Beautiful and headstrong, Rinda personifies the hard, frozen earth. She is the daughter of Billing, king of the Ruthenians, and wife of Odin, father of the gods.
Day 1 Vienna
Vienna is dominated by imperial castles and places: Schonbrunn, the magnificent summer residence, the Imperial Coach Collection, the Palm House, the Butterfly House, Belvedere Palace, magnificent state rooms in Hofburg, and the imperial crown in the Treasury. Stop by Ringstraße - the showplace of the monarchy built where Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the demolition of city walls. Important buildings include the State Opera, the Museums of Fine Arts and Natural History, Parliament, City Hall and Vienna University. The world capital of music. A long line of great composers Johann Strauss, Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, Mahler and Schonberg all worked here. A city with splendid concert halls, such as the Golden Hall, from which the Philharmonic's New Year's Day concert is broadcast annually. International stars love to appear here in the State Opera, Volksoper, Konzerthaus, and at festivals like the Vienna Festival, the Klangbogen concerts during the Musical Summer, the Jazz Festval and the Haydn, Mozart and Schubert festivals.
Day 2 Vienna
Vienna is dominated by imperial castles and places: Schonbrunn, the magnificent summer residence, the Imperial Coach Collection, the Palm House, the Butterfly House, Belvedere Palace, magnificent state rooms in Hofburg, and the imperial crown in the Treasury. Stop by Ringstraße - the showplace of the monarchy built where Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the demolition of city walls. Important buildings include the State Opera, the Museums of Fine Arts and Natural History, Parliament, City Hall and Vienna University. The world capital of music. A long line of great composers Johann Strauss, Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, Mahler and Schonberg all worked here. A city with splendid concert halls, such as the Golden Hall, from which the Philharmonic's New Year's Day concert is broadcast annually. International stars love to appear here in the State Opera, Volksoper, Konzerthaus, and at festivals like the Vienna Festival, the Klangbogen concerts during the Musical Summer, the Jazz Festval and the Haydn, Mozart and Schubert festivals.
Day 3 Vienna
Vienna is dominated by imperial castles and places: Schonbrunn, the magnificent summer residence, the Imperial Coach Collection, the Palm House, the Butterfly House, Belvedere Palace, magnificent state rooms in Hofburg, and the imperial crown in the Treasury. Stop by Ringstraße - the showplace of the monarchy built where Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the demolition of city walls. Important buildings include the State Opera, the Museums of Fine Arts and Natural History, Parliament, City Hall and Vienna University. The world capital of music. A long line of great composers Johann Strauss, Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, Mahler and Schonberg all worked here. A city with splendid concert halls, such as the Golden Hall, from which the Philharmonic's New Year's Day concert is broadcast annually. International stars love to appear here in the State Opera, Volksoper, Konzerthaus, and at festivals like the Vienna Festival, the Klangbogen concerts during the Musical Summer, the Jazz Festval and the Haydn, Mozart and Schubert festivals.
Day 4 Bratislava
Bratislava is Slovakia's capital and largest city. The Carpathian Mountains, which begin at the Iron Gate of Romania, finally come to an end here. Vineyards on the slopes of the Little Carpathian Mountains meet the Danube River. The Austrian border is almost within sight of the city and Hungary is less than 15 miles away. Many beautiful monuments survive in the old town to tell of its past under Hungarian rule, and Bratislava's numerous museums are surprisingly rich. Franz Lizst visited Bratislava 15 times, and the opera productions of Slovak National Theatre rival anything in Europe. The old city, which is packed with museums and palaces, and the castle are the best parts of Bratislava - the rest of the city is pretty drab. Climb up the castle for great views and to check out the very interesting Museum of Folk Music within. The Slovak National Museum and the Slovak National Gallery on the river are also worth a visit. Hviezdoslavovo námestie (square) is a convenient orientation point, with the old town to the north, the Danube to the south, and Bratislava Castle to the west.
Day 4 Danube Bend
Day 5 Budapest
Caught between eastern and western Europe, Budapest has a character uniquely its own. It's also the last cheap, civilised city in Europe. Budapest can seem like one big sight, with each phase in its history, from the Ottoman period until the Communist days and from renaissance to revolution, leaving its mark on the city. For the tourist, a trip to Hungary's capital is dominated by the majestic sights of Buda. In the summer, there are open-air festivals at Szeged, Diosgyor Castle in Miskolc, Gyor and Pecs. Visit the former Royal Palace complex, the Matyas templom and the Belvaros. Margaret Island is a giant recreational park and feels pleasantly separated from the city bustle. Hungarian National Gallery houses Hungarian art since the birth of the nation. Although Esztergom is Hungary's most sacred city, home of the Archbishop and the nation's biggest church, it has a real-life edge. The first-time visitor to Szeged is invariably struck by its space and grandeur. One's immediate impressions of Hungary's third largest provincial city are of greenery and plazas, of broad.
Day 6 Budapest
Caught between eastern and western Europe, Budapest has a character uniquely its own. It's also the last cheap, civilised city in Europe. Budapest can seem like one big sight, with each phase in its history, from the Ottoman period until the Communist days and from renaissance to revolution, leaving its mark on the city. For the tourist, a trip to Hungary's capital is dominated by the majestic sights of Buda. In the summer, there are open-air festivals at Szeged, Diosgyor Castle in Miskolc, Gyor and Pecs. Visit the former Royal Palace complex, the Matyas templom and the Belvaros. Margaret Island is a giant recreational park and feels pleasantly separated from the city bustle. Hungarian National Gallery houses Hungarian art since the birth of the nation. Although Esztergom is Hungary's most sacred city, home of the Archbishop and the nation's biggest church, it has a real-life edge. The first-time visitor to Szeged is invariably struck by its space and grandeur. One's immediate impressions of Hungary's third largest provincial city are of greenery and plazas, of broad.
Day 7 Mohacs
The town of Mohacs, located in southern Hungary, is an important river port and railroad terminus. It was also the site of 1526's Battle of Mohacs, where Louis II of Hungary suffered a crushing defeat by the Turkish army. The defeat brought with it more than 150 years of Ottoman domination. There are monuments commemorating the famous battle, of which the slain have ever since been regarded as martyrs to Christianity and Hungarian independence.
Day 8 Vukovar
Located in eastern Croatia, the city of Vukovaris located at the confluence of the Vuka River into the Danube. It is the largest Croatian town and river port on the Danube, with an economy based on farming, livestock breeding, textiles and food-processing.
The most interesting of its attractive buildings are the 18th century Eltz family castle, the town center's Baroque buildings, the Franciscan monastery, the parish church of St. James, and the Orthodox church of St. Nicholas.
Day 8 Ilok
Ilok lies on Croatia's eastern border, and has a long history of affilitation with multiple entities, including the Kingdom of Bulgaria, Kingdom of Croatia, Ottoman Empire, Austrian Empire and Yugoslavia. The Ilok Castle provides panoramic views of the city and Serbia, and several Gothic churches give visitors a look into Ilok's heritage as these structures present old art and Islamic architecture. There is also an annual wine event that celebrates the region's Traminer, Burgundy and Grasevina wines.
Day 9 Novi Sad
Novi Sad is a simple city, hospitable and open-hearted to all of its visitors, built by measure of man.
It is a city one gets to know and love easily, but also a place hard to forget and leave forever.
Day 10 Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital of Serbia with about 1.6 million inhabitants. It is located in southeast Europe, in the Balkan Peninsula, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe and since ancient times it has been an important traffic focal point, an intersection of the roads of Eastern and Western Europe. Belgrade is the capital of Serbian culture, education, science and economy. As a result of its tumultuous history, many nations live in Belgrade for centuries, and the majority of the population make Serbs (86%) of Orthodox persuasion.
Day 11 Donji Milanovac
Donji Milanovac is a small town on the right bank of Lake Derdap in Serbia. The town is situated between picturesque hills, and enchanting views overlooking the lake. The Mediterranean like climate is very favorable to visitors.
Day 11 Iron Gates (Cruising)
This scenic passage is truly a spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Iron Gates are a narrow gorge between the Carpathian and Balkan Mountains. The gorge, one of the most dramatic sights in Europe, forms a natural border between Serbia and Romania.
Day 12 Vidin
The town is situated at 199 km north-west of Sofia, on the right bank of Dunabe it is linked with Kalafat town (in Romania) by a ferry. A major factor making the city a resort is the availability of mineral water.
Vidin is one of the oldest towns along the Bulgarian Danube bank. It appears as the Roman fortress of Bononia on the foundations of a Thracian settlement. During the First Bulgarian Kingdom it is known as Budin (Bdin). Bishop's centre. During the Second Bulgarian Kingdom it is a strong fortress and after 1371 a capital of the Vidin Kingdom under Tsar Ivan Sratsimir.
To this day the following sites have been preserved: Baba Vida fortress, built in the 9th-10th centuries on the ruins of a Roman fortress (rebuilt many times, its present appearance dating back to the 18th C.), the Turkish konak (the second half of the 18th C.), the mosque and library of Osman Nuri Pasha, the cruciform barracks of 1798, old Renaissance buildings, a synagogue.
Day 13 Pleven
Day 14 Constanta
Romania's second largest city, Constanta attracts by the harmony between ebulient business world and intense cultural life.
Developed upon the ancient ruins of the Greek stronghold Tomis, Constanta has always been a centre of ethnic and spiritual diversity, a pole of economic exchanges in the Black Sea region and in South-Eastern Europe
Day 15 Constanta
Romania's second largest city, Constanta attracts by the harmony between ebulient business world and intense cultural life.
Developed upon the ancient ruins of the Greek stronghold Tomis, Constanta has always been a centre of ethnic and spiritual diversity, a pole of economic exchanges in the Black Sea region and in South-Eastern Europe
Day 16 Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital and largest city in Romania and is located in the southern part of the country. Referred to as the ‘Paris of the Balkans’, Bucharest has ornate buildings, wide boulevards and gardens fashioned after French architecture and city planning. In the name of progress and modernization, North Korean style buildings began being erected – many of which still stand unfinished today. Sights to see in Bucharest range from the stately to the heavenly. The Palace of Parliament should not be missed while in Bucharest – and it’s hard not to. It’s the second largest building in the world behind the Pentagon. Containing over 1,000 rooms, restaurants, conference areas and an art gallery, it houses the Romanian Parliament. There are several museums in the city, such as the National Art Museum and the Village Museum - an open–air museum containing over 300 houses, churches and mills from all over Romania and displays of some of the best folk architecture in the region. The Antim Monastery and Patriarchate Church are among Bucharest's outstanding religious structures.
Day 17 Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital and largest city in Romania and is located in the southern part of the country. Referred to as the ‘Paris of the Balkans’, Bucharest has ornate buildings, wide boulevards and gardens fashioned after French architecture and city planning. In the name of progress and modernization, North Korean style buildings began being erected – many of which still stand unfinished today. Sights to see in Bucharest range from the stately to the heavenly. The Palace of Parliament should not be missed while in Bucharest – and it’s hard not to. It’s the second largest building in the world behind the Pentagon. Containing over 1,000 rooms, restaurants, conference areas and an art gallery, it houses the Romanian Parliament. There are several museums in the city, such as the National Art Museum and the Village Museum - an open–air museum containing over 300 houses, churches and mills from all over Romania and displays of some of the best folk architecture in the region. The Antim Monastery and Patriarchate Church are among Bucharest's outstanding religious structures.