Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Cruise Holidays of Clarkson visits a new destination, Ljubljana, Slovenia

May 2012 Travel ReportClassical Music, Opera, Ballet, Folkloric Events on the Danube ... and more ... by Joe Rochemont
Owner, Cruise Holidays of Clarkson
Joe, Zaneta, Mairead, Tal, Vctoria

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Cruise Holidays of Clarkson visits a new destination, Ljubljana, Slovenia
It was April 13th, around 7:00 PM at Hotel President in Prague. We were fortunate to have a private room at the hotel to celebrate our Farewell Dinner at the end of our Classical Music Delights on the Danube cruise tour. The room was filled with chatter; the hotel staff, observing our exchange, must have thought we had spent a lifetime together, and not just a mere two weeks; for we had jelled as a group over that time and many new friendships flourished. And at the farewell dinner, over the din of animated talk, Bill Anderson of the New Classical 96.3FM whispered to me, “Just listen to the conversations!” Everyone seemed to speak at the same time; and the conversations were about an event, person, or place we had experienced together. By his whisper, Bill was telling me that we were at the end of an enormously successful cruise tour.At the 99 steps, Church on Lake Bled Island
You may wonder: “What was the ‘glue’ that pulled people together so effectively?” “What did we have in common?” And “Where did the cruise tour visit?”
The majority of the group were listeners of 96.3 FM; there was a shared passion for classical music. And the Classical Music Delights on the Danube travel package had sandwiched a Lueftner Cruises musical cruise on the Danube between the magical destination cities of Ljubljana, Slovenia and Prague, Czech Republic. What a treat! Concerts on board the ship and on-shore performed by a quartet that sails with the ship from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary and back to Passau!
Some came from far away as Mexico, from Rochester NY, and the remainder from Ontario Province. But one couple booked well after the radio campaign was over; they had Slovenian roots and had read about the cruise tour in the Evening Out magazine.

HighlightsMaria with folk dancer, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Many marveled at the excitement of the places visited on tour and about included events, and asked: “How do you go about planning such a tour?”  I attribute that skill to Zaneta; she is after all, our destination and itinerary chef and aptly applies her culinary art to creating gourmet tours. This is how we went about planning the cruise tour.
Once we had settled on Lueftner’s musical cruise, we complemented the on-board concerts by reserving seats for “Parsifal” – a Richard Wagner Opera at the Budapest State Opera House, and a rousing concert, the “Sounds of Vienna” at the Kursalon Wien in Vienna, where Johann Strauss and his brother Eduard performed, the “Don Quichotte” ballet at Prague’s State Opera House, and incidental folklore performances deep in Postonja Cave, and a performance in Prague.

 

 

Slovenia

Folkloric concert in Postonja CaveOn arrival in Ljubljana April 1st our guide Maja and our driver Elvir greeted us at the airport and transferred us to our 5-star hotel – Hotel Lev (the Lion). In no time, Maja had us all charmed with her enthusiasm, her personality, knowledge and excellent communication skills.
For me, the highlight of our visit to Slovenia was Postonja Caves, magical Lake Bled, with its island Church and mountain-top castle, Ljubljana and its castle overlooking the city, the friendly people, the food, and surprisingly, its wines.
Our drive through the Alps from Ljubljana to Passau was Hilltop Castle, Lake Bledindeed scenic. We drove by skiers, through exceedingly long tunnels, the infamous “Eagles Nest” – Hitler’s hideout and stopped for a break at one of the most scenic road stops I have ever seen. The Amadeus Royal lay in wait for us at Passau; we boarded, freshened up, relaxed, and gathered for the Captain’s welcome cocktail and for the first of many briefings from Gabriel our cruise Director.

The Amadeus Royal and Lueftner Cruises

We commend Lueftner Cruises on its hiring practices; they rely less on agency hiring, preferring to hire directly. I believe the result, i.e. the inclusion of married couples within the crew creates a loyalty and dedication that sets them apart. Lueftner’s shore excursions were insightful and provided me with information I had missed on previous visits to the same locations.
In 2008, Zaneta and I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Lueftner and his wife on board a sister ship, the Amadeus Princess. We asked him how he got started in the river cruising business and he answered, “Back in the 1920’s my father installed some cabins with shared bathroom facilities on one of the barges he used for transporting furniture. There was instant demand and we never looked back.” Lueftner Cruises now has a fleet of 10 river boats that sail the Danube and the Rhine; the company enjoys preferred dock locations due to its long tenure.

Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic

Overlooking the Danube, BudapestIn Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, George our guide towered over us all at 6ft 8ins. He took us up to the highest point in Bratislava, overlooking the castle and where 6,800 soldiers are buried. The castle had been destroyed several times and is still being restored – one of many testimonies to the pride of history we humans share. Our evening concert performed at Clarisse Church (great acoustics!) capped the day.
Some of us opted to sail into picturesque Budapest rather than driving in after excursions of Szentendre (St. Andrew), a charming medieval town with narrow cobblestone streets and a wide variety of boutiques with excellent buys, Visegrad, with the ruins of an enormous Slavic castle high above the point where the Danube makes an 180 degree turn towards Budapest, and Esztergom, the birthplace of the first Hungarian King, St. Stephen, the location of his coronation January 1st, 1000, and the start of the Hungarian State.
In Budapest, we attended the opera “Parsifal” at the amazing State Opera House, which claims acoustics bettered only by La Scala in Milan and Palais Garnier in Paris. After a morning tour of Budapest, we were off to Vienna next day, where we celebrated Easter. We had two guided tours of Vienna in Gardens at Schroenbrunnvirtually empty streets, visited Schoenbrunn Palace, and attended a rousing performance at the Kursalon – where the waltz master Strauss used to play. We sailed from Venice just before midnight for Weisenkirchen, a hillside town with terraced vineyards. There, at the early hour of 10:00 AM we were treated to some excellent whites. We then drove to Durnstein, known for its Gothic blue-spired church and as the place where Richard the Lion Heart had been jailed. Melk Abbey was next; best described as the Monks’ creation of heaven on earth. Our ship had sailed to Melk and we boarded her bound for Passau, where Pavel, our guide and Peter, our driver waited to transport us to Wine Tasting at WeisenkirchenPrague where we would spend three nights.
Our evening entertainment on the first night in Prague was a folklore event with unlimited wine and beer – enjoyed by all, as much for the performances on unusual instruments as for the complimentary drinks and traditional food. On the following day, we experienced our first rain of the tour as we drove to Hradcany Castle to start our walking tour to the Old Town Square from there, across Charles Bridge. On this evening, we thoroughly enjoyed the ballet “Don Quichotte” based on the Spanish novel. Frankly, it was amongst the best performed ballets I have seen.
Charles Bridge, PragueWe explored Prague on our final day, and we were blessed once more with perfect weather. At the Farewell Dinner at the President Hotel, Bill Anderson reviewed the tour, led singing to lyrics he had written; something that Bill has done in the past. Keith Nicholas did a Belafonte rendition.
At the end of it all, everyone exchanged contact information and planned to be at the reunion, May 12th. We accepted Herb and Joan Williams’ invitation to hold the reunion at their home. Wonderful group, wonderful people, wonderful cruise tour!                       
Cruise Holidays of Clarkson’s 2012-2013 Travel Picks:
Links below take you to itineraries and other information that you need.

12 Jun 2012
AmaWaterways
20 Jun 2012
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
03 Jul 2012
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
12 Jul 2012
Oceania Cruises
06 Sep 2012
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
12 Sep 2012
AmaWaterways
Black Sea: Istanbul to Vienna (River) LIMITED SPACE
07 Sep 2012
AmaWaterways
16 Sep 2012
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
16 Sep 2012
AmaWaterways
Magnificent Europe from Amsterdam to Budapest
TWO STATEROOMS LEFT
29 Sep 2012
AmaWaterways
14 Oct 2012
Oceania Cruises
22 Oct 2012
Silversea Cruises
24 Oct 2012
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Barcelona to Las Palmas, Canary islands
29 Oct 2012
Silversea Cruises
02 Nov 2012
Cruise Holidays of Clarkson
Arabian Adventures: Luxor to Mumbai (with optional pre and post cruise excursions)
14 Nov 2012
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Brazilian Medley: Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires
26 Nov 2012
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Passage to Panama: Miami to Los Angeles w Panama transit
04 Dec 2012
Oceania Cruises
29 Dec 2012
Disney Cruise Line
Between Two Oceans: Miami to Lima (Machu Picchu)
05 Jan 2013
Oceania Cruises
12 Jan 2013
Paul Gauguin Cruises
South Pacific: Tahitian Breeze: Papeete to Papeete
16 Jan 2013
Oceania Cruises
'Round trip Cape Town: Mozambique, East London ...
25 Jan 2013
Silversea Cruises
Indonesia and South East Asia: Bali to Singapore
23 Feb 2013
Crystal Cruises
Caribbean Hideaways: Eastern Caribbean
28 Mar 2013
Oceania Cruises
Malabar Coast Journey: Bangkok to Mumbai
01 Apr 2013
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Panama Passage: Miami to San Francisco
22 Apr 2013
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Romantic Danube:Prague to Budapest
05 May 2013
AMA Waterways
British Isles: and Copenhagen
16 May 2013
Silversea Cruises
Eastern Mediterranean Istanbul to Barcelona
18 May 2013
Crystal Cruises
Enchanting Rhine: Zurich to Amsterdam
 26 May 2013  
AMA Waterways
Russian Waterways: St. Petersburg to Moscow
11 Jun 2013
AMA Waterways
Black Sea and Russia - Copenhagen to Stockholm
15 Jun 2013
Crystal Cruises
Magnificent Europe: Amsterdam to Budapest
15 Sep 2013
AMA Waterways
Europe's Rivers and Castles: Prague to Paris
23 Sep 2013
AMA Waterways
Port Wine and Flamenco Cruise: Lisbon to Madrid
04 Oct 2013
AMA Waterways


Best regards,
Zaneta Rochemont
President,
Cruise Holidays of Clarkson


T: 905 855 1700 | F: 905 855 1701 e: info@clarksontravel.ca | w: www.clarksontravel.ca

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