Sailing the Danube!

Viking Jarl pulled away from the dock at about 8:15 this morning. Last pictures of Budapest are the Chain Bridge and Parliament Building. After breakfast, we enjoyed the view from rockers at the front of the ship.
I downloaded a Marine Traffic app so I could track our progress on the Danube. We basically had Slovakia on one bank and Hungary on the opposite bank of the river for much of the trip. The app also highlighted photo ops, so we saw a few interesting things. The strange elevated building from 1927 is a coal dust loader. Workers took wagons of dust to the loader to be dropped on barges.
Salamon Tower is part of a fortress that protected the summer home of Hungarian kings.
The best part of today's travels was Gabcikovo Lock, one of the largest in Europe. Ingenuity at its finest... We were able to be on the top deck to watch the entire process. Our ship rose about 65 feet. Great fun.Read more