Blue River, Black Sea

Reading this book gave me an excellent sense of the countries and people along the Danube, from its source to the Black Sea. It is written with wit and insight, and I found it difficult to put down the book once I got started.I have worked my way through Claudio Magris book "Danube", and I still consider it essential reading, but it was a struggle to stay interested in all of the interesting people and their works who lived along the river. Here is how Andrew Eames describes Claudio Magris' work. "The great man exercised his synapses through four hundred pages, displaying immense erudition, leaping between intellectual rooftops and poking his nose down the chimney stacks of downriver nations like a PhD chimney sweep from Mary Poppins."This sums up my impression of Claudio Magris' book far better than anything I could have written, and is an excellent example of Andrew Eames' writing style.I'm also familiar with stretches of the Danube and its people through parts of Germany and Austria. I've found that Eames captures my impressions precisely with a few well chosen words. I don't know anything about people and places further down the river, but I can only surmise that Eames' observations are as accurate downstream as they were upstream. His book certainly entertained me and inspired me. I now want to grab a bike or boat, or put on a pair of hiking boots to see the country for myself.If you've been dreaming of a similar journey down the Danube, as I have, or if you are merely interested in the landscape and its people, as well as their histories, along the entire length of the Danube, this is by far the best book on the subject. Do yourself a favor and read it.

This an interesting account of several trips by Eames along the Danube or somewhat near it. He begins at the source of the Danube, a highly disputed matter and proceeds down along the Danube to Budapest, where he throws in the towel and returns home. He then returns for a journey by a tramp steamer down the balance of the Danube to the Black Sea with a side trip up to the Saxon Villages of Romania.Oddly enough for a travel writer, Eames occasionally seems to lose objectivity. He takes against Bucharest in particular, but there are certainly charming neighborhoods there. Eames is equally dyspeptic about portions of Austria, not because they're unpleasant or ugly, but because of old associations which these areas, particularly Linz, have with Hitler and the Nazis.All told, even with Eames's prejudices and the odd two in one character of the book, an interesting read and one which anyone with an interest in Central and Eastern Europe would undoubtedly find interesting.

This is my third book by this author and the geographical region of this book has certain echoes of his book on the famous Orient Express; "The 8:55 to Baghdad". This time however the author is motivated to follow some of the route of the famous writer, Patrick Leigh Fermor, who went this way in the 1930s and wrote the classic works of "A Time of Gifts" and "Between the Woods and the Water" with a promised third and concluding volume to be published posthumously in 2013. Inspired by these works Eames decides to travel and narrate a trip from Germany through the "Iron Gates" to Instanbul, following - indeed partly traveling on - the "blue" Danube River.It is 70 odd years since the famous "Paddy" journeyed through these same lands and, of course, much has been changed by World Wars, communist domination and neglect and viscous ethnic cleansing and pogroms, but Eames still discovers treasures and even peoples from those times. The author even manages to find his own aristocrats to welcome and awe him, staying in castles and Hofs with surviving descendants of fabled families of the Austrian Holy Empire.But it is with his own generation that he most relates, the Serbian peasants and the gloriously mixed crews of the working Danube fleets as he walks, trains, drives and floats to his successful conclusion, the Black Sea.This gloriously satisfying read is one of the best travel

Part of me liked this book a lot. I have traveled to most of the places Eames visited, some more than once. He makes it clear, however, that older American travelers like me are unworthy of anything but contempt. That is abundantly clear in this work. So that view of his tinged my experience as I read.His insights were intriguing, especially as he sketched out for readers the histories of the European dynasties that shaped the region. I found the language a bit florid and tending toward the hyperbolic. And there was a lot of snark.Yes, this was actually two trips as, at one point, the rigors of travel left Eames needing a trip home to recharge his emotional and physical batteries. That was a strange and abrupt break in the narrative. After the break he circles back to some areas he had already more or less covered. That can be confusing.Overall, an okay experience. Left me wanting to check out the original works on which he based his itinerary, and I would love to see Transylvania now -- which was the one area he visited which we have missed thus far.

Having read Eames' 8.55 to Baghdad, this journey along the Danube provided a good but challenging read. It cunningly weaves scenic descriptions with accounts of regional demise. How certain European countries' history developed during the 20thC is explained in some detail, with the fate of royal families there being outlined too.While this was emotionally draining in parts, I am so glad to have read it. Some of those questions left unanswered by the old GCE History course are brought to closure here. Anyone who grew up with European migrants after WW2 will be interested in Eames' sensitive account as to how the Eastern border countries moved through the 20thC and arrived at their current position today.The account of the Romanian villages in the north west of this country was my highlight and although well off the Danube's route, its inclusion here is well timed and superbly placed. The account of Eames' time in Bucharest with its ups and downs was perfectly described - and as we found it in 1964.Fully recommended to all travelogue geeks, European experience readers and followers of Eames' work itself.

An amusing book, and an easy read. As I don't share the writer's fascination with aristocracy, I found some of the pages devoted to them fairly irrelevant to what is, otherwise, a reasonably entertaining description of a trip down the Danube. I bought it because I was going down the Danube myself, and found it impossible to find any other single book about the towns and cities of the river written in recent years. In the event, I would not recommend it as any kind of a river guide, since it misses much of what is there, and concentrates on the writers own unique experiences. However he does deal with a reasonable amount of historical background which was useful, and gave context to some of the places I visited. It should be said that things have moved fast in Eastern Europe since the book was written and some places described have changed significantly. Overall, worth buying as an entertaining read by an entertaining writer.

Interesting enough theme, but the way it's been written (ie: the writing style) is irritating.I wish I could find an alternative book about travelling along the length of the Danube.

As described. Prompt delivery. Thanks

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