Hi Again to All,
First of all, I would like to answer a question. I was asked if we were able to choose our table and if we got to keep it. The answer is yes to both. AmaWaterways official policy is that you wear your mask whenever moving about in the ship…..and that you may take it off whenever you are sitting in a public area. In keeping with that, you are to stay at the same dining table with the same people creating your own little “pod”. So we have the same wonderful table. There are only 84 people on board; the ship holds 180! And there are 80 staff!!! We are spoiled 🙂
Also, we have a new captain as we start this second week and he greeted us at dinner.
The next morning we had a meeting in the lounge giving us ideas about the upcoming week.
Both John and I laughed at the warning about customs “Face Checks” at the Croatian border.
In the afternoon we disembarked at Pecs (pronounced pashe with a long a). Enjoy the picture of me on my bike; I’ll explain why later.
For a small city, their cathedral is truly astonishing. Our guide told us that a recent pope visited Pecs and his eyes widened and jaw dropped when he came inside of St. Peter’s Basilica. Both John and I took too many pictures, but it is truly irresistible.
One other note: if you see gold in the picture, it is NOT gold paint. It is 24 carat gold!!! Lots of it!
The picture above shows my “gentle” group of the day, minus Bryan, who had wandered off somewhere…..truly a bunch of “old” people :). I hope you enjoyed the church as much as we did!
On to a tour of the town: John took a quicker moving group that did more; Bryan and I chose the free time group with a train ride.
This fountain in the main square is made of porcelain–very unusual.
Meanwhile, John’s group had gone into a recently discovered early Christian cemetery under the city. It is now a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The next two are works of Csontvary, a now very famous Hungarian artist who, unfortunately, made no money during his life. In fact, at his death, his heirs sold his large canvases as tarps. One young man with a good eye stopped them and bought the balance for 25,000 Euros. They are now each worth in excess of 1 million Euros!
Our next stop was a most interesting building; it was a mosque that had been converted to a Catholic church after the Ottoman Empire had ended. It was really pretty inside in a very different sort of way! It is a symbol of the city….so amazing!
Our guide sang for us to show the acoustics of the room; the walls were built out of vessels pointing outwards and then covered with a thin layer creating a membrane that improves the sound .
Then we walked through to the other side which is an addition and much newer.
Our free time included enough time to duck into Pecs Cafe for a beer. Bryan treated me; total for two beers = $3.25! Also, great pictures on the walls of women drinking beer!
Meanwhile, John and group are going into the synagogue that we only saw from the outside.
And then, a few more pictures of our walking around and then of the gentle group’s train.
And now for the sad story of the day. After our VERY bouncy train ride, the driver pulled my bike out of the train, I sat down on it and the front wheel collapsed off of the front stem. The good news: we were about one block from the buses and not somewhere in the middle of the town. The bad news: no scooter! It appears to have just snapped off, breaking the metal post in two!!!
But there is good news; there is an extra scooter on board which Ama has lent/rented to me…..don’t know which!
Tuesday morning was supposed to be sunny and warm; when we awakened to our early (7 am) alarm, it was cold and rainy and supposed to stay that way until after midday. The first half of the tour was a walking tour, followed by going into the Eltz Castle now a museum. My options were a Croatian wine tasting in the morning or staying in the room. I chose the latter! So I totally missed Croatia because the next stop that afternoon was at Novi Sad, Serbia!
John returned late morning from Vukovar, our only stop in Croatia. He said I would have hated it….and he loved it! Say hello to a new ghostwriter for a bit:
It was a cold and rainy welcome to Croatia. Beth, without wheels and facing rough terrain, made the sensible decision to stay aboard.
The following pictures are of the Ertz Castle occupied by a prominent family and currently the Ertz Museum.
We left the museum and next visited the water tower on the outskirts of town. In 1991, Vukovar was laid siege in what the guide referred to as “the Conflict.” The Conflict was a clash between the Yugoslavian Army, the Serbia Army and a paramilitary group. Vukovar was constantly bombarded and the entire city was leveled. Every day the Croatian flag on top of the water tower was destroyed and every evening replaced by a local citizen. The Serbian Army rounded up all Croatian men between the ages of 16 and 60, took them to a metal shed in the country used for farm machinery, took all their belongings, interrogated them for 48 hours straight, and then took them all out into the field, shot them and buried them in a mass grave. With the exception of a few damaged buildings which remain, the entire town has been rebuilt since 1991. On October 6, 1995, Croatia declared its independence as a separate country. The current population is 3.8 million.
We then drove to the countryside to visit the memorial for the 261 men tortured, shot and killed by the Serbian forces-a very well thought out, touching memorial.
The floor has imbedded shell casings.
Ghostwriter out…..
A miracle happened! One of the crew carried my broken bike back to the ship. And before lunch the next day, it was returned to me welded and fully functional. The ship’s engineer who fixed it told me that it is now stronger than before. Hooray — back in business!!!
Novi Sad is known as the “Athens of Serbia”. It is a charming small city. I’ll let the pics tell the story.
You know, I love architecture and architectural details…..
John and Bryan entered a pretty and small church.
A doctor from the village who treated children for free…..never charged even one!
And, another dinner time!
Bye to All. See you soon,
Beth
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