Main River thru Serbia

*German Bavaria, Austria, Slovakia* *Hungary & Serbia*
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*Bavaria (Southern Germany)* *A medieval bridge still protects this walled town* *Wurzburg is one of many picture postcard towns that we visited in Bavaria* *It seemed that every town along the Main had a yacht club... somehow they helped us squeeze in our monster "sportboat"* *Germans are fanatical about preserving their heritage... everything is maintained picture perfect* *A artist's rendering of what was to be... Hitler's domed stadium* *Nurnberg today has been restored to it's Medieval glory* *Did we forget to mention the incredibly good food and BEER!* *That's German for "Good Trip"* *After 23,000 miles and hundreds of locks, I can speak with some experience... many of the locks that we encountered on the Main and Danube were terrifying* *Less than half the locks had floating bollards.... "swimming bollards" to the Germans* Most locks had separate "Sportboat" locks, however these could only accommodate a maximum 25 foot long boat. We therefore had to use the commercial locks.... which are not setup to handle a small sportboat. The first problem is the spacing of the bollards which allows a small sport boat to tie to only one bollard. Second we had heard horror stories related to prop wash from locking in with a barge. The real terror came from the "Fast Fill" when we were in the lock and going up, either alone or with only other sportboats. The lock tenders did not appear to be sympathetic to sportboats, but they had to let them pass thru. As a result, many lock tenders would quickly open the fill valves so that a torrent of water rushed into the lock.... much like being in a raging river. The strain on the lines were incredible and thinking of the consequences of breaking loose in this torrent of water was terrifying. *Regensburg was originally a Roman garrison town.... it is one of the few towns that remained undamaged from World War II* The Inn and Donau (Danube) Rivers merge at Passau and the current picks up significantly here. The Inn River is actually larger than the Danube... so why is the river called the Danube? From here Ulm Boxes (rafts) floated downstream carrying settlers to southeastern Europe as well as cargo Passau is a well preserved old Medieval city Welcome to Austria honey! Linz dates back to the Bronze Age... this area was a cross roads between the amber trade from the Baltic and spices from the east. The few barges that we saw generally hauled stone or sand... most looked old and tired Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned here at Durnstein castle in 1193 when returning from the Fourth Crusade The back door of the Habsburg palace in Vienna The Habsburg Empire was founded here in 1278 and existed until World War I when it was carved up by the Allies Symbolic of Eastern Europe, the abandoned Soviet Bloc building stands next to the new European Union office building Summer homes floating in the harbor Esztergom, Hungary looked like an interesting place to stop, but as were soon to discovered, places for "sportboats" to dock were few and far between Numerous times we saw huge bridges being built on the side of the river, eventually to be floated into place... all part of the European Union's revitalization of the Eastern Bloc Budapest was built under the Hapsburg Empire with no expense spared .... while the feudal style serfs existed as slaves right up to World War I Serbia A bad start in Serbia... I was forced to pay $70 to pass down the Danube... an international waterway plus $13 to tie up o the barge to pay the $70. I was not a happy camper Smederevo, Serbia looked interesting but no place to dock...the fort was built in 1430 to stop the Turks. It was over run in 1459 and became part of the Ottoman Empire until World War I**	From the Rhine River, we turned onto the Main River and passed thru Frankfort. From here we entered Bavaria... a very different culture than Northern Germany. *The Bishops Residence in Wurzburg was one of the most opulent that we visited* *Wurzburg, Germany* *Bishops Residence.... these people were essentially kings over their domain* *Bamberg, Germany* Many German boaters we met told of us their dream to go down the Danube... however like most boaters everywhere, few had ever gone but a few miles past their home port *Hitler initiated World War II just as he began this huge Nazi complex.... all work stopped, never to resume* Discussing World War II is not a popular topic in Germany. It is clear that the German people paid a high price. Hitler first started bombing English cities like London to terrorize the citizens into submission. The Allies in turn leveled the German cities including cathedrals and historic places as payback. Interestingly, the Allies often left standing the town's city hall, so that it could be used as the seat of a new government. *The Main - Danube Canal* *One of the great engineering feats of all time was the linking of the Rhine and Danube via this canal over the continental divide of Europe* Completed in the early 1990's, the canal links the Baltic and Black Seas... it was intended to be a major transportation route in Europe. The timing however could not have been worse. Just as the canal was completed, the Eastern Bloc communist countries collapsed taking their factories down with them. The net result is that their is little commercial traffic on the Main or Danube. And from what we saw, the cargoes were sand, gravel, coal, scrap iron... all of very little economic value. This may change as these countries become revitalized under the European Union, but it is going to take time. *A reverse negative sign defying logic... this one means stop, do not go left.* *Don't go which way?* *Festivals every weekend are a way of life in Germany... food, sausage, schnitzel and BEER!* *Welcome to the Danube* The Germans consider the Rhine as their river and the Danube as just the back door. *Despite it's appearance this was a new footbridge over the main* *Passau, Germany* *Passau goes back well before the Romans as a trading town especially dealing in salt and grain.* Even before the Romans, Passau was a Celtic settlement *The mountains dropping into the Danube provide dramatic scenery in Austria* *Linz, Austria* The Linz International Street Music Festival was by far the most outstanding event of the whole trip.... hundreds of musicians from all over the world playing on every street corner while thousands listened. It was an incredible experience *Small villages dot the Danube shoreline* *Cruise ships were a constant companion.... but most seemed empty and hardly anyone was seen on deck* Vienna (Wien), Austria St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna *Bratislava rocks at night!* One of the massive locks in Slovakia *Taking the horse and wagon to the nude beach* *Budapest, Hungary* *Called the "Queen City of the Danube" Budapest is a must see place with wonderful architecture and restored buildings* *Budapest was the last marina until reaching the Black Sea.... from here on we anchored in the river or tied to a barge* *The cops are hiding in the bushes to catch anyone who doesn't pay the toll* *Goodbye and good luck Serbia....* I was only too happy to depart Serbia, but still had to check out of the country.... dreading another extortion session. To my surprise, the officials... customs, police, and harbor control were very nice and pleasant. As I was ready to depart, I asked if there was a place to buy gas for my dinghy... the customs officer told me to hop in his car, he drove to the gas station, filled the tank, paid for the gas, and drove me back to the boat. **When I asked how much I owed him... he said that it was a present from Serbia!**	*Just struggling thru another day of retirement... contemplating my job of sailing around the world... notice that I did not drink beer for breakfast like many Germans* *Members of the Aschaffenburg Yacht Club hauled diesel fuel for us from a gas station... one of many gestures of kindness that we experienced on our journey* Germany is a strange place for boating. On the one hand, the government is promoting "sportboats" by building new marinas. On the other hand, it has outlawed fueling places for environmental reasons. The bottom line was that it is VERY DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN FUEL in Germany and on the overall trip as well. We were often told that fuel was available just ahead only to find none. *Another "Kodak Moment" in Bamberg* *Nurnberg, Germany* *Nurnberg was the birthplace of the Nazi Party... the Allies rendered special retribution by leveling it in World War II* *The Hall of Justice... place of the Nurnberg trials* *Berching, Germany* *Off the tourist trail, this was an amazing old walled Medieval town.* There were several attempts to link the Rhine and Danube via a canal. Charlemagne in 700 AD briefly made an attempt. In the 1800's King Ludwig actually succeeded. A segment of the canal lies preserved in Berching. The canal was unsuccessful economically because railroads came into existence at the same time thereby rendering the small capacity canals unviable. *The Continental Divide* *The top of the hill... 1332 feet above sea level. It was downhill from here* *Celebrating with a champagne toast with Francine & Francois from Brussels on reaching the summit* *Castles and scenery on the Main continued to enthrall us* *Regensburg, Germany* *This 1000 year bridge doesn't look intimidating until you try to pass upstream thru it's arches with a 6 knot current.... while 1000's of festival goers watched* *This tranquil yacht club dock on the Danube soon turned to mayhem as the wash from a barge nearly washed us up on the dock* *For sportboats from this point, it usually only a one way trip downstream due to the difficulty of going against the current upstream* *Usually we had a short wait for the arrival of a barge or cruise ship before being permitted to enter a lock.* *The Habsburg family apparently still owns this castle* *We couldn't help but think what this Medieval city was doing for entertainment while upscale Pompano Beach , Florida was attending a Medieval Fair... pretending to live in ancient times* *Melk, Austria* *A beautiful Cathedral on the shores of the Danube* *How about a ferry that goes sideways pulled by a cable?* *Vienna bills itself as the cultural center of music* *Girls will be girls!* Slovakia (formerly Czechoslovakia) As if a light switch was turned off, we entered the former Eastern Bloc communist countries and saw economic prosperity take a sudden dip *Ellie and Dodo and Dodo went way out of their way to welcome us to their marina... it seemed as if hospitality increased as economic conditions decreased* *Old soviet style ferries still ply the Danube in Hungary... people crammed in a closed cabin in 90 F heat and humidity did not look like fun* *Navigation started to go downhill in Hungary... few buoys, overgrown markers on land and many confusing options* *Neighboring Croatia on the opposite side of the Danube still displays its battle scars from the recent war... but it looked much more prosperous than Serbia* *Belgrade, Serbia* *We tried to stop in Belgrade but customs required us to surrender our passports and there was no place to dock* Click here to continue on to Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey *Return to home page.*