Danube
River Christmas Markets Cruise
Part 4 : Back on the Bus - Coach
touring through Slovakia and around the Prague
A Photo Journal of the 2007 Travel
Insider Cruise
|
|
Click the map to have a larger and more detailed version open in a new window |
Our cruise arrived in
Budapest in the morning, and we overnighted there. The
next morning our group was taken by motorcoach first to
Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, and then on to Prague in
The Czech Republic, where we enjoyed three lovely nights in
this gorgeous city, in a wonderful small boutique hotel
right in the heart of the city center.
Part 4 of a four part Photo
Journal of the 2007 Travel Insider Christmas Markets Tour.
Click the links for other pages in this series.
Part 1 :
Munich, Bavaria and the Amadagio
Part 2 :
Along the Danube in Germany
Part 3 :
Beautiful Austria
Part 4 :
Hungary, Slovakia and The Czech Republic |
Partially for my own pleasure and memories, and of course,
partially to help you understand what to expect on a
Christmas Markets cruise, here's a 'photo journal' of
memories from my 2007 cruise along the Danube from Nuremberg
to Budapest, with pre-cruise touring in Bavaria and
post-cruise touring in the Czech Republic.
I've tried to make this different to a typical travelogue by
concentrating on sights and impressions that are either
quirky or of particular interest to Christmas Market
cruises.
Although the specifics change slightly from year to year,
such changes are simultaneously minor (after all, the
historic towns aren't likely to change appreciably!) and
generally for the better (new ships continue to come out
each year with more amenities, larger statements, and better
shore touring).
If what you're reading appeals, chances are you'll love the
modern-day reality even more.
Click here for details of
this year's Christmas
cruise.
Photojournal Part 4 - Budapest,
Bratislava, Prague, and Cesky Krumlov
Note - the small images below
can all be clicked on and this will open a larger image,
sometimes showing more of the picture, too, in a new
window. Simply close the window after enjoying the image
to return back to this page.
|
Budapest |
|
Looking across the Danube to the huge royal castle on the
Buda side of the river.
Our cruise director, John, is from England but is now making
his home in Budapest, so he did some amateur guiding to tell
us more about the city (we had a formal guided tour as well,
of course - this was another 'bonus' from John).
Eating again! This time, in a lovely covered market in
the center of Budapest.
One of Budapest's Christmas markets.
One of the end of cruise rituals - the Captain's Farewell
Dinner. He's the guy third from the left; the
gentleman with his back to the camera is Cruise Director
John Riley.
|
Budapest straddles the Danube.
On one side is the former city of Buda, on the other, the
former city of Pest; now joined together as Budapest.
It is another grand city, due to it being the co-capital of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire for 51 years from 1867 - 1918.
Its period of communist government is now a fading memory
and the city is returning to its former glory.
It is a good value city to eat in, and the Hungarian cuisine
is excellent and appealing. Most restaurants
supplement their food with gypsy music, making for memorable
and enjoyable evenings. |
|
Bratislava |
|
Bratislava is a nice town, and somewhat more quiet than the
other capitals we visited.
This is their opera house, close to the Danube, which forms
the border between Hungary and Slovakia
If you're wondering why Christine from Amawaterways is in
these pictures, it is because she kindly provided these and
many of the other pictures to help fill the 'gaps' in my own
pictures..
|
While much of the former terrible service
that was the norm in communist times has disappeared,
some traces linger, and we encountered that while traveling
from Budapest to Prague. I'd clearly arranged for the
coach to stop in Bratislava for lunch and sightseeing, but
when I confirmed that with the driver, he denied all
knowledge of the arrangement and said he didn't know how to
get to Bratislava or how to drive around the city.
However, I wasn't taking no for an answer. I had a
tourist map of the city and a GPS built in to my Blackberry,
so I disdainfully told him that if he didn't know how to
drive there, not to worry, I did! It is relevant to
note that the center of Bratislava is no more than a couple
of miles off the freeway.
So we got our Bratislava stop!
|
|
Prague |
|
Wenceslaus Square during the daytime, surrounded by
beautiful old buildings.
Wenceslaus Square at night. A sense of scale can be
derived by looking at the size of the performers on stage in
the foreground. Everything is huge.
Another view of Wenceslaus Square. Maybe you had to
actually be there to fully appreciate this view, but to me
it is a stunningly beautiful reminder of a magical time in a
magical city.
Prague has many restaurants in cellars beneath buildings.
Unprepossessing doorways lead down a flight of stairs and
you're never quite sure what you'll find at the bottom.
It is well worth exploring - here's a lovely restaurant with
great musicians we found purely by chance.
|
Prague may well be my favorite European capital. It
has a gorgeous central downtown area, full of wonderful
historic buildings, lovely narrow winding streets and
alleyways, all promising new sights and surprises, and (yet
again) offers wonderful food at great prices.
It also has a great Christmas market in Wenceslaus Square,
no more than three minutes walk from our hotel.
Making Prague all the much nicer is the little boutique
hotel we use. It is a small hotel (sometimes our group
fills the entire hotel) in a historic old building in the
city center. Every room is distinctively different,
and one of its two dining rooms is in a below ground cellar.
Our extensions to Prague make for a wonderful climax and end
to the Christmas Markets cruise. |
|
Cesky Krumlov and Cesky Budejovice |
|
One of the streets in Cesky Krumlov.
Group members just outside the Cesky Krumlov town walls,
with part of the castle structure in the background.
The town square in Cesky Budejovice.
|
Our day tour south of Prague, through the countryside,
and to the two towns of Cesky Krumlov and Cesky Budejovice
is a highlight of our time in The Czech Republic.
Cesky Budejovice is a nice enough town, with its main claim
to fame being it is the original home of Budweiser beer and
its beautiful town square.
The day's real treat is our time in the beautiful medieval castle town of Cesky Krumlov.
This picturesque town, dating back
to the 13th century, has been made a World Heritage site due
to its well preserved mix of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque
architecture.
It has an impressive castle on a
hill above the town, a lovely town center, and a gorgeous
river running through it. The town is very beautiful,
and has lots of fascinating little stores to visit and
perhaps buy things from! |
|
The End - and another Beginning |
|
One of the nicest things about our tours is the people who
choose to come. It takes a special sort of person to
read through all the material on this site and to choose to
join our tours, and while we start each tour as strangers,
we invariably end as friends.
Ah - it's a tough job - surrounded by classy women, drinking
free champagne, eating too much wonderful food, and
luxuriating along the Danube! Why not come along
yourself and see just how tough it is?
Another flash back to the Captain's Farewell Dinner - thanks
for reading through this journal.
|
And so, another cruise comes to an end. I've done five
so far - and each one truly is better than the last.
But, as one cruise ends, I already start counting down to
the next one, and the new group of friends I'll meet and
make on another lovely cruise along the Danube.
I
hope you'll choose to come share these experiences and
pleasures yourself, and I hope that after your own Christmas
Markets Cruise, you'll agree with me that it is one of the
very finest travel experiences of your life, too. |
Part 4 of a four part Photo Journal of the 2007 Travel Insider
Christmas Markets Tour. Click the links for other pages in
this series.
Part 1 :
Munich, Bavaria and the Amadagio
Part 2 : Along
the Danube in Germany
Part 3 :
Beautiful Austria
Part 4 :
Hungary, Slovakia and The Czech Republic
Now that you've read about it, please consider joining us for
this year's Christmas Markets Cruise
along the Danube.
Click here for the full
details of this cruise and the booking form to confirm your
interest.
Originally published
26 Sep 2008, last update
03 Jun 2021
|
Free Newsletter 
More
Information
