“What is this journey of which you speak?” you might ask. Well, it’s a goal, really. Granted, it’s one I didn’t know I had until I found myself planning it. But it’s become a goal now:
To Sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea
via the Rivers and Canals of Europe
Many European river cruise lines (including our fave) do offer three-to-four week cruises that do just that. But due to circumstances, we find ourselves carving up this “nautical meal” into smaller, more manageable “bites.”
NEWSFLASH!
LOWER DANUBE RIVER WATER LEVEL DROPS LIKE HOT POTATO!
Passengers are “Blue” as itinerary changes
Well, if we’ve learned anything during our travels, it is to be flexible. Once more, we draw upon that lesson, take a deep breath, and ready ourselves for what may come.
So, most of the rest of this page is now fictional exposition…save the map…at least for now. Constanța and Ruse are off the itinerary. We will embark the ship in the small Bulgarian river town of Nikopol, located roughly at the “b” of the word Danube on the map.
Although I have to reposit my whole trans-European water journey for now, what follows are my original thoughts, hopes and dreams for this trip!
[CONTINUING]
In 2016, we sailed from Amsterdam to Vienna on the Rhine, the Mein and the Danube. Incredible trip. But the Danube doesn’t end in Vienna…and neither will we.
This year, we tick off another leg of the journey. After a brief visit to Romania’s capital, Bucharest, we will recommence our waterborne adventure…albeit traveling in the reverse direction from its endpoint. We will embark on our ship, the M/S Aria, in Constanța, Romania — the eastern terminus of the Black Sea-Danube canal — then sail west until we reach Budapest, Hungary.
Unfortunately, there will remain a small stretch of the river (and our journey) yet to be traveled: the 213 miles (340 km) of the Danube that flow from Vienna, past Bratislava, and on to Budapest. (Personally, it’s that all-important stop in Bratislava, Slovakia that is the critical missing link for me. On my maternal side, I am 50% Slovak and setting foot in “the motherland” would fulfill a lifetime dream.)
Alas, that wish will have to wait for the third and
final leg of “the journey” at some future date.
This was a spontaneous trip, quickly added due as much to its low cost (which necessary add-ins such as airfare and trip insurance soon inflated) as to its addressing a subliminal itch to travel that needed scratching.
And for some unknown reason, until very recently, it entirely escaped me that we will be incredibly close to Ukraine. 🇺🇦
Looking up some information on the Danube River, I learned that the river’s delta has three branches: two of them fully in Romania…and one that is the border between Romania and Ukraine. To emphasize the full weight of that: Romania and Ukraine share a border!
While some might find it off-putting (or even perilous) to be pleasure-seeking in an area adjacent to a war zone, it only served to remind me of our incredible 2022 Rhône River cruise and our bidding a sad farewell to the exceptional staff of the M/S River Chanson. We learned mid-trip that the ship was being dry-docked for the rest of that season at the end of our cruise due to too many cancelled bookings from skittish Americans. Their reason? The proximity of the Ukrainian conflict.
Internally, I kept screaming: THE RHÔNE IS IN FRANCE. LOOK AT A MAP! (I guess that comes from not teaching geography in school anymore.)
Fast forward and here we are, three years into the Ukrainian invasion, flying into what un-informed and assumptive Americans would characterize as a “war zone.”
Well, as Robert Herrick advised the virgins: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!”
Or, to “borrow” from Julius Caesar:
Invenimus.
Amavimus.
Reservavimus!*
* We found it; we liked it; we booked it!
Eastern Europe: Black Sea to Budapest 