Life on the High Plains

One of the most emotional memorials I have ever visited is along the east bank of the Danube in Budapest. During the winter of 1944-1945 the Arrow Cross party came to power in Hungary.  They were violently antisemitic.  During that winter they introduced a reign of terror against the Jews and thousands of Jews were killed throughout the city--men, women and children. The murderers found it convenient to shoot their victims at the edge of the Danube so that the river current would carry their bodies away.  Shoes were a valuable commodity during WWII so the victims were told to remove their shoes.  The shoestrings were removed to bind the victims hands.  Sometimes several people were bound together and only one person would be shot dragging the others to their death in the frigid waters. Each individual shoe is a work of art.  They are made of iron and have rusted over the years. As an artist myself I can imagine that each sculptor held the shoes in their han...

On our second day in Belgrade, Viking loaded us on busses and we made the 1 1/2 hour drive to Novi Sad in Serbia.  Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia. Like most European cities it had a wonderful pedestrian zone.  We came upon this outdoor farmer's market.  Most of the booths were empty, but there were lots of veggie vendors. Next we stopped at a cafe for a traditional Serbian donut called a krofne.  It's served with various jams like apricot or plum. The old town area had many beautiful buildings.  This is the Bishop's Palace, the residence of the Bishop of Backa. Then we came upon the main city square called Trg Sloboe or Freedom Square.  The building on the left is the City Hall. Across from City Hall was the Name of Mary Church, a Roman Catholic cathedral built in the neo-Gothic style (see the arched windows). In the center of the square is a monument to Svetozar Miletic, the most significant Serbian politician in the 19th century. We also vi...

After departing from Golubac we started the final leg of our cruise on the Danube and headed towards Belgrade, Serbia. This is a map of the Danube River from Bucharest to Budapest.  The red lines indicate the parts we bypassed by bus.  The green line shows the only actual cruising we did. Every evening they have drinks and live music in the lounge prior to the nightly port talk and dinner.  I can never bypass an Aperol Spritz. After dinner we always enjoyed the top deck and on this night we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Our ship arrived in Belgrade at 5:00 a.m. and after breakfast they loaded us up on buses to explore the Kalemegdan Fortress. (Now, I have to tell you that this is the point where the trip became very difficult for me.  Somehow I had twisted the hell out of my knee.  Walking and standing became very painful.  Somehow I managed to keep going on the walking tours although there were lots of breaks.  While sitting may have been comfor...

We were in Belgrade, Serbia last month and had the opportunity to visit the Church of Saint Sava, an Eastern Orthodox church.  It's dedicated to Saint Sava, Serbia's first archbishop and the patron saint of Serbia.  Sava died in 1236.  After the Serbs rebelled against Ottoman rule in 1594, the Ottomans brought Sava's sarcophagus and relics to Belgrade and burned them.  It's said this church was built on the spot where the burning took place.   As you might recognize, the church was inspired by Hagia Sofia in Istanbul.   Construction on the church began in 1935 and was only completed in 2020.  Construction was stalled by WWII and the communist regime that followed. This is the Memorial Chapel of Saint Sava, a small chapel that was built in three months in 1935 and is located adjacent to the much larger church. I cannot even begin to tell how how beautiful the inside of the church is.  The wheel chandelier is one of the largest and heavies...

One of the places I was looking most forward to seeing on our Danube cruise was the Iron Gates.  It's a gorge that forms the boundary between Romania and Serbia. The river separates the Carpathian Mountains from the Balkan Mountains. Fortunately, the gorge is narrow and deep so our longship was able to sail through.  What is that square block over there? This plaque is a memorial on the Serbian side of the river that was built by the Roman Emperor Trajan to commemorate the completion of his military road along the Danube.  It was built between 98 AD and 101 AD.  However, this is not its original location.  It was moved in 1972 when the Iron Gate Hydroelectric Power Station was built and the Danube water level was raised by 35 feet. Before long we got a glimpse of what I really wanted to see--The Rock sculpture of Decebalus, the last king of Dacia who fought against the Roman Emperors Trajan and Domitan. Apparently it resembles the Argonath, a pair of statues alo...

After leaving Turnu Severin in the early morning we had a three hour cruise to Orsova, Romania.  The excursion that Viking arranged for us there was a trip to the Baths of Hercules or Baile Herculane. The history of these baths date back 2,000 years ago to Roman times.  People came to enjoy the healing waters including Hercules and the Roman aristocracy.   At one time this spa town was a getaway for the rich and famous.  The centerpiece of the town is the Imperial Austrian Neptune Baths built in the 1880s for the Austrian royalty.  It now stands abandoned, in disrepair with peeling paint and rust. We asked the tour guide why it hasn't been preserved.  He reminded us that Romania only had its revolution 36 years ago.  The Communists saw no reason to preserve history or buildings.  Therefore there are hundreds or even thousands of historic sites that need work.  It's going to take years and lots of money.  In the meantime, we couldn't...