On The River: Budapest To The Black Sea

TAKING A SMALL-BOAT RIVER CRUISE DOWN THE DANUBE IS A CIVILISED WAY TO TAKE IN SOME OF EUROPE’S MOST HISTORIC CITIES; JUST REMEMBER TO GET DRESSED BEFORE YOU OPEN THE CURTAINS IN THE MORNING.

- John Malathronas

“This is fantastic,” murmurs my friend Steve to no one in particular — certainly not to me or to his wife Dianne, as we glide along the Danube on a balmy summer night. The three of us are aboard the Saga Holidays ship Regina Rheni II on a cruise from Budapest to the Black Sea, standing on the top deck trying to absorb the splendour of the illuminated Hungarian capital. Sometimes we strain our necks towards Habsburg-looking Buda, its castle shining resplendent on a hill; sometimes towards Pest, where the neo-gothic Parliament, with its slender acicular contours, monopolises our attention. Cameras and smartphones are useless at such low light so we’re left-gadgetless with only our mind’s eyes to record the spectacle.

This is my first cruise — river or ocean — so Steve and Dianne are keen to fill me in on the differences I wouldn’t recognise anyway. I’m told that river cruises are smaller, friendlier and more manageable, while ocean cruises are destination-orientated. On the river you can look out of the window and watch the world go by. Indeed, as we’re passing through the small Hungarian town of Mohács the following morning, I carelessly open my cabin’s curtains while still in my underwear only to be confronted by the embarrassed chuckles of an amateur fisherman less than 10ftaway. This feels more like a gentle train journey. Maybe that’s why the EU has dubbed the Danube, rather prosaically, ‘PanEuropean transport corridor VII’.