatia (War is hell)

Here is a bombed out building in Vukovar, a school in Osijek with bullet marks in the side and a picture of a billboard I downloaded from the web warning of land mines. The same picture as on the billboard was on the signs in the fields still littered with mines. (see Day 11 below).

The Fortress of Belogradchik

On Day 7 we went to Fortress of Belogradchik, one of the natural wonders of Bulgaria. Other than the ancient fortress walls, the rock formations reminded me of Red Rocks outside of Denver, Colorado. The Fortress, known as The Citadel was built in the early 1800s by the Ottoman rulers on the foundations and remains of a 1st Century Roman fortress.

Budapest

St. Matyas (Matthias) Church and Fishermen’s Bastion (see Day 12 below).

Tired Feet

Teresa and Pam got tired of walking in Budapest so they took a ride.

When we took bus excursions to the various sites, we stopped frequently for bathroom breaks and snacks at hotel lobbies. Traveling with a group of people whose average age has to be over 70 years old, the pace of sightseeing was very slow and sometimes frustrating. In this photo I was frustrated.....or was I just squinting? Pam swears to this day that she saw a "Depends" adult diaper protruding from some man's shorts during lunch one day. How do you spell TMI.

The Newlywed Game

Tim and Teresa were selected to play the "Newlywed Game" on the ship. Hard to imagine but we were the youngest couple on the ship. There were 3 passengers on the boat that were younger than us and a lot of older couples that had been married less time than us. Many, if not most, of the passengers go on multiple cruises per year. I was surprised how many were very well traveled. There were a lot of people from Canada and Australia. Surprisingly, we did not embarrass ourselves.

Belgrade, Serbia

Here are a couple of photos of an archeological excavation under an edge of a road in downtown Belgrade.

Veliko Turnovo - Tzarevetz Castle

This photo is of the Tzarevetz Castle on Day 6

Friends in Bulgaria

Craig did manage to make a couple of new friends in Bulgaria. ;-)

Christ Nativity Church - Arbanassi

From here on, photos and daily entries are a little out of sequence as we try to upload photos from the days on the boat when we had a poor internet connection. The following photos take us back to Day 6 when we visited the picturesque village of Arbanassi. These are interior photos of the Christ Nativity Church dating back to the 16th century.

So Craig....tell us how you really feel.

There are several bridges connecting Buda with Pest to create Budapest. The first one built was the Chain Bridge. It is the one with the most lights in the picture. The close-up is also the Chain Bridge.

Days 12 and 13 by Craig Lundell

Friday, August 14, 2009
We arrived in Budapest (pronounced Budapesht) in the evening and cruised through the city, admiring the magnificent buildings and bridges. The most stunning bridge is the Chain Bridge, which was built in the early 19th century to connect to cities, Buda (the hills) and Pest (the flat lands). Budapest is an enchanting city with a vibrant mix of East and West, medieval and modern. We skipped dinner and took a private tour through the city for about three hours. We drove up the hill on the Buda side and saw St. Matyas (Matthias) Church which is partially surrounded by the Fishermen’s Bastion, built in the 19th century in honor of the fishermen who defended Buda from the Turks during the Middle Ages it is fairytale inspired with turrets and ramparts. We walked around the royal palace and went up the Gellert Hill to the Citadella. On the Pest side, the most stunning building is the Parliament Building which was patterned after England’s. We also visited Heroes’ Square and Millennial Monument, the Great Synagogue, the Hungarian National Museum, the Hungarian State Opera House, St. Stephen’s Basilica and many other magnificent buildings.

Saturday, August 15, 2009
On Saturday morning, we got an early start and rode the funicular up to the top of the Buda side where the women went wild shopping. In the afternoon, we returned to the Pest side and went through the House of Terror which chronicles the atrocities that occurred during the Nazi and Russian occupation of Hungary.

Horse Drawn Carts

Throughout the countryside in Romania and Bulgaria we saw hundreds of horse drawn carts that are still used in the towns and fields.

Here is another shot of the carwash.

Car Wash

For my partners...........attached is a photo of a car wash in Russe, Bulgaria. It is not a very good photo because I was on a bus entering a highway when I saw it. It is a tunnel of about 100 feet in length with glass or translucent walls and a curved plastic/fiberglass roof. It is a conveyor. I couldn't see much else on the site. The tour guide on the bus indicated that it cost 5 euros which is $7.11. If you zoom in on the photo, you can see some brushes inside the tunnel; however, it doesn't appear to have much equipment. During my travels to Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slavakia, and Austria, I have seen only 3 car washes. I do have to say that I am mostly in the downtown areas, not the suburbs. I am, however, seeing a lot of cars. Just thought you guys would be interested in knowing.

Mauthausen by Craig Lundell

On Tuesday, August 18, we visited the Concentration Camp of Mauthausen. It was a sobering experience. This was one of the many camps set up almost all over Europe between 1933 and 1945 by the Nazis for the exploitation and extermination of its opponents. Mauthausen was synonymous with death through slave labor in the quarries. More than 195,000 people were imprisoned in Mauthausen and its sub-camps, and more tha 105,000 of them - both men and women - were killed there or perished as a result of the torments of camp life. In the first picture, Tim is standing in the Roll-call grounds. Camouflaged as a shower bath, the gas chamber was installed in the basement of the sick quarters. The main camp was equipped with three cremation furnaces in the basement of the sick quarters. Tim is standing at the bottom of the quarry. The steep face of the quarry is referred to as the parachutists' cliff. Prisoners were pushed off the edge by SS guards. Entire groups of Dutch Jews were killed this way. From the approach road, the "death steps" (186 steps) led into the quarry. The prisoners were required to carry 100 lb. rocks up those stairs, several people in a row and one prisoner right behind another. Occasionally, one prisoner would stumble and fall causing a "domino" effect back down the steps. The guards would just laugh.

The Parliment building in Budapest.

Tim and Teresa are being watched over by Mozart in Vienna.

On Sunday evening, Tim and Teresa were invited to eat dinner at the Captain's table for the farewell dinner! The captain is sitting across from Tim.

On Sunday morning, August 16, we went through the third lock of our journey. Here are a couple of photos of the doors on the lock. The lower one closed horizontally and the upper door opened vertically. There were three other boats in the lock with us. It only takes a couple of minutes to fill the lock with water and raise us up 20-30 feet.

I want to jump back to Bucharest for a moment and show you the wires hanging off virtually every telephone pole. I thought this only happened in India.