Following on from our previous blog post, today we’re following Natalie’s adventures on day two of her cruise down the Lower Danube…

Day Two

I’m not sure what it is about the first full day of being away on holiday, but you can just never sleep in. Your body clock just wakes you up with pure excitement to find out what’s in store for you…

Today we were off into Bucharest and docked in Giurgiu, after a hearty breakfast in the ship’s main restaurant. While the main breakfast service takes place in the restaurant from seven until nine, we also have the option of an early risers’ breakfast from six in the main lounge too.

Our tour departed at nine today, and we began by heading to reception to collect our boarding passes – as well as a coloured pass, which indicated which group tour we were joining for the day.

It took us about an hour and a half to reach the centre of Bucharest, which is Romania’s capital city and also its centre of trade and government. The heart of the city is known as Piata Revolutiei, where the Old Royal Palace is located.

We had a choice of tours today, and each one started with a visit to the Romanian Village Open Air Museum followed by lunch in a local restaurant.

I’d never been to an open air museum like this before, it really was staggering – with some mock homes there dating back to the 1800s!

We spent around an hour here and had some free time too, where we ventured in and out of the different homes around a huge picturesque lake. Later we joined back with the coach, and headed towards the local restaurant for lunch.

I’ve experienced some of our trips before where we’ve been lucky enough to take guests to unique locations, and our lunch in Bucharest was certainly one of those occasions. We arrived at a pair of large wooden doors, and were promptly greeted inside the restaurant. The interior was a grand place filled with antiques and chandeliers and even a grand piano, and the long tables gave us a great opportunity to meet more people sailing on our ship.

To start we had a traditional vegetable soup, followed by chicken with roast potatoes, and a delicious apple tart for dessert. While we were eating we noticed two very well dressed ladies, sitting at a table towards the back of the restaurant, who weren’t part of our group. It transpired that one of these ladies was actually the owner of the restaurant – and she had the waiters bring each and every dish to her for approval before it was served to her guests. It was just astonishing to watch… and I didn’t see a single plate turned back.

During our main course we were entertained by a wonderful opera singer and a violinist, who serenaded us while we enjoyed our Romanian cuisine. Once we’d finished dining it was time to move on to the next part of the tour, with three options to choose from. We could see the historic district of Lipscani, return back to our ship, or visit the parliament building (incidentally, you’ll need your passports with you for this tour).

Since it had been a long exciting day I was looking forward to getting back to the ship, but not without a stop at the parliament building first – which is actually the second largest and most expensive administrative building in the world after the Pentagon in Washington.

Once we returned to the ship it was time for a talk from Dragan, our cruise manager, to find out what was coming up next on our trip. I won’t spill the beans just yet, but what I will say is that the next few days are going to be very interesting and exciting!

We sat at a larger table for dinner tonight, and I opted for the Caesar salad to start, followed by a delicious strawberry cocktail. The service was just so smooth – while we were busy chatting with our fellow guests, the restaurant team was working tirelessly to give us the very best service throughout our meal.

The spinach ravioli came next, served in a sage butter. As some of you may know I’m the carb queen, so I was in my absolute element tonight with the main course! The wines served with our meal tonight were Romanian, and utterly divine.

Afterwards we headed to the lounge for a nightcap, in the hopes that there might be another lightning storm tonight – and we were in luck. Just as we were heading to bed there was a flash of light, and off we went to the bow of the ship. We stood and watched as the skyline lit up with every crackle of lightning. I’ve taken quite a few river and ocean cruises, and I’ve never experienced anything like that before… truly amazing.

Heading back to my cabin I found that the bed had been turned down and a chocolate had been left on each pillow, as well as a daily programme for the next day.

Tomorrow I’ll take you on a tour of the ship, the AmaPrima, voted the number one river cruise ship in Europe! For now though, I’ll leave you with some useful Romanian phrases. Good night for now…

Hello – buna ziua

Bye  –  la revedere

Yes – da

No – nu

Please – va rog

Thank you – multumesc

You’re welcome – cu placer

To be continued…

Images courtesy of Natalie Ford. Editor: Andrew Hall