Danube 1999

This is a selection of photographs from a Uniworld Fall Foliage Cruise, 9 days from Vienna to Vienna, in October 1999. We toured Vienna, Linz, Melk, and Durnstein in Austria; Brataslava, Slovakia; Esztergom, Szentendre, and Budapest, Hungary.

On this particular cruise we had a number of wine tastings and meals outside of the ship and some transportation by bus, between towns as well as bus tour of the cities. Many of the photos are taken from the bus by necessity.

River cruising is very nice for a number of reasons. The first and most obvious is you get to go to multiple locations without packing and unpacking every day. Another is these small ships generally dock near the center of town. And fnally, travel time is not on a bus but on your comfortable floating home.

The camera I used on this trip was the first Sony Mavica digital camera, which wrote on floppy disks so I saved a lot of money on film. The file size was extremely small (1024x768 pixels) but at that time it was fine for web use. The other problem was the picture quality. It could take a good photo in good conditions, but on this trip good conditions were not easy to find... I've done the best I can with modern tools to bring out the best in them... We also did not have good weather, especially for the latter part of the trip. Rainy, gloomy, cloudy weather made the buiding interiors even darker, and I do like to photograph interiors...
  • Our Vienna tour included a bus tour around town as well as several stops. We were treated to a lunch in a famous cellar. After lunch we were again free to…

    01 Vienna

    Our Vienna tour included a bus tour around town as well as several stops. We were treated to a lunch in a famous cellar. After lunch we were again free to…
  • Linz, now Austria's third largest city, was founded by the Romans and was a provincial and local government city of the Holy Roman Empire, and an important…

    02 Linz

    Linz, now Austria's third largest city, was founded by the Romans and was a provincial and local government city of the Holy Roman Empire, and an important…
  • Melk is a small, pretty town -- very easy to walk around in. Melk Abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to…

    03 Melk

    Melk is a small, pretty town -- very easy to walk around in. Melk Abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to…
  • Dürnstein is another pretty town popular with tourists. Dürnstein was first mentioned in 1192 when, in the castle above the town, King Richard I of England…

    04 Durnstein

    Dürnstein is another pretty town popular with tourists. Dürnstein was first mentioned in 1192 when, in the castle above the town, King Richard I of England…
  • Bratislava's history has been influenced by Austrians, Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Jews, Serbs, and Slovaks. It was the coronation site…

    05 Bratislava

    Bratislava's history has been influenced by Austrians, Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Jews, Serbs, and Slovaks. It was the coronation site…
  • From Bratislava, we enter Hungary and stop at Esztergom. Esztergom is one of the oldest towns in Hungary. It was the birth and coronation place of the first…

    06 Esztergom

    From Bratislava, we enter Hungary and stop at Esztergom. Esztergom is one of the oldest towns in Hungary. It was the birth and coronation place of the first…

  • 07 Szentendre

    Szentendre near the capital city Budapest known for its museums, galleries, and artists. We visited this cute little town on our bus trip from Bratislava to…

  • 08 Budapest

    Budapest is the capital of Hungary and its largest city. Buda and Pest are on opposite sides of the Danube, now one city named Budapest. The history we…

  • 09 Danube

    Our journey started at Vienna, then we sailed west to Linz, then east and south to Bratislava and Budapest. These sights along the river are in the order I…

  • 10 The Ship

    The River Queen was brand new in 1999. All river boats are small, which is another feature we love about river cruising. The capacity of the River Queen is…