The river Danube flows through more countries than any other river on earth. It runs like an artery from the heart of Europe in the Black Forest to Europe's furthest flung fringes, where it joins the Black Sea in the Danube Delta in Romania. A journey along its length takes in all of European history, and encompasses the very latest developments in what can be called the New Europe. Starting at the river's source in Germany, Andrew Eames here takes a fascinating and revelatory journey by bicycle, boat and on foot. Along the way, he knocks on the door of the occasional Schloss in the hope of accommodation for the night and meets a real live Hohenzollern; he travels through areas of intensive heavy industry as well as completely rural areas where wolves still roam and tribal fisherman live on islands thatched with reeds. He passes through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and the Ukraine - as well as a brief stopover with Count Dracula in Transylvania. Blue River, Black Sea is an absorbing and highly entertaining book which explores how much we really know about the New Europe. Andrew Eames doesn't shrink from analysing the difficult issues of race and cultural identity he is bound to encounter along the way and his book seeks to find an answer to some of the most complex problems facing Europeans today.
Blue River, Black Sea
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'Eames has the adventurousness and pleasantly self-deprecating sense of humour that makes a good travel writer'
-- Financial Times
-- Financial Times
Book Description
A journey along the Danube to the heart of the Europe nobody knows...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought Andrew Eame's latest travel book without knowing anything about the author or his style and as a result of listening to him being interviewed on BBC Radio 4's "Excess Baggage". It paints a wonderfully evocative picture of some hidden parts of Europe which although now part of a modern EU hang on to very rural lifestyles and linguistic traditions.
His style is chatty and informative with just the right amount of historical perspective mixed in with lively descriptions of the characters he meets on the way. The section on Transylvania in particular dispels many myths about the way it has been traditionally portrayed in horror films. He finds the people very warm and generous and no hint of a vampire bat. The tempo of the book matches that of the Danube - faster paced in Germany and Austria and more languid through Hungary,Slovakia, Serbia and Romania until petering out to a standstill in the Delta. I wanted the journey to continue out into the Black Sea and beyond - but maybe that's for Volume Two!
His style is chatty and informative with just the right amount of historical perspective mixed in with lively descriptions of the characters he meets on the way. The section on Transylvania in particular dispels many myths about the way it has been traditionally portrayed in horror films. He finds the people very warm and generous and no hint of a vampire bat. The tempo of the book matches that of the Danube - faster paced in Germany and Austria and more languid through Hungary,Slovakia, Serbia and Romania until petering out to a standstill in the Delta. I wanted the journey to continue out into the Black Sea and beyond - but maybe that's for Volume Two!
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book in some trepidation, because I had loved Patrick Leigh Fermor's account of his walk down the Danube to the Black Sea in the 1930s, and I didn't know how it was going to be surpassed. But this was a completely different book, and it took me on a completeley different journey. With his own knowledge of German, Eames introduces us not only to the landscape and characters of this ancient highway, but also to its astonishing historical importance, in, for example, the migration of Swabians sailing off on unstoppable rafts to populate eastern Europe, and the more recent legacy of the Balkans conflict. He did well to meet the residue blue-blooded Habsburgs - and in finding out about Leigh Fermor's en-route romance. Eames' boyish enthusiasm for boats - even the rusty barge whose crew he joins - is infectious. Honesty and integrity imbue this epic adventure, and his admitted low-point in Budapest, where he thought he should have been so inspired, is as engaging as his heroic last miles rowing an old tub to the ultimate shores of the Black Sea.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By tv boiangiu
Format:Hardcover
Eames manages to invite anyone with a love not only for adventure, but for European culture in general.The Danube is here exposed not only as a geographical feature ,but also as a cultural concept,attracting interesting and often controversial characters and events.Eames is (mostly) objective,informed,pertinent and empathic in his approach. The Transylvanian part is the most exciting.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A 'can't put it down' travel book
I bought this book as I am travelling to the Danube later in the year and wanted to know a bit more about the areas it flows through - I got much more than I ever expected! Read more
Published 29 days ago by Spinning Jenny
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amusing and informative
In 2011, we, Ken, Henry, and me, sailed our boat Pescadou from Yalova, sea of Marmara, to Kelheim, Germany. We were one of only 3 (pleasure) boats to sail up river this year. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Clio from Cochrane
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Danube journey
I found this book to be an entertaining read which helped to fill in some of the many gaps in my knowledge of this area. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2011 by Biro
2.0 out of 5 stars
Massive disappointment
I found this a hugely disappointing book, away below this author's standards. I would not recommend this book to anyone interested in visiting the Danube area.
Published on 17 July 2010 by Patrick Hunt
3.0 out of 5 stars
Blue River Black Sea
It's OK, he is not the story teller of Leigh-Fermor quality, on whom he rely's on a good deal.
Published on 1 Aug 2009 by R. F. Cheesbrough
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