Tag Archives: Europe

Scenic Sailing Wachau Valley

On Tuesday March 3rd we had scenic sailing all morning in the Wachau Valley. This is an UNESCO Heritage site. We cruised by small villages, churches and terraced vineyards. This is some of the more beautiful stretches of the Danube.

It would be more colorful and lovely in a different season of the year. Early March is still winter and can be quite stark.

This was a confusing traveling day, I missed the fact that we had sailed past Vienna but then watched as we sailed past Krems and then while we were touring the boat came back to Krems to dock before sailing back to Vienna.

We docked in Weibenkirchen for a short time. Our final docking on this day would be in Melk.

This little village was pretty sleepy with few shops and of those shops, nothing was open. I’m guessing they cater to late Spring and summer traffic. On this day we were bussed to Durnstein for an hour visit of this village and then to the Benedictine Melk Abbey overlooking the Danube. Those excursions will be another post.

While we were on those excursions the Magna sailed on to Melk where we met up after our tour and had dinner.

Bratislava, Slovakia

On Monday March 2nd, we were up early and the views along the river were moody until the sun broke through. We had sailed all night and into the morning. It was 140 miles from Budapest to Bratislava. We passed through the largest lock on our journey, Gabcikovo Lock & Hydroelectric Powerplant. We wouldn’t arrive to Bratislava until after lunch.

We are in the lock in this photo.

We were recuperating from our rude wake up call because of the fraud on our credit card.

We decided on having lunch in Jimmy’s Restaurant on this day.

We had signed up for Tastes of Slovakia excursion but decided against it since we docked early and we didn’t want to have to come back to the boat to join the excursion.

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia. It was a short distance from the vessel. We enjoyed the old town and then were on a quest to find the Bratislava Flagship Restaurant, which proved to be a little difficult to navigate.

We headed to Michael’s Tower and Gate.

Of the original four gates to the original city walls, only the northern Michalská gate has been preserved. It was completed in the 14th century. It was named after the Gothic church of St. Michal, which was located before the fortification and was demolished in the 16th century during incursions of Turkish troops. Since its creation, it has been extended several times until it got its final appearance in the 18th century, shortly before almost all of the city’s fortifications were demolished.

The Statue of St. Michael the archangel with the dragon sits on top.

In the head of the statue, there is a time box from 1758.

Other statues caught my eye.

Along our haphazard journey we saw the Church of the Annunciation.

The Franciscan Church is the oldest existing religious building in the Old Town of Bratislava. The church was consecrated in the year 1297 in the presence of King Andrew III of Hungary. In the past, the church building served for larger gatherings of townspeople or Hungarian nobles.

Stained glass window depicting the Annunciation, The Angel Gabriel foretelling the birth of Jesus to Mary.

We continued on our way…

We thought this might be our destination, but it wasn’t. There was an amazing looking bakery here and we were too focused on our quest to buy something.

Finally we found the correct entrance to this 18th century monastery and theater that houses the Bratislava Flagship Restaurant.

We followed the signs.

Up the stairs? Yes, up the stairs.

We sat in this space next to the bar below at a community table. This part of the building was a theater. It also has history as being a hospital at some point in time. On what was possibly the stage of the theater is a huge clay model of Bethlehem.

We were exhausted at this point from the zigzag course we took to get to the restaurant and were happy to have these two mugs set in front of us. These were their signature brews.

The cold brew in these dimpled glass beer steins were appreciated. There were two other folk sitting at the other side of the table, a father and daughter from Ireland. We had a nice conversation with them.

Reading a little about Bratislava before we arrived had me curious about what people called the Blue Church. That was our next quest on the way back to our boat.

The Church of St. Elizabeth, commonly known as Blue Church, is a Hungarian-Secessionist Catholic church located in the eastern part of the Old Town in Bratislava, present-day Slovakia. It is consecrated to Elisabeth of Hungary, daughter of Andrew II, who grew up in the Pressburg Castle.

Constructed in the early 20th century, it was built during a time when Art Nouveau was at its peak in Europe. The church is named after St. Elizabeth of Hungary, reflecting the town’s historical ties with Hungarian culture.

The church, consecrated in 1913, is known for its fairytale appearance and is often regarded as one of the most unique examples of early 20th-century religious architecture in Central Europe.

Mosaic of St. Elizabeth: Located above the gate, this 2.6-meter diameter mosaic depicts St. Elizabeth of Hungary and the “Miracle of the Rose.”

We were able to just get inside a little vestibule area with locked iron gates so we couldn’t walk in amongst the pews. I think Blue church is a very appropriate name for this gem. As you can see even the pews are blue. The walls are blue, too, except for the Altar area.

The painting depicts St. Elizabeth distributing food to the poor.

We made it back to the boat anxious for a restroom (TMI). It was not easy to find public restrooms in the European towns we visited and local currency was necessary for those public restrooms in most cases. We countered this problem for the most part with good timing for restaurants and museums, etc., where restrooms were available without cost.

Back on the boat I changed out my shoes for my slippers as my feet were yelling, especially my baby toe with a huge blister! It was nice to relax on the upper deck and watch the sun setting before our onboard Sip and Sail followed by dinner.

We would be cruising overnight to Krems in Austria-gateway to the beautiful Wachau Valley, known for vineyards and apricots!

Thank you for following along on our journeys from the beginning of March!

Dohany Street Synagogue

On Sunday, March 1st, after another delicious breakfast at our hotel, The Matilde Palace, we packed up our belongings and left our suitcases outside our hotel room door to be collected by AmaWaterways. They would be curried to the boat and deposited in our room onboard. We would board AmaMagna later on this Sunday for the beginning of our cruise on the Danube.

But first, we had another walk ahead of us to the Jewish District in Budapest to visit the Dohany Street Synagogue.

The Dohány Street synagogue is one of Budapest’s touristic highlights as it is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world. The synagogue was built in 1859 in the Moorish style and it can seat 3000 people. Its huge size demonstrates the significance and the high economic and cultural standards of the Budapest Jewry of the age.

It was another beautiful winter day in Budapest.

After we purchased our tickets for entry we had to go through security. This was the only place we visited on our entire time in Europe and England where we had to do this. I wasn’t surprised of this added security as the history of antisemitism around the world seems to be continuous.

The plaque and memorial reads; In memory of the 440,000 Hungarian Jews deported to their deaths between 15th May and 9th July 1944. Theodor Herzel Square, 5 May, 2024.

That is sobering and brings such sadness.

We got to the synagogue early and waited for it to open to visitors.

The temple was designed by Ludwig Förster (1797-1863), a German architect, professor of the Vienna Academy. The clerk of works was the architect Ignác Wechselmann (1828-1903) who later bequeathed his entire wealth to the Institute of the Blind. After Förster left, Frigyes Feszl, the famous architect of the Budapest Vigadó designed the temple’s inner sanctum. The official consecration of the synagogue took place on 6 September 1859. 

The interior of the synagogue is 1200 square metres, the towers are 44 metres high. There are 1497 seats for men downstairs and 1472 for women in the galleries, altogether the seating capacity of the flat-ceilinged inner space is nearly 3000 people.
The Synagogue is the temple of the Neolog Jewry. It was built in Budapest’s former Jewish quarter where many people of the Jewish faith still reside today.

The building is a holy place!

  • The building and the cemetery are holy places. Please comport yourself accordingly.
  • Men are forbidden to enter the synagogue without covering their heads. If you have a hat or cap, please put it on. After ticket validation you will be given a kippah at the entrance that you have to wear in the complex at all times.
  • Entry will be denied if you wear clothes inappropriate for a temple (e.g. sleeveless tops, short skirts or shorts). In such cases the ticket inspectors of the Synagogue will not grant you entry. Tickets are valid for 2 days. Clothing items can be purchased from the ticket inspectors.

The memory of the Holocaust is strongly connected to the old Jewish quarter where the Synagogue is situated. Dohány Street constituted the border to the ghetto during World War II. The area which was planned as a garden is the burial place of nearly 2600 Jewish people who perished during the Holocaust. 

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian. He saved thousands of Jews in German-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis and Hungarian fascists during the later stages of World War II.

According to Jewish tradition it is our duty to remember. To remember our martyrs and those non-Jewish people who did not fear for their lives but helped Jews during the holocaust, saving theirs.
The Emmanuel memorial tree was envisioned by Tony Curtis and completed by the sculptor Imre Varga. You can find memorial plaques of Hungarian and other nationality rescuers of Jewish people in the memorial park.

The cemetery in the synagogue’s yard is of particular significance as it is not usual in Jewish customs to situate cemeteries next to synagogues. The cemetery overlooking Wesselényi Street, however, was created during World War II, out of necessity.
When the ghetto was liberated on 18 January 1945, thousands of unburied corpses were lying in the streets, more than 3000 dead bodies were found on Klauzál Square alone. 1140 known and 1170 unknown martyrs were buried in 24 common graves in the yard of the Synagogue.

My information comes from the Synagogues website and from our Tour guide who was a practicing Jew from this Temple.

I was surprised by the interior of the Temple and especially the presence of an organ.

Unlike traditional, intimate synagogues, the Dohány is vast and longitudinal, resembling a Christian cathedral. It features a large, decorated ark and a massive organ designed to be played by non-Jews on the Sabbath.

I will save the Jewish Museum and the Heroes Temple for another post.

Back to the Present:

We are still experiencing freezing temps in the early hours. More blooms have opened up on our daffodils.

In our neck of the woods it is always a treat to have a new eatery open up. This month Buck 25 Roadhouse in Kettle Falls opened up. We decided to try lunch there after our church workday this past Saturday. We were pleased with the atmosphere and the light and friendly new spot to enjoy good food.

Yesterday was Palm Sunday and our service was good with a sermon from 1st John. This is the beginning of Holy Week culminating with Resurrection Sunday. It is a special week for Christians around the world. We are looking forward to our Good Friday Service and Resurrection Sunday service. Easter preparations are commencing here.

Travel Tips?

First off before I get to my news and question for my friends in bloggy world I want to thank you for all your kind thoughts about my state of mind this last week. The blur has lifted and things have cleared up nicely in my outlook. God is good, all the time.

Some trips have been added to my calendar for the winter months and that’s where I would love some suggestions from you. In March during my birthday week Dear has a conference to attend in Milan, Italy. Since it falls during my birthday we decided I should tag along and take advantage of a free hotel room. His company booked his ticket and we booked mine on the same flights sitting together. Woohoo!

By the way this photo is not from Milan or Europe at all but from our own National Cathedral in Washington D.C. Since I’ve never been to the mainland of Europe (only Great Britain), I didn’t have any of my own photos of Milan to show you…yet!

So…have any of you ever been in Milan or in Italy? If you have would you be so kind as to offer suggestions of things I shouldn’t miss while there. I’m not a fashion guru so I won’t be spending a lot of time with what Milan is known for but I’ve already seen some beautiful images of the Milan Cathedral and am really looking forward to visiting it with my camera. As usual on these trips most of the time I’ll be on my own.

We’ll be there in the middle of March and fly home on the first day of Spring.

Women’s Bible study started up again this week and it was good to be back with the ladies in my group. Thursday night our small group is going to help prepare a meal and deliver and serve it to some Homeless folks in downtown Seattle. The coming weekend looks free. How are things in your world?