Down a river where time is standing still
Castle Hill, a World Heritage Site on the Buda side, housed royalty for aeons. The mummified hand of Hungary’s 11th-century king, who converted his people to Christianity, is St Stephen’s Basilica’s most sacred artifact. On his death, insurgent pagan Magyars sealed Sagredo Gellért – King Stephen’s bishop and tutor to his son Imre – in a nail-spiked barrel and hurled him down the hill. Today, tourists can admire Gellért’s 12m statue, hike up Gellért Hill, or bathe in the thermal Gellért Baths.
Facing down the imposing neoGothic parliament on the opposite riverbank, the Buda Palace – bombed to smithereens during World War II and rebuilt in the 1950s – houses the National Library, History Museum, and the vast National Gallery, with its fine paintings and sculptures from the 10th century onwards.
Still on Castle Hill, the turreted Fisherman’s Bastion offers the best views of the Danube and Pest. Here tourists mill about and, for a nominal fee, falconers in medieval garb let you pose with their birds of prey.
Budapest will leave you Hungary for more exploration, so let’s hit the deck! With its glass elevator, lounge, fitness centre, beauty salon, suites, marble bathrooms and staterooms with balconies, the 164-passenger AmaCerto is a far cry from the cramped cabins of the narrow steamboats of the 1830s when intrepid tourists first traversed the Danube.
You’ll find an abundance of splendid fare in the main restaurant, or you can book dinner in the 28-seater Erlebnis, with floor-to-ceiling windows. A pool with a swim-up bar shares the top level with deck chairs, sofas, and a giant chessboard.
Forget the fitness centre, it’s much more fun taking the on-board bicycles on excursions. I cycled 28kms from Dürnstein to Melk, passing through terraced vineyards and the cobbled roads of tiny villages called Weissenkirchen, Wosendorf, Spitz, Schwallenbach, Willendorf, Groisbach, Aggsbach, Grimsing, and Shallemmersdorf. St Michael’s Church at Weissenkirchen has a room stacked with human bones – exhumed from the small cemetery to make way for newer interments.
Known as the “pearl” of the Wachau, the medieval village of Dürnstein, with about 400 inhabitants, is famous for its 10th-century castle ruins high on a hill, where Richard the Lionheart was held for ransom on his way back from the Crusades in 1197.
Further on, Melk’s spires, turrets, and abbey towers spill into the Wachau Valley, a Unesco heritage site. The jaw-dropping wealth of the Roman Catholic Church is evident from the frescoes, jewels, relics, gold statues, embroidered vestments, threedimensional ceiling paintings and priceless medieval manuscripts at Melk’s 18th-century Benedictine abbey. The baroque library alone has more than 12 000 books, all bound in leather with gold leaf, from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.
In Lintz, we visited a flea market and the Lentos Art Museum. The scenery was glorious at Passau and Vilshofen, nibbling at the edge of the southern Bavarian forest. Here we enjoyed a beerfest and traditional entertainment. Slapping thighs, knees, and soles, as they performed the Schuhplattler – a traditional dance men perform to impress the ladies – the lads went hell for leather in their lederhosen. Herzlichen Dank! This lady was impressed! – www.travelwrite.co.za