Capitals of Eastern Europe - Day 4 - Bratislava

 

Day 4 – Wednesday 25 June 2025 - Bratislava

 

At the reasonable time of 09:00, fortified by Viking’s buffet, we followed our guide for an amble through Bratislava. During the cruise we’d hear a lot about the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its ruler for 40 years Maria Theresa. (Maria Theresa bore 16 babies; all the females were named Maria something. Her 15th child, Maria Antonia, married the King of France, became Marie Antoinette and was guillotined in 1793)

 

Bratislava Boulevard where Danube flowed

Maria Theresa had the course of the Danube moved to its current position in order to make a wide boulevard. A long narrow fountain crossed by a footbridge is a reminder that once the mighty Danube flowed here.

 

We saw some quirky statues. The Watcher, showing a grinning man poking out of a inspection hole is on a corner. It seems so many cars didn’t see him that they had to erect a ‘Man at Work’ sign on a tall pole next to him. Why is he grinning? Maybe because he’s getting a different angle on passing women. It’s considered lucky to touch him which is why his top is shiny.

 

Napoleon’s army passed through Bratislava in 1805. A French soldier named Hubert fell in love with a local girl and stayed in the city. He made sparkling wine and today Hubert is the brand name of Slovakia’s most popular fizz. A statue of Hubert leaning on a bench has been placed in a square outside the French embassy.

At 17:00 was the Viking Explorer Society Cocktail Party but we didn’t go, we don’t want cocktails or the sweet German Sekt they pour, preferring our usual pre-dinner glass of Jacquart.

 

Braised Lamb Shoulder

Bratislava mooring https://what3words.com/airports.hotspot.premises

Around 18:00 Kadlin cast-off for Budapest.

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Capitals of Eastern Europe - Day 3 - Vienna

  Day  3 – Tuesday 24 June 2025 - Vienna

Wiener Schnitzel 

Leisurely day today, optional tours morning, afternoon and evening but not for us. Lunch on prow, moored in Wien (Vienna) and I had Wiener Schnitzel, but with steak fries instead of traditional boiled potatoes, accompanied by a crisp Grüner Veltliner from Domaine Wachau. 

About midnight we cast off and headed down river to Bratislava, Slovakia. 

Vienna mooring  https://what3words.com/skip.dwarves.probe

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Capitals of Eastern Europe - Day 2

 

Day  2 – Monday 23 June 2025 - Vienna

Coaches picked us up by the boat for the included Panoramic Vienna excursion and drove us to the city centre where we followed our guide on foot to various sights, including the Lippizaner stud where we saw one of the famous white stallions.

 

We finished in a pedestrian shopping street with a public toilet. Included tours always point out public toilets, exchange bureaus and ATMs, and find shade in the summer for talks, and they conclude with ‘free time’. As we didn’t want to shop we retired to a street café for a coffee and to watch the world go by, then met at the said time/place to go to the coaches and back to the boat for lunch.

 

Tablecloths were on tables on the prow and that’s where we lunched. As well as the items on the menu there’s a daily lunch from the barbecue, detailed by the waiter.

 

There were optional excursions in the afternoon, and one could take the metro back to the centre but we stayed on the boat enjoying the heat while reading.

By the afternoon Kadlin was sandwiched between two other Viking boats.

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Hash Browns & Cauliflower

Vienna mooring https://what3words.com/skip.dwarves.probe

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Capitals of Eastern Europe - Day 1

 

Introduction

Capitals of Eastern Europe was our 19th river cruise and the 15th with Viking. We’d been on Passage to Eastern Europe from Budapest to Bucharest in 2019 and I was most excited about cruising past where that stopped at Giurgiu for Bucharest and continuing down the Danube to Constanta on the Black Sea.

It wasn’t to be. After being lucky 18 times, with our 19th cruise we joined the community whose cruises have been affected by water issues, and we didn’t cruise to Constanta because of low water.

 

The Danube was very low which meant steep ramps to exit the boat at every stop. At  a few stops the ramps were so steep that crew members were stationed to help guests.

 

We had a port side cabin at the rear of the upper deck on the longship Viking Kadlin.

The cruise visits seven counties- Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, with visits to five Capitals – Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade and Bucharest with only the last not being on the river.

There were 180 passengers. The boat’s capacity is 190, so there were 10 people fewer than there could have been thus the boat was 94.7% full. Most of the passengers were from the USA, but there was a greater number than usual from the UK, also guests from Australia, Canada and New Zealand

 

Viking’s fare included on-board gratuities, Silver Spirit Drinks package and economy flights. Flights from London were with BA. We paid a supplement to upgrade to business class.

 

Day  1 – Sunday 22 June 2025

Folkestone Harbour

Our flight was scheduled to arrive at Vienna at 16:00. We were met, as usual, by a Viking welcoming team dressed in bright red and swiftly transported to the boat.

We were moored close to a bridge carrying a road to the city centre and close to an entrance to the metro that runs below the street that we’ve used before to get to/from the city centre. Our cabin on the port (left) side faced the bank but the boat wasn’t rafted. There was a pair of other Viking longships behind us, one carrying Chinese guests.

 

As  we had the drinks package we had a pre-dinner glass of Jacquart Champagne, a red with dinner and I sometime had a post-dinner tawny Port. We took turns choosing wines; white at lunch, red with dinner.

 

 

Smoked Beef Brisket

 

Walnut Cake

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Finley

 To Aylesbury to see Finley before our river cruise.

Tilbury Fort

 To Tilbury Fort

The name gives no indication of how immense this place is. Remodelled many times since first constructed in the late 1600s as a gun platform to cover the Thames, it is protected from a landward attack by a series of moats and ramparts. It was used in anger in WWII to house ack-ack guns, and it was given-up by the MoD in 1950.

Main Entrance completed 1682

Covering the Thames

Parade Ground and Officers Accommodation

Bridge to Outer Defences

Guide Book

Seeing Finley

 To Aylesbury to see Emma, Toby, Jack and new arrival Finley

Finley was very hungry and had a bottle and two feeds. He brought some up so his top had to be changed between our holds.

And then to Chez Mumtaj with an onion bhaji starter, lamb rogan josh and an excellent rioja.