I thought I had documented this trip, too, but alas, I have little record of it, other than a note from Bratislava about poor connectivity. It was our initial Tauck tour, and I soon realized this was truly upscale: there was no tipping period. Everything was included in the price. Everything! That included the price of the toilets. We stopped, I remember, in Hungary to be treated to the skills of current Magyars, those Asian plainsmen who stormed into Europe in the 9th or 10th century and dominated the Hungarian plains. There was the usual photographer, and I ducked the pictures because in the past we’d get off a trip and the pictures would be available for sale. In this case, however, the pictures were on a table with a “help yourself note.”
We got to parts of Eastern Europe not otherwise easily accessible. Belgrade, for example, where World War I had its foreplay. One site was the grave of Tito, who helped liberate Yugoslavia from Nazi oppression, then tightroped his way between East and West. Still venerated for his magic in uniting the South Slavs, even if the breakup of the Kingdom of Serbs and Croats is ongoing and bitter. Some of the cities we visited still bore the marks of the wars that followed the splintering of the country. Another highlight were the remains of a Bulgarian city that marked the height of the Bulgar kingdom as a power in the Balkans. And finally, the Dobruja, where the Danube flowed into the Black Sea. Constanta, city of Ovid’s exile, with the other Roman ruins that signified Dacia, the Roman province that gave Romania its name (the “gates” on the Danube. I’ll share some pictures from that trip.