Walhalla memorial, high above the Danube River

10 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Ingo Steinbach/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Ingo Steinbach/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Walhalla is a hall of fame that honors laudable and distinguished people, famous personalities in German history – politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the “German tongue“. The hall is housed in a neo-classical building above the Danube River, east of Regensburg, in Bavaria. The Walhalla is named for Valhalla of Norse mythology. It was conceived in 1807 by Crown Prince Ludwig, who built it upon ascending the throne of Bavaria as King Ludwig I. Construction took place between 1830 and 1842, under the supervision of architect Leo von Klenze. The memorial displays some 65 plaques and 130 busts of persons, covering 2,000 years of history – the earliest person honored is Arminius, victor at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD).   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – Donau City

15 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

DC Tower in 2013 © Rftblr/cc-by-sa-3.0

DC Tower in 2013 © Rftblr/cc-by-sa-3.0

Donau City, or Vienna DC, is a new part of Vienna‘s 22nd District Donaustadt, next to both the Reichsbrücke and the left bank of the Danube‘s 21.1 km new channel, Neue Donau. Construction work for the first building on this site, the Andromeda Tower, started in 1996. Although the Danube river has been inextricably connected with Vienna, for centuries, it had played only a subordinate role in the city of Vienna. Unlike in many other cities, the Danube River, because of the numerous floods it regularly caused, was omitted from the urban area. Buildings grew up in Vienna on both sides of the Danube – but not up to the Danube. Only after extensive flood-control engineering and the creation of the New Danube relief channel, with Danube Island, in the 1970s, was the surrounding cityscape of the Danube of interest to builders.   read more…

Novi Sad in Serbia

16 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  6 minutes

Dunavska street © Micki/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dunavska street © Micki/cc-by-sa-3.0

Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia, the administrative seat of the province of Vojvodina and of the South Bačka District. It is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain, on the border of the Bačka and Syrmia regions, on the banks of the Danube river, facing the northern slopes of Fruška Gora mountain.   read more…

Galați in the Moldavia region

7 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Galaţi Waterfront © Iulian.crintea

Galaţi Waterfront © Iulian.crintea

Galați is a city in Moldavia, Romania near Brăila. It is the capital of Galați County. Galati is the largest port town on the Danube River and the second largest in Romania. In 2011, the Romanian census recorded 231,204 residents, making it the seventh most populous city in Romania. Galați is a major economic centre based around the Port of Galați, naval shipyard, a steel plant and mineral exports.   read more…

Belgrade, the capital of Serbia

3 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Railway Museum © Uncle buddha

Railway Museum © Uncle buddha

Belgrade is the capital of Serbia. As the largest city of Serbia, it is the country’s principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. It has an urban population of 1.2 million, while the metropolitan area has more than 1.7 million people, making it one of the largest cities of Southeast Europe. The city lies at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. Its name in English translates to White City.   read more…

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