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AMAPrima Black Sea Voyage Live Blog/Review Sept 2014


Familygoboston
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Cabin and side of the ship

 

So we've had a peek at three different cabin categories, and now I will post about the arrangements of the ship at docking for OUR cruise. Folks often ask about which side of the river ship to be on, and whether it matters, and ask about how often they will be rafted with other ships (which will block the view). I have no idea if these arrangements will hold for any other cruise (I'm sure every captain has his own way) but this is what we experienced on our sailing.

 

(a view of our balcony when rafted with other ships)

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Budpaest: Docked Pest side Mahart 2

Our cabin (on the right/starboard side) faced the dock on the Pest side, but we were rafted in the middle with 2 other AMA ships. When sailing away in the evening, our cabin

 

Mohacs Docked Mahart 2

Our cabin faced the water (non dock) side/The port side of the ship faced a nice pedestrian walk in Mohacs. We were not rafted.

 

Vukovar Pounton Luka

Our cabin faced the water side, while the port side was facing a high wall and a "welcome barge".

 

Novi Sad

Our starboard cabin was facing Novi Sad and a nice pedestrian walk area. The port side had the water side and a dramatic view of the Petrovardin Fortress, which is lit at night.

 

(Novi Sad)

 

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Belgrade

We were rafted 3 across, and in the middle of Arosa and Viking. We had to cross the viking ship to get to the dock. The dock area was not terribly scenic. Our starboard cabin faced the water side, but Arosa was was rafted next to us.

 

(Bridge to cross the Viking ship)

 

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(the bridge for Arosa passengers to cross to the AMA Prima)

 

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Cruising Iron Gates

If you look at the Destination Guide in your documents, you will see a detailed map and schematic of what sights are on which side and at what Km marking. This is very helpful information for deciding which side of the ship to be on in any itinerary. Just look and see where the majority of sights you are interested in are located (left or right) and choose your cabin accordingly. This is one of the reasons I wish this destination guide would be provided when you book, rather than with final documents. I did find a good but dated Danube River Cruising guide with a similar map of the sights that I used for planning. I've mentioned it in my blog, with the other documents, if you are interested. Of course the best views are from the sun deck, so you can have a panoramic view and "switch sides" to look at whatever interests you, and enjoy all the sights, no matter which side your window or balcony is on.

 

(Our balcony when we descended into the locks)

 

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Vindin Docked at Balkan Tours

Our starboard cabin was facing the water (Romanian) coast, while the port side faced the town of Vindin, where there was a small welcome barge. To avoid the view straight into these welcome barges, one might be better off with a cabin further aft or fore, and not amidships (which is cheaper too!) because the barges are not as long as the river ships. When we returned later in the day there was an OAT ship rafted to us on the starboard side, but we left shortly after that. (it had to move so we could get out!)

 

Giurgiu Capitania Puoton

Our right side cabin faced the town of Giurgiu, the left side was looking over to the Bulgarian port town of Rousse, where the ship will move to in the evening.

Rousse Balkan Tours Pouton

It was dark when we arrived and I didn't pay too much attention to where we docked because it was disembarkation day and we also left in the dark the next morning!:eek:

 

So all of this leads me to these conclusions:

-if your head hurts now, just pick a cabin you can afford and enjoy!!

 

-Unless you want to nap with views or spend a lot of time in your cabin, you'll want to take in the sights from the sundeck or lounge anyway, in which case it doesn't matter if you have a balcony or which side you are on.

 

-on busier itineraries, you are more likely to be rafted and not have a view anyway.

 

-if you still REALLY want to figure this out... and want to choose to be on the dock side (with the potential views of villages/towns/etc) or the water side (with less potential to be looking at a wall or welcome barge), IF YOU ARE CRUISING DOWN RIVER S&E, you may want to think opposite of what the cruising guide has listed because we noticed that when the captain docked our river ship, he often went past the dock, turned the ship around and used the engines against the current of the river to dock. In other words, he goes against the current of the river to help slow the boat and allow him (or her) to use the engines to maneuver. This means if you are on the port side of the ship and your preferred view is port side, when you are docked there is a good chance the captain will turn the river ship around for maneuvering, and dock on the opposite side! if you are cruising UP RIVER N&W, the captain may not need to turn the ship and you just slip into the dock. (And of course other captains may do it differently, but based on my own sailing experience, this would be pretty standard procedure for docking where there is a current)

 

-Look at a cruising guide for your itinerary, determine what sites are on which side for cruising days- and determine which side you'd like to be on based on that. Figure out if you are going down river or up river and then decide if you'd prefer a watery view of the opposite bank or the dock side.

 

My own opinion is that I would not spend a lot of time with it unless I was on a cruise with many cruising days and could determine (from the cruising guide) that the best views would be primarily on one side of the river. Otherwise, I would just pick 'em, and see how it turns out!

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Thanks! The Ama website one isn't as detailed. I am loving the pictures, I always prefer guest photos over the photos provided by the company. :) I have BB cabin number 224 in December on the Prima so I have been really looking forward to seeing your review and thoughts on your BB cabin. Also, did you get any photos of the gift shop, the al fresco dining terrace and the library area?

 

That's right near where we were, its a super convenient deck because its mid level, so you only have to walk about 5 steps up to the reception desk, exterior doors and lounge, or 5 steps down to the dining room!!

 

The Gift shop was a tiny space right behind the lounge bar, so imagine it tucked between the bar and the reception desk. Hardly anyone went there, so a couple of days they dragged merchandise out onto the reception desk to entice people!!

 

The area fore of the lounge is described as "al fresco" dining, but it was very cool on our cruise (and I imagine yours will be cooler ;) ) We never saw anyone use it except when cruising the Iron Gates to get photos from the front. Most of us preferred to dine outside at the tables on the sundeck tucked behind the wheel house, out of the wind.

 

The library area is really lovely with a small fire place, we didn't get a photo. I remember it best from the Serbian "Face Check"...this is where all the Serbian border police hung out with the captain going over papers, as we filed into the lounge, around the bar, through the library and got our passports stamped by a Serbian Border policeman!

 

Sorry I don't have more photos, we took a bunch then had to skeddadle for the muster drill!!

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So, back on board! We've toured the ship, unpacked and explored our cabin, and at 6 PM we have our first briefing and safety drill in the lounge.

After the usual safety info from the captain, we meet the officers of the AMAPrima.

 

(AMAPrima officers)

 

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The officers were always accessible, and very personable. You got the sense they really worked hard to make sure guests were happy. No request went unfulfilled and very often even if you didn't make a request, you would still find the crew attempting to please you! For instance when the Hotel Manager learned our friend was going to "skip" the Chefs Table and dine alone, he immediately dispatched the chef to discuss a personalized menu with him.

 

Another friend had a difficulty with her cabin attendant not delivering something after asking twice, after asking for the item at the reception desk (and mentioning she had already asked the attendant) she didn't see her attendant again (so we theorize she just wasn't working out generally- which happens), but a more senior person attended to her cabin seamlessly all week without any disruption in service for her at all! Our own cabin attendant Sylvie, was excellent...we often used laundry service and if we got it out in the morning, it was back the next morning.

 

We never waited for more than one passenger ahead of us for service at the reception desk (even on busy tour mornings when everyone need to get boarding passes and or passports)

 

We never had to wait for coffee in the AM, dishes were removed promptly and no request in the dining room went unmet. We were very happy with the service, felt it was top notch all the way through!

 

The Tour Manager is not crew, and doesn't work for AMA, he works as an independent contractor planning all of the tours, entertainment and logistics for travel and transfers for the passengers. Our tour manager was Matyas Keresztes, and he was terrific! It's hard to believe anyone can work that hard for 2 weeks straight! I don't think I ever saw him sitting, and if he was, it was with passengers to whom he was very attentive about every detail of their interests, concerns, or needs. It takes a special gift to be a great TM!

 

(here is Matyas with the Captain Miertschin later in the week)

 

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For me good service means that you have the feeling (and hopefully it's truly the case!!) that the person doing the job has a passion for it and for making guests happy, and that inevitable problems will happen, but they are handled proactively and to the guests satisfaction. The crew and TM on the AMAPrima went above and beyond this in my opinion!!

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Tour Information

One of the first things we found in our cabin was the list of tour offerings for the week, and a sign up sheet for the first half of the week that needed to be turned in right away. These same tour offerings are listed in the pre departure document "Your Detailed itinerary". I was glad we had reviewed that and decided ahead of time which tours we wanted so we could quickly check off our choices.

 

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For bike tours it says "see the tour manager" for bike tours "first come first served" and we did that right after the briefing before dinner. It was a little disorganized, I'd prefer that they let you sign up for these the same as the other tours or ahead of time online. On our cruise we had more people interested in bike tours than bikes and some got shut out of the first bike tour. This is disappointing to me, there should be a better way to gauge how many are interested in bike tours and accommodate everyone. Because Matyas was proactive, he did arrange for extra bikes rented from the biking guides for every tour after the first, but it caused unneeded stress for all of us interested in bike tours on the first day.

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Dinner

After our briefing and the scrum for bike tours at the tour desk, we made our way to the dining room for dinner.

 

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For dinner, it was a set time each evening, but open seating. Most folks in large tour groups sat with their groups and there were smaller groups of friends or family who were traveling together. Because we had business with the bike tours we sat at one of the only open tables for four near a wonderful pair of couples from St Louis; Bob and Frances and Judy and John. One couple owns a travel agency and the other lady works with them, they travel together frequently. But before we arrived, Bob had accidentally spilled his water glass right onto the banquet seat at our table! Our waiter Alan, put cloths down to dry the seat, but essentially no one could join us because of the wet seat! We and Alan and his companions ribbed him about this endlessly, and we had a lot of laughs! He was a very good sport about it!

 

(our dinner companions- that's Bob nearest to me...later in the week when I dared to dine without my raincoat!;))

 

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But we thought the next night we'd sit in a more central spot on one side of a booth and see if another couple might join us. Umm, like the unpopular kids in the school cafe- no body joined us!! We didn't mind dining alone, but I guess we didn't look cool enough, so the next night we went back to our St Louis friends, and had a rollicking good time just about every night! Later in the cruise we did get invited to join some other couples we met while touring, and did that at lunch and for the night our St Louis friends went to the Chefs Table.

 

 

(our waiter Alan, twirling sparklers with all the wait staff on captain's night, just a mere 5 nights after the captain warned us at the safety briefing...no candles, no smoking, no open flames whatsoever!)

 

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Edited by Familygoboston
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Danube Night Cruise

 

Can you imagine the electric bill??

 

One of the things tourists are encouraged to do in Budapest is to take a cruise down the Danube at night to see all the illuminated buildings and bridges. There are several small tour boats that offer this tour in Budapest for land guests. At night from the Marriott we saw all the river cruise ships going up and back, doing the "illumination" cruise each night! As river cruisers it's included as part of your river cruise!

 

We went to the Sun Deck for this so Jeff could get some photos. Coffee and very strong Hungarian liqueur was passed around to help keep us warm. It is a beautiful way to see Budapest, and for this itinerary, one of the most scenic views of the whole cruise.

 

 

 

Royal Palace on Castle Hill (Buda)

 

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Matyas Church and Fishermans Bastion (Buda)

 

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Parliament (Pest)

 

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The Chain Bridge and Royal Palace (Buda)

 

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The Liberty Monument on Gellert Hill (Buda)

 

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So true Kitty! Our photos looked just like the ones we've been looking at for years! But this itinerary gets a lot less "postcard" over the next few days!

I'll post more tomorrow after work!

 

Also, I've scanned all the daily programs and rather than post them all here, I plan to post them on my website all together for anyone who needs them! I'll post a link once I get them posted there!

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Hi Wendy! Thanks!

We traveled late Sept and just into early October. Budapest had one pretty warm day, high 70s and low 80s and then the other days were mid 60s in the days. The temps didn't drop much there at night, maybe 50s, but it was comfortable with a sweater and rain coat or trench.

 

Cruising on the Danube, it got slightly warmer as we moved south and east, (60s from low to high 60s) but of course when cruising, it was cooler, 40s, - 50s with wind, if you planned to be on deck for a couple of hours, then many of us had scarfs, hats, bigger fleece jackets and winter shells or parkas.

 

In Istanbul, it was low 60s in the am and warmed right up to mid 70s by midday, and high 60s in the evening. Except for the Bosporus cruise, (our cruise day was an unusually cool day) we didn't need the fleece or hats and gloves there.

 

Its actually a great time of year to go because it's very comfortable for touring. I would find Istanbul with the crowds in the summer unbearable!

 

oh! And rain! We got very lucky...it rained one afternoon and evening in Belgrade , but only briefly. One lady on our trip was from California and she insisted she always brings the sun on every trip, so I guess we got lucky with having her on our cruise ;-)

Edited by Familygoboston
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Thanks for your answer! Yes, Istanbul without heat and tourists would be great--we were there in mid-June and it got pretty warm in the afternoons.

 

How did you find Istanbul? I've heard other people say it's not as pleasant a destination right now, with all of the troubles besieging Turkey.

 

I'm researching a trip for next Sept/Oct, and we frankly don't want anything too chilly. We're snowbirds and like to eliminate winter from our repertoire, if you know what I mean. Not sure I like the sound of people wearing parkas while up on deck!

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Thanks for your answer! Yes, Istanbul without heat and tourists would be great--we were there in mid-June and it got pretty warm in the afternoons.

 

How did you find Istanbul? I've heard other people say it's not as pleasant a destination right now, with all of the troubles besieging Turkey.

 

I'm researching a trip for next Sept/Oct, and we frankly don't want anything too chilly. We're snowbirds and like to eliminate winter from our repertoire, if you know what I mean. Not sure I like the sound of people wearing parkas while up on deck!

 

Wendy,

 

No doubt, the northerners were happy outside, but the southerners spent more time in the lounge during the cruising days;)

 

I'll get into more detail when I get to the Istanbul portion of the trip, but we did not find it uncomfortable to be in Istanbul at all! People were very gracious and welcoming.

 

The only place we had any hint of a problem was in the security line at the airport leaving Istanbul where an Iraqi business man saw our passport and said "me, Iraqi..America...big problem". I'm not sure I can disagree with him,;) but we decided not want to get into while it in the security line :eek: (we felt fine about this encounter because this was the "SECOND" security line; every human being in the airport goes through one just to get into the airport, then you go through another before you get to the gates.)

 

I'll have a little more about the changes I did notice in Istanbul, but I think if you would like to go there, I would do it now and not wait. In my opinion, the secular nature of Turkey is rapidly changing, and it is becoming more of an Islamic state. I can't say that westerners and Americans in particular would feel a change in their welcome, but as more religious laws become the law of the land, it will certainly be much harder to visit. Of course, Turkey is a Parliamentary democracy, the Turks themselves will get to decide their fate with the people they choose to run their government.

 

But if you have plans to go soon, I would say that you will not feel the effects of the war anywhere in Istanbul, other than noticing the Syrian refugees. We did not see any disruption in services or demonstrations while we were there and we were there at a very hot time, when Erdogan and the Parliament were debating and trying to decide whether to allow the west access to their bases for action in Syria, or whether to take action themselves. Like most places, the politics are very complicated! But as far as being open for business to all comers, Turkey is and we had no troubles whatsoever!:D

Edited by Familygoboston
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WOW! I was wonderfully, delighted! Hungary always had the reputation of not being quite as "closed" as other iron curtain countries, and it feels like Budapest has emerged better than most (and that proved true after visits to Belgrade and Bucharest) Budapest had a lot of rebuilding to do, but they have not forgot their history and things look beautiful. Its jarring at times seeing some amazing historical architecture right next to a Soviet era concrete box, but overall that doesn't diminish the history and beauty, but rather reminds you to appreciate it.

 

The city is oriented to the river and the whole feel is very bright, festive and beautiful! It feels like a romantic, safe and comfortable place to visit, and fun to walk around at night. As I mentioned earlier, the city size is perfect for getting around on foot and public transit is easy to use, inexpensive and efficient.

 

Food was available everywhere, for every taste and very tasty. There are plenty of wonderful outdoor cafes and pedestrian streets. There are lots of places to get local specialties, but many other ethnic specialties are represented like they are in any big city.

 

The people were generally welcoming, though some older folks can be a bit guarded, and you can understand why! Most younger or educated people speak English, as do most of those in the tourist industry. The tourism infrastructure is well developed but prices for similar experiences (meals, lodging, admissions to museums) one would have in a Western European or American cities are about 1/3 - 1/4 less on the strength of the euro and dollar. My British BIL tells me this is one of the big destinations for bachelor parties due to its affordability! It won't last when word gets out that you can go to Europe, and save 25%...so go soon!

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Arrival in Mohacs

 

We arrived in Mohacs in the morning. On this cruise most days we arrived in a port town on the Danube and usually had a bus trip to another more "touristy" location. I've heard that other river cruise itineraries pull into the town and the tours walk right off the pier, this trip is different in that regard!

 

Another thing you might hear about this itinerary is that it's not as scenic. I'm including a few photos of our arrival into Mohacs so you can get an idea of what people mean when they describe the ports on this itinerary as not being as "scenic" as other itineraries. I felt there was a mix of scenic villages with industrial sites, or communist era buildings that may not be as scenic as other parts of the river further north, but this area also came with living history, where guides were describing life for them that has only recently changed!

 

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Tours with AMA

 

We felt AMA had very well organized tours on this itinerary. Each evening at the pre dinner briefing we were told what we would need for our tours the next day. Usually, we would need a boarding pass, as well as a colored card for the tour. A large group like a French speaking tour group from Quebec we had on our trip were assigned a French speaking guide and a special color card so they could tour together. For others, you could pre arrange with friends to acquire the same color card in order to tour together. Then when the ship is cleared you make your way to the guide and bus with the color of your card.

 

 

Bus signs

 

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In addition to your boarding pass and colored tour card, you bring will be told if you need your quiet vox system. This is in your room, switch it off till your guide tells you what channel to look for and you will find the channel nearest to you. if you get someone else, just turn it off move closer to the guide and try again. it picks up whoever is closest and then stays on that channel. Be sure to take it out of you bag, turn it OFF and recharge it when you get back to your room!

 

Quiet vox

 

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Some Days on this itinerary, you are required to carry your passports (Serbia), so you pick those up at reception on your way out also. Otherwise, we carried a copy of our passports with us at all times. Bring local currency, Euros (for tips), and a credit card.

 

 

We found all of our guides in the ports to be excellent. They were very intelligent, humorous, personable and very good group managers. They spoke excellent English and were very well educated. What I liked best about the guides during the cruise was that each of them added their personal perspective to the tour, which really allowed us to understand what has happened in the last 25 years. Our older guides told stories about life in the Communist era and our younger guides gave us a very good perspective of the challenges young people face now that they live in a countries with struggling economies. This personal perspective really enhanced our touring and it was one of the reasons we went on this itinerary.

 

Tour signs- with our Pecs tour guide, Sofia, (a doctor studying ER medicine)

 

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The guides meet you at the bus or on the dock for walking tours, and you will have them with you the whole trip. there are free times, and you can go off on your own whenever you'd like, but they ask you let them know so they do not wait for you and also whether you plan to meet the bus or make your own way back to the ship (I would NOT recommend missing the bus on this itinerary...most places we visited did not have a highly developed tourist infra structure, and we rarely saw cabs, and certainly not any that would want to transport you an hour to a small port on the Danube, where they would have no hope to get a return fare)

 

 

It's usually a good idea to take the Daily Cruiser program with the docking location and phone numbers of the ship and TM, in case of emergency. In my case I just took a photo of this information each day and carried my phone with me while touring.

 

Link to Daily Cruisers

 

http://www.goseeittravel.com/amaprima-2014-black-sea-daily-cruisers

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Bus to Pecs, Hungary

 

We met Sofia and had a scenic bus ride to Pecs with our driver, Balof. Pecs is a charming college town in Hungary where recent excavations unearthed Roman burial chambers, which have been wonderfully restored. We enjoyed seeing the countryside on our way to Pecs, while Sofia gave us some history and narrative.

 

Mohacs corn fields

 

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Geothermal heating

 

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Some parts of the city have communist buildings mixed with older architecture and newer cars!

 

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We even saw a Trabant still on the road! (speaking of old!!)

 

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We did pass an active mosque; we found Hungary to be a country where minorities were able to live comfortably with a mix of religious institutions (churches, mosques, synagogues all in the same town.)

 

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Interesting that you were told to carry your passports when in Serbia.....we toured Serbia as well and were not told to bring them. The only time we had to show our passports was on leaving Hungary!! And then they wanted a face check as well.....nobody else seemed to care who we were, where we were from or where we were going! Mohacs was beautiful and I recognize the customs office.....it's where we had our passport face check and were held up for at least 2 hours! But it was a lovely city and again, we have the same photos. I guess it's true, great minds think alike!!:D

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Roman Burial Chambers

 

Our first stop was an ancient 4th century Roman burial site that had recently been excavated. It was rediscovered in 1713, but the visitor center wasn't built till 2007, opening up the ruins to tourists and scholars. The variety of early Christian symbols make it clear it was a Christian burial site.

 

The entrance to this area is a lovely park and an area where locals visit outside beer huts and cafes in the evenings.

 

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An ancient tower marks the spot

 

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Burial Chambers of this period were often partly underground and partly above ground as loved ones would enter to honor and visit their dead for many years. Here you can see the glass ceiling which allows you to see the bottom of the chamber from outside.

 

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Interesting that you were told to carry your passports when in Serbia.....we toured Serbia as well and were not told to bring them. The only time we had to show our passports was on leaving Hungary!! And then they wanted a face check as well.....nobody else seemed to care who we were, where we were from or where we were going! Mohacs was beautiful and I recognize the customs office.....it's where we had our passport face check and were held up for at least 2 hours! But it was a lovely city and again, we have the same photos. I guess it's true, great minds think alike!!:D

 

Clearly, some of these countries are still figuring it out as they go...we had to carry passports in Serbia, and had to have a face check with the Serbian border folks. Everyone else cleared with passports shown by the crew at the reception desk. A fellow named Greg I was corresponding with also, who traveled this summer also had to keep his pp with him in Serbia, so it may be a recent change!

 

Let me know if I get anything WRONG!:eek: I did take copious notes, but stuff happens!

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Mohacs- Roman Christian Burial Chambers

 

St Peter and Paul Burial Chamber (named for the well preserved artwork, not for who is buried there!!)

 

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The mural on the roof...

 

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...with an explanation of the artwork

 

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Another nice view of the "glass ceiling"

 

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A fountain in the park, where our guide Sofia told us all the graduates of the University have a ceremonial swim after graduation (it's probably safe to assume beer is involved!)

 

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Pecs-Cathedral of Pecs St Peter and St Paul

 

St Peter St Paul Cathedral was built in the 11th century, and reconstructed in 1880, because it obviously didn't fare well during the Ottoman occupation. We learned that early Christian churches were constructed with the altar facing East so the morning light would come through the stain glass windows of most churches on the South side and through the West windows at evening Masses. This worked out ok when the Ottomans converted churches because the altar more or less faced Mecca, and could be easily converted to mosques. Usually, the Ottomans just covered over the art work in the churches, (in addition to the fact that there are no depictions of human faces in mosques, most of the "faces" do not carry the same import in Islam) so later some artwork was able to be restored, after Ottoman occupation.

 

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a detail of the door

 

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a small side chapel

 

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Pecs-Cathedral of Pecs St Peter and St Paul

 

The altar

 

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The incredible ceiling

 

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Most of the cathedral has this pattern on the walls, which looks like tile...

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...but it's this amazing hand stenciled and pained design!

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Pecs- Walk around town

 

 

Mosque church

 

We weren't able to visit because it's currently closed for major construction. This wasn't a surprise, AMA informed us in our pre departure documents that this was the case. This church is one of many houses of worship we saw on this trip that has "converted" denominations over the years. There are many examples of churches, that became mosques, then became churches again. (and in Turkey are becoming mosques again!) It does make for some very interesting architecture and artifacts in a single house of worship!

 

 

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We walked a few blocks into town. Pecs was selected to be one of the European Culture Capitals recently and this temporary horse statue was erected for that (and its basically made of paper machet!)

 

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Shopping area

 

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Pecs

 

Interestingly, Hungary recently passed very strict rule about the purchase and use of tobacco. I forgot to add this was another reason I like Budapest, there is very little public smoking allowed, even outdoors in cafes! The new rules require that tobacco only be sold in specific shops, and cannot be sold anywhere else. (this is a problem for small shop owners who may not have been able to get the new licenses and had to give up one of their most profitable products!) The shop has a specific sign out front, but cannot have its doors open to the road, no one under 18 is allowed in and it has to be designed so no one can see what is inside.

 

Hungarian Tobacco shop

 

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We had free time to explore the shopping area on our own, and there was a shuttle that would return later for folks who wanted to spend the whole afternoon there. We were told to meet the bus at the McDonalds.

 

There IS a McDonalds on every corner of the world...

 

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We decided to return to the ship with our guide, in order to have lunch and participate in the afternoon bike tour. Because we almost always did 2 tours a day, we often used the return bus ride as our down time! We often joked that the tours were labeled either A, B or C but that many of our fellow travelers selected the afternoon tour N, for NAP!:p

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