Today we enter the world of the Habsburg Monarchy with our first stop being Bratislava. So much of what we have learned on this journey has centred around the more recent Communist governments or the distant tentacles that clawed their way north from the Ottoman Empire and Rome. Here we become immersed in the land of Mozart and the ever changing Habsburg Monarchy.Because the Habsburg's lost and gained territory on a regular basis we have most likely been in t...

In 1873 the cities of Buda and Pest united (along with the district of Obuda that somehow got lost in the transaction). The history of Budapest (pronounced: Booda-pesht) is very convoluted what with the Celts, the Romans and of course the Turks (they ruled the area for 150 years!) as well as the neighbours all fighting over the right to call the area home. It's pretty obvious by now that strategic locations on the Danube were much sought after.   When ...

No wonder it's taken me so long to get this blog written. When I look at the schedule we had and the things we saw in such a short time it's not surprising that we just fell asleep at the end of the day.   True, the cruise along the river was relaxing but often the ship journeyed at night and we 'toured' during the day. Such was the case for the two days I am about to share with you.The AmaPrima arrived in Novi Sad, Serbia at 7:30 in the morni...

Described as: "Farthest East of the West and Farthest West of the East", it's easy to see that Belgrade has always held great strategic importance. So much so that, between the Turks and the Austrians, they've had to use all the ingenuity they have to preserve their culture. This they have done and they are very(!) proud of the fact. Apparently over the city's 2,300 years of history it has been destroyed no less than 40 times.  In spite of all the...

The last blog entry was rushed which meant I missed some important things, not the least of which was the story of the GypsiesThey are both loved and hated but most of all tolerated in Bulgaria and Romania. Gypsy music plays a big part in the tourist industry as well as the local culture but the Gypsies themselves do not seem to profit. The word Gypsy means people without a country (or so we were told). They have been treated as slaves for centuries which is w...