OLLI @ Granite State College presents ... River Cruise Tour featuring our privately owned 140- to 162-passenger ships exclusively for American travelers ITINERARY OVERVIEW Eastern Europe to the Black Sea MAY 21, 2019 Hungary: Budapest • Croatia: Batina, Osijek, Vukovar • Serbia: Novi Sad, Belgrade • Day 1 • Depart U.S. Bulgaria: Vidin, Ruse • Romania: Constanta, Bucharest Day 2-3 • Bucharest, Romania $ Included Tour Bucharest 14 days from 13 days from $ 4795 3395 Day 4-5 • Bucharest • Constanta with international airfare River Cruise Tour only from Boston Embark ship Included Tour Constanta Prague POLAND (Optional Extension) Day 6 • Ruse, Bulgaria CZECH REPUBLIC Optional Tour Veliko Tarnovo & Arbanassi Da SLOVAKIA GERMANY nube Vienna (Optional Extension) MOLDOVA Day 7-8 • Vidin • Iron Gates Budapest AUSTRIA Included Tour Vidin HUNGARY ITALY SLOVENIA ROMANIA Day 9 • Belgrade, Serbia CRCROAOATATTIA Transylvania Osijek Vukovar (Optional Extension) Included Tour Belgrade Arrival/ Departure Novi Sad Iron Gates Bucharest Optional Extension BOSNIABBOO & Belgrade Day 10 • Novi Sad Cruise Route HERZEGOHHEERZ VINA SERBIA Ruse Constanta Danube Motor Route Vidin a Included Tour Novi Sad e Total Cruising 1177 miles S Distance (1898 km) Optional Tour Sremski Karlovci BULGARIA k c a l B Day 11 • Croatia IT’S INCLUDED Included Tours Vukovar • Osijek International airfare, airport transfers, government taxes, fees, and airline fuel Day 12-13 • Budapest, Hungary surcharges, unless you choose to make your own air arrangements Included Tour Budapest Accommodations for 10 nights aboard a private river ship with wireless Internet access Optional Tour Hungarian Jewish Heritage now in all common areas and cabins, and 2 nights at the Sheraton Bucharest or similar ALL meals: Daily breakfasts, 10 lunches, 11 dinners—including 5 meals in local Day 14 • Return to U.S. restaurants—plus onboard house beer & wine, as well as soft drinks Disembark ship 7 included tours with personal headsets and 5 exclusive Discovery Series events— School visit • Home-Hosted Lunch • Gypsy Women discussion • Life Under Communism discussion • Danube-Black Sea Canal transit & discussion OPTIONAL EXTENSIONS all with FREE Single Supplements Local Program Directors, a Grand Circle Cruise Line exclusive: These dedicated Transylvania, Romania experts are with you (and no more than 47 travelers) every step of the way to provide 3-night pre-trip from $645 insider’s knowledge and the perspective that will enrich your experience Prague, Czech Republic Gratuities for local guides and motorcoach drivers 4-night post-trip from $995 All port charges: a value of $145 per person Baggage handling for 1 piece of luggage per person, including tips 5% Frequent Traveler Credit toward your next Grand Circle trip—an average of $262 PLEASE MENTION THIS CODE WHEN BOOKING G9-27564 Reservations & Information 1-800-597-2452 • Press 2 www.gct.com/lbs2019 WHAT TO EXPECT Group Size • Not accessible for travelers using • Travel by 140- to 162-passenger • This trip has a group size wheelchairs or scooters river ship, and 49-seat coach of 38-45 travelers • Travelers using walkers, crutches, or • Changes in water-level depths may other mobility aids must travel with require adjustments to your itinerary Pacing a companion who can assist them • 13 days, with 10 nights aboard a private • We reserve the right for Program Climate river ship, and a two-night hotel stay Directors to restrict participation, • Daytime temperatures range from • Return flights often require or in some circumstances send 58-82°F during cruising season departing in early morning travelers home, if their limitations • June-August are the warmest months impact the group’s experience • Air travel time will be 11-20 hours and • March and November weather can be unpredictable and change quickly will have at least one connection Terrain & Transportation Physical Requirements • Uneven walking surfaces, including steep paths, hills, riverbanks, • Walk 1-3 miles unassisted 25-50 stairs without handrails, and and participate in 2-3 hours cobblestones, which can be slippery of physical activities in wet or colder conditions YOUR ITINERARY DAY 1 Depart U.S. on a panoramic tour. This is an old 700 architects and around 1.5 million city that has served as the capital of factory workers to complete the DAY 2 Bucharest, Romania Wallachia and later Romania since 1659. project. Ceausescu passed away before Arrive today in Bucharest. You are Today, it is noted for its broad, tree- the massive undertaking was finally met atthe airport by a Grand Circle lined boulevards, well-kept parks, and finished in 1994. mix of architectural styles that combine representativeand transferred to your Dinner is on your own this evening. hotel. Depending onyour arrival time Neo-Classical 19th-century structures B— River Ship and hotel check-in policy, you may not with monumental 20th-century be able to check into your hotelroom edifices (the latter built for the DAY 4 Bucharest • Constanta • immediately upon arrival at your hotel. most part to satisfy the late dictator Embark ship Your Program Director will advise you Nicolae Ceausescu). You’ll view the After enjoying the morning at leisure, of your check-in status and activity Arc de Triomphe (commemorating the we’ll gather for lunch in a local schedule for theday when you arrive. achievements of World War I soldiers) restaurant before transferring to and drive along Victory Avenue to You have the balance of the day to relax Constana where you’ll embark your Revolution Square, where recent events after your overseas flight. private Grand Circle river ship, which in history are inscribed. Celebrate your arrival in Romania with will be your home throughout your After lunch on your own, enjoy the a Welcome Drink, and get acquainted Black Sea cruise. rest of the afternoon at leisure. withyour traveling companions and your Tonight, meet your fellow travelers over Perhaps you’ll visit the majestic Program Director. This evening, enjoy dinner onboard. Palace of the Parliament, the second dinner at your hotel. largest administrative building in the B,L,D— River Ship D—River Ship world—and certainly one of the most DAY 5 Constanta • Danube-Black impressive. Dive into the controversial DAY 3 Bucharest Sea Canal transit • Captain’s history of how the massive palace came Welcome Dinner If you began your European discoveries to be under the Romanian dictator early with our optional pre-trip Nicolae Ceausescu. After an earthquake This morning, enjoy a guided tour of extension in Transylvania, Romania, devastated the city in 1977, Ceausescu Constanta, a Romanian Black Sea port you will join the main group today. This took advantage of the land and recruited that is the country’s oldest continually morning, get acquainted with Bucharest Reservations & Information 1-800-597-2452 • Press 2 www.gct.com/lbs2019 inhabited city. Dating back more natural border between Romania and DAY 8 Iron Gates• Life Under than 2,500 years, Constanta boasts Bulgaria. Communism discussion a wealth of fascinating architecture You may spend your day at leisure You have a day of leisurely cruising, and history. Myth holds that Jason exploring Ruse independently, or you and a good opportunity to observe life and the Argonauts stopped here after could join us for an optional excursion to along the banks of the Danube from your recovering the legendary Golden Fleece. discover two key Bulgarian historic sites: comfortable deck chair as your Program On your included tour, you’ll explore the Veliko Tarnovo, the capital of Bulgaria Director provides insights about the beguiling city center, the Cathedral of from 1186 until 1394, and Arbanassi, a region. After breakfast, enjoy a bridge Saints Peter & Paul, the mosaic-paved historical village of Bulgarian heritage. commentary about the Danube River. Roman Edifice of Tomis, the Art Nouveau You’ll enjoy time on your own in both Later in the morning, join us in an Constanta Casino, and other highlights locations to make your own discoveries, Exclusive Discovery Series discussion of this beloved city. and you’ll enjoy an included traditional on Life Under Communism with your Following lunch, your Danube and Black lunch in a local restaurant in Arbanassi. Program Director. Then, after lunch Sea River Cruise begins by sailing into B,L,D— River Ship onboard, join the chef in the galley (the the Danube-Black Sea Canal, a 40-mile ship’s kitchen) for a special tour. engineering marvel begun in 1949, but DAY 7 Vidin, Bulgaria Throughout the day, you’ll cruise along not fully completed until 1987. You’ll This morning, enjoy panoramic views of a stretch of the Danube that was once pass through the canal’s lock system Bulgaria en route to Vidin. After lunch, a raging river pounding through deep and cruise by the inland port towns of you’ll arrive in Vidin, Bulgaria’s main gorges. In the 1960s, Yugoslavia and Murfatlar and Medgidia. port on the Danube. Here we’ll enjoy Romania cooperated on a joint venture This evening, celebrate the start of an included walking tour and a visit to that raised the level of the Danube with your Eastern European odyssey at the Baba Vida, a medieval fortress of two a series of hydroelectric dams called the Captain’s Welcome Dinner. walls and four towers. Baba Vida was the Iron Gates. The Danube is now placid B,L,D— River Ship city’s main defense in the Middle Ages between the Iron Gates, the craggy two- and also the most important fortress of mile long gorge now underwater. In the DAY 6 Ruse, Bulgaria • Optional Veliko northwestern Bulgaria. Please note: Some morning, you’ll pass through Iron Gate Tarnovo & Arbanassi tour walkways at Baba Vida have tough and II; you’ll continue through Iron Gate I uneven surfaces and dark passageways. Early this morning, arrive in Ruse, which later this afternoon.