Traveling Huntleys

Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.

Serbia

From Amsterdam to Bucharest: Our Complete Rhine, Main, and Danube River Cruise

by

Last Updated: May 2026

Some trips stay with you for years. The river cruise Sandy and I took aboard Uniworld’s River Duchess — from Amsterdam to Bucharest — is firmly in that category. Over three weeks we sailed through eight countries along three connected waterways: the Rhine through Germany’s most celebrated wine valleys and cathedral towns, the Main through Franconia’s medieval heartland, and then the Danube itself — broad and green through Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania, growing quieter and wilder the further east we traveled.

We wrote a dedicated post for every stop on the journey. This is the post that connects them all — a stop-by-stop account of twenty-one destinations in the order we visited them. If you are researching a similar cruise or simply want to revisit the journey with us, the links below will take you to each full story.

Michael Huntley, lunch, Bucharest, Romania
[Read more…] about From Amsterdam to Bucharest: Our Complete Rhine, Main, and Danube River Cruise

Golubac Castle, Lepenski Vir, Serbia

by

Last Updated: May 2026

Sailing downstream from Belgrade, the Danube grows quieter and the landscape more rugged with every passing kilometer. Sandy and I were on the upper deck of the River Duchess watching the river banks gradually rise into steep, forested hills when the fortress appeared around a bend — Golubac Castle, perched on a cliff face at the very entrance to the Đerdap Gorge, its nine stone towers reflected in the dark water below. It looked exactly like a medieval fortress should look, which is to say it looked almost unreal. We went ashore to explore the castle, then continued by motorcoach to Lepenski Vir — one of the oldest planned human settlements in Europe — before sailing the full dramatic length of the Iron Gates gorge back aboard the ship that afternoon. It was one of the most varied and extraordinary days of the entire cruise.

Golubac Castle medieval fortress rising above the Danube River at the entrance to the Iron Gates gorge, Serbia
[Read more…] about Golubac Castle, Lepenski Vir, Serbia

Belgrade, Serbia

by

Last Updated: May 2026

Belgrade, the vibrant capital of Serbia, is a city that has been conquered, bombed, and rebuilt more times than almost any other in Europe — and yet it pulses with a confidence and energy that is entirely its own. As the Uniworld River Duchess rounded the bend from Vukovar and Belgrade came into view, Sandy and I were immediately struck by the dramatic silhouette of Kalemegdan Fortress rising above the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. We visited two of Belgrade’s most remarkable landmarks — the Kalemegdan Fortress and the Karađorđević Dynasty Palace — both of which offer deep insights into the city’s rich and often turbulent past.

The Royal Palace grounds and formal gardens, Belgrade, Serbia
[Read more…] about Belgrade, Serbia