Arrived Budapest early this morning and saw magnificent views as we sailed into dock. We had free time in Pest until 12 noon so walked a short distance to the Budapest Market Hall, an under-cover permanent market on 3 levels: Underground - fish, Ground Floor - fresh fruit, veggies and smallgoods and Upper Floor - souvenirs, leather goods, lace, household goods and other traditional craft goods. It is easy to spend at least 2 hours wandering the alleys of the comp...

Gutten Abend Day two in Vienna but not for long as we had a day trip to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 500,000, the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia, occupying both banks of the Danube River and the left bank of the Morava River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries. Bratislava is the political, cultural, and economic centre of Slo...

We sailed during the night from Dürnstein and woke as we sailed into Vienna - the music and art centre of Europe ( according to locals). It was stunning! We docked across from the St Francis of Assisi Church built between 1898 and 1913. It is a beautiful building with magnificent murals painted around the sanctuary - we were glad to have time to have a look inside. Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria, and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna...

Awoke this morning to find that we had sailed overnight and were docked at beautiful Melk in Austria. Melk (older spelling: Mölk) is in the federal state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk was founded in 831AD and now has a population of 5,257. Melk is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named Melk Abbey which was completed in 1192. It is among the world's most famous monastic sites and is located on...

We woke this morning docked in Passau close to the city centre.Passau (previously Latin: Batavis or Batavia) is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is 50,415, of whom about 10,000 are students at the local University of Passau. The university, founded in the late 1970s, is the extension...