A Two Weeks' Tour, including the Carpathians. 1st day. Presburg. Leave Vienna by steamer on the Danube for Presburg (three hours), the ancient capital of Hungary, and the scene of the coronation of the Hapsburg kings. From the plateau of the Schlossberg, on which are the ruins of the Royal Palace, a superb view is obtained of the winding Danube, the vine-clad slopes of the mountains, and the city 275 feet below. The Rathaus and the Cathedral of St. Martin should be visited. 2d day. Csorba Lake. Leave Presburg by the delight3d "ful Vag Valley Railroad, through the most beautiful scenery in Hungary. The lake is 4,433 feet above sea-level. The view of the Tátra mountains from the lake is grand. 4th day. Drive to Tátra Fured (Schmecks, two hours 5th from Csorba Lake), the most beautiful and most celebrated of Hungarian watering places. 66 6th day. Drive to Poprad, and visit the beautiful lake 7th and the Dobschau Ice Caverns, one of the marvels of the Carpathians. 8th day. Drive to Dobschau village, and thence by train to Rosenau. 9th day. By train to Kaschau, stopping en route to visit the Cave of Aggtelek, one of the most remarkable stalactite caves in Europe. 10th day. Kaschau, an ancient and interesting little town, picturesquely situated on the right bank of the Hernád. 11th day. Budapest (five hours from Kaschau). The 12th delightful metropolis of Hungary is not surpassed in location by any of the capital cities of Europe. The former towns of Pest, Ofen, Alt Ofen, and Steinbruck are now united as a single city, cleft only by the majestic waterway of the Danube. On the right bank of the stream, crowning the summit of a hill, is the old Fortress, with the large and imposing Royal Palace. Near the old town of Buda, at the base of the Blocksberg, rise famous mineral springs, among which is the well-known Hunyadi-Janos. On the Danube is Margaret Island, converted, at an enormous cost by the Archduke Joseph, into a delightful park with an elegant bath house. 13th day. Leave Budapest by steamer on the Danube, for Vienna. 14th day. Arrive Vienna (eighteen hours by steamer). The Danube, from Vienna to Constantinople. Ist day. To Budapest (twelve hours by steamer from Vienna). A few miles below Vienna the steamer passes the island of Lobau, where in 1809 Napoleon and his army of 150,000 men were locked up for five days. It was a bad box, but the great captain was equal to the emergency, and throwing bridges across both arms of the river, finally defeated the Austrians at Wagram. The river passes ruined castles and mediæval towns, some of them historically interesting, especially the curious old town of Presburg. Nearing Budapest, its grim Fortress looms up from a lofty height, dark and forbidding, but soon skirting Margaret Island and passing under the obtuse angle Margareten-Brucke, Pest and Ofen are disclosed, with their palatial buildings. on either side the noble river, a beautiful and impressive sight. 2d day. Belgrade (twelve hours by steamer from Budapest). From Budapest to Belgrade the river winds through vast Hungarian plains, where all is flat and dreary. Belgrade, the capital of Servia, stands on a high promontory overlooking the Danube, and bounded on its west side by the River Save, which here joins the Danube after serving for a considerable distance as a boundary between Hungary and Servia. 3d day. Turn-Severin (thirteen hours by steamer from Belgrade). At Nicopolis are the remains of fortifications thrown up by the Russians, in the war of 1877-78. Plevna is directly south of Nicopolis, some twenty-four miles. At Kazan Pass the river scenery becomes grand. The shores grow more rocky, the river narrower and more confined, until at length the Danube enters a defile only 180 yards wide. Precipitous mountains shoot abruptly from the water's edge to a height of 2,000 feet. Eighteen hundred years ago the Roman Emperor Trajan hewed out a military road along the Danube, and where the cliffs rise so precipitously from the water, suspension bridges are believed to have been constructed. Holes for the supporting beams are still visible, and the traveler can still see the inscription which Trajan ordered to be cut in the rock to commemorate his suc 5th cessful war with the Dacians: He opened a way across the vanquished river and mountain." Near Turn-Severin have been seen, at low water, sixteen of the twenty stone piers which had sustained the wooden trusses of a more substantial bridge which Trajan's architect Apollodorus built across the Danube. 4th day. Bucharest (twelve hours by rail from TurnSeverin), the capital of the kingdom of Roumania, with a population of close on 300,000 and the residence of the Roumanian princes. With suburbs somewhat oriental in appearance, the city has many new buildings, and these give it something of a modern look; but neither successful industry nor general progressiveness is conspicuous in this Balkan city. 6th day. Varna (twelve hours by rail from Bucharest), the chief seaport of Bulgaria, on the Black Sea. In the vicinity of Varna is the summer residence of the prince of Bulgaria. 7th day. Arrive Constantinople (fourteen hours by steamer from Varna). SWITZERLAND. From the Black Forest (Germany) through Switzerland to France and Italy. 1st day. Lake Constance and Schaffhausen. Whether the traveler comes from Munich or the Rhine, it is best he should stop at Schaffhausen and see the picturesque Falls of the Rhine. 2d day. Zürich (hour and a half from Schaffhausen). A handsome city on the banks of Lake Zürich, with the snow-clad Alps as a background. The adjoining hills are bright with villages, orchards and vineyards. 5th 6th 3d day. Leave Zürich by rail for Zug; steamer on the lake for Arth; rail up the Rigi. (Time from Zürich, four hours.) At the Kulm, the summit of Rigi, the night can be spent, so that sunset and sunrise effects on the Alps may be seen. 4th day. Lucerne. Leave the Rigi Kulm by rail for Vitznau, thence by steamer for Lucerne (two hours from the Rigi). The chief attraction here is, of course, the Lake of the Four Cantons, the finest and most picturesque in Switzerland. 7th day. Leave Lucerne by steamer for Alpnach (at the foot of Mount Pilatus, 6,995 feet), from which place the ascent of the mountain can be made by rail. Thence by the superb Brunig Pass to Meiringen. 8th day. Leave Meiringen by carriage via the Great 9th Scheidegg, for Grindelwald (eight hours), celebrated for its two glaciers. 10th day. Leave Grindelwald by the Wengern Alp Rail |