Today was spent on board, cruising the Iron Gates. It was the first day of overcast and cool weather and standing out on deck to photograph was a challenge. This is a 134 km stretch of the Danube that passes through a gorge that used to be the most dangerous before they built two dams in the 1960's. There isn't much to talk about because it is primarily a scenic day. Despite the cold and occasional wind driven drizzle, it was still quite stunning in sections. ...

The pressure of time and the irregularity of an internet service (wireless) in now playing havoc with us (or me). It could also have something to do with the fact that once on the cruise, we find little spare time to write our journals. Ches is on to her second book however it is easier for her to find the odd minute to jot notes while I cant open up this blog and uploading the photographs takes time. Hence I had fallen three days behind and as we have arrived in...

This is absolutely nothing about Dracula but more about Queen Victoria's granddaughter Mary who became Queen Maria of Romania and refurbished Bran Castle as her summer home. We had booked a one day tour of Transylvania through our travel agent. A woman in Bucharest who provides private tours in her car hadn't responded to requests for a booking, so we resorted to the travel agent tour. A week before we arrived in Bucharest, they contacted us to say that it had b...

Everyone had told us that Easter Sunday would see the city closed down. They didn't mention that Easter Monday was also a public holiday. We had a late start to the day and when we went wandering around the old town again, every shop we had planned on visiting was closed. Che's hips were playing up after all the walking and staircases we have climbed over the last three weeks, so we decided to visit the park closest to the hotel. The area in behind all the ho...

We both managed to sleep in till after 8.00. Obviously after three weeks of travel and a long day in transit from Bonnieux to Bucharest we needed the sleep. After last night gigantic meal, we decided on brunch rather than breakfast. It being Easter Sunday, we were advised that our best chances would be in the old town. We cannot understand how it could be 15c when we went out 10.30 with a forecast for 25c when Provence is thousands of Km south. There is a simpl...