Four countries, five Christmas markets, one magical week in Europe
By Chrissie McClatchie
“You’re not missing the entertainment tonight, are you, girls? It’s The Sound of Music singers!” The program director onboard the Viking Vilhjalm, George Siderov, calls out to my sister, Eloise, and I as we attempt to slip out of the bar area after dinner with the same grace as our river ship, which is quietly gliding up the Danube from Linz, Austria, towards Passau, Germany.
We feel like truants sneaking away, but we’ve had five nights of socialising and all we want to do is put on our comfy tracksuit pants, eat dessert in our beds and chat. Since we live on separate continents, it’s not every day that we get to hang out just the two of us, and that’s exactly why we’ve come away on this trip. Yet, since we stepped on board our Viking Danube Christmas Delights sailing from Budapest to Passau, one-on-one time together has been slim — much of it of our own making because sociability is a shared sibling trait.
The Nuremberg Christmas Markets.
We apologise to George, who has taken to singing Sisters are Doin’ it for Themselves whenever we walk past, and each juggle a slice of black forest cake with a hot mug of peppermint tea as we head back to our cabin. We had already sung along with the quintet of Christmas carol singers who came onboard in Bratislava, we justify to ourselves. If FOMO really sets in, there’s always the film on the in-room movie channel. From chatting with fellow passengers, it seems we’re one of the few not to have watched it yet on this trip.
A week earlier, Eloise and I had reunited in the reception area of the Vilhjalm as the longship sat moored on the Danube outside Budapest’s paprika-fragranced Great Market Hall. She had flown into Europe the day before on the red-eye from Washington DC, whereas I had a much quicker flight up from Nice, in France, that morning. There was just enough time for us to unpack our suitcases in our twin cabin, delighted that we wouldn’t need to touch them again until we disembarked four countries later, and toast to being reunited with a glass of sekt (the house sparkling wine). Then we were whisked away to the St Stephen’s Basilica Christmas Market, the first of five Christmas market tours included in our eight-day itinerary.
Eloise and I both left Sydney, our hometown, in March 2006, although my one-way ticket was for the south of France, where our oldest sister had been living for over a decade (and our mum’s family came from), while hers was for Washington DC, for her husband’s job, three young kids in tow.
A Viking longship on the Danube.
As Australians, flying between the US east coast and Europe feels positively short-haul, and I’m fortunate that she comes to see me fairly frequently despite the distance. Yet, there are inevitably partners, kids (including, more recently, two of my own) or friends around as well.
A whole week away, without having to worry about anyone other than ourselves, nor the preparation of a single meal, transport logistic or even a sole load of washing, sounded like absolute luxury. It was, as we told our respective husbands, all we wanted for Christmas. And, since we know how comfortable we are in each other’s company, we added that we would keep costs down by sharing a cabin.
In any case, the trip was timed so we would be home well before December 25 to place gifts from some of Europe’s most atmospheric Christmas markets under the tree.
Our cabin quickly starts to bear witness to that promise as it fills with festive trinkets, from a sweetly spiced dried fruit wreath picked up at Budapest’s Vorosmarty Square market that we hang on our door, to a lucky horseshoe souvenired on a frosty night at the medieval market inside Bratislava Castle and a pair of mulled wine mugs from Vienna’s Rathausplatz Christkindlmarkt we line up on a shelf alongside the various handmade Christmas tree decorations we’ve collected en route.
Christmas markets in the main square in Bratislava, Slovakia.Credit: iStock
We laugh that we’ve inadvertently decked out the small space in Christmas decor, but we don’t spend much time in it. There’s just one afternoon of scenic sailing: a picturesque stretch of the Danube along Austria’s vineyard-hewn Wachau Valley that we enjoy wrapped in warm blankets from a lounger on our private balcony. The rest of the time, our days are spent off the boat.
View from the deck.
Come early evening, we slip into a happy routine of pre-dinner G-and-Ts in the lounge before moving to the restaurant for a three-course menu that always includes a choice of regional specialities — in Vienna that translates to the best wiener schnitzel of our lives. During the post-meal entertainment (the aforementioned singers, or the trivia night, where we come third in a team with some new British friends), the boat slips out of port. The gentle movement through the water lulls us into a peaceful sleep, only to wake each morning to a new fairytale medieval town just outside our cabin window.
Our aim is to embrace ship life while leaving enough time for impromptu, independent adventures. Both river cruise novices, but experienced travellers, the idea of seeing a city by air-conditioned coach is something we’re not too keen on.
That’s how we end up catching an Uber to a rowdy beer hall on the outskirts of downtown Bratislava for Friday night happy hour, as recommended by a Slovakian mum in my daughter’s class, or riding a rickety, yet richly historic tramway up a mountain through residential suburbs of Linz, Austria’s third-largest city.
A Trabant in Budapest.Credit: Getty
We do opt for the coach to get from the ship to the centre of Vienna, but after a highly entertaining walking tour led by Maria Mustapic, a guide who has authored a whole book about the sex lives of the Habsburgs, we slip away to join the crowds of Christmas shoppers on a busy Saturday afternoon and find a hip neighbourhood coffee shop before jumping on the U-Bahn (metro) back to the boat.
Yet, from that first evening onboard, when all 180 passengers gathered in the bar for George’s welcome talk, it’s clear that any pre-trip assumptions I had about river cruising are off the mark. Yes, there are plenty of older couples enthusiastically nodding away with the air of people who had obviously done this many times before. But there were also other pairings or groups: parents and their grown-up children (Viking has a strict 18-plus policy), young couples and the mother and daughters easily paired off by their matching Christmas jumpers.
Breakfast on board.
The latter, George tells me, is becoming increasingly common, especially on Christmas sailings. It’s a reflection of a growing trend: bonding, or one-on-one, travel to reconnect with a single family member or friend. Eloise and I fall into the category, although we are not too upset at having missed the matching jumper memo.
What is also clear is how cruise lines like Viking are making changes to reflect the shifting demographic of travellers. Ten years ago, George tells us in conversation, active excursions such as a hiking tour would be unheard of on a river cruise, yet we find ourselves excitedly tying up our laces, eager to climb Buda’s hills by foot on morning two.
The shore excursions are the source of some stand-out highlights that have us both bragging to our family WhatsApp group: driving in convoy on Budapest’s ring road in peak hour traffic in a pack of vintage two-stroke East German Trabant cars made from Duroplast (a relative of Formica), towards Memento Park, a moody, moving graveyard of Hungary’s toppled communist-era statues, and a rowdy Saturday night tasting in a traditional wine tavern high in the Viennese hills with the other Aussies on the ship.
Beyond the thrill that visiting these new countries brings, the festive backdrop is a constant reminder of how special it is that we are together during the Christmas season for the first time in over a decade. That’s a stretch far too long, and as we raise one final mug of sweetly spiced mulled wine in Passau’s charming Christmas market the night before our early morning flights home, we promise each other that we’ll do this again as soon as we can.
THE DETAILS
CRUISE
There are still spaces available on selected dates for Viking’s 2024 Danube Christmas Delights sailings, which depart from and arrive in either Budapest or Passau every few days between December 1 and 20. Prices start from $4595 a person; 2025 and 2026 are on sale. See vikingrivercruises.com.
FLY
Emirates operates daily flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Dubai, with daily connecting flights to and from Budapest and Munich (a two hour coach transfer from Passau). See emirates.com.
STAY
To really treat yourself and get in the festive mood, the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest is a glorious Art Nouveau masterpiece that lights up every Christmas overlooking Viking’s river berth. Rooms from $858. See fourseasons.com/budapest
The writer travelled as a guest of Viking River Cruises.
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