Iron Gate Dam along the Danube River

If you remember a month ago I started posting about my river cruise along the Danube. With pictures and notes, I shared my visit to Bucharest, Romania, Varda, Bulgaria, and the Black Sea. 

Next we crossed the Iron Gate Dam and encountered three sets of locks along the Danube. The River ship crawled into the locks. The water level was raised to allow the ship to cross to the high level of the river, and then the lock closed behind us and the water level lowered. A fascinating procedure we experienced three times during the same day. The longest locking procedure lasted and hour and a half. We were all on deck watching with amazement. I have seen the same type of locks while crossing the Panama Canal. 

Along the way, we discovered remarkable stone statues from the Neolitihic era of Lepenski Vit, indicating that the area has been inhabitated for at least 8000 years. One of the oldest settlement in Europe.

Here is a huge cliff carving of the Dacian king Decabalus who fought the romans and preferred death to submission.

One can still see the the remains of the Trajan Bridge, the first Roman bridge built over the Lower Danube. Above is a picture of the Tabula Trajana or Trajan's Tablet, the only part that remains of a fortress that was covered by the Danube waters.

Years ago someone sculpted a huge egg. For some reasons --I don't remember the story--it ended here along the River and remained for centuries.

The 84-mile Iron Gate is one of Europe's most impressive gorges. One of the narrowest stretches we had to crossed to go from Romania on the right and Bulgaria on the left, to Serbia.  The river carved this narrow passeway between the Carpathian Mountains and the Balkan Mountains.

The Miracula Church

Stay tune for a visit to Novisad and Belgrade in Serbia, followed by Budapest and Vienne.

And here is my first self-published, contemporary romance

NO MORE LIES that will soon be available at amazon.com as Kindle for only $0.99!!!!!!!!!!

A lie that brings a smile, or a truth that draws a tear.

Night Owl Romance ~ Top Pick

[Prescription for Trust] [NO MORE LIES] was a fantastic read. read.
Got Romance! ~ 4.5 Diamonds
Mona Risk writes a charming story. Keeping the reader entertained with the twists and turns in the plot.
The Long And The Short Reviews~.4.5 Books. Nominated for Best Book of The Week.
[Prescription for Trust] [NO MORE LIES], is full of emotion, suspense, intrigue, good intentions and determination. , depending on which character POV you are looking from. Mona Risk’s
Readers Favorite~ 5 Hearts 2010 Best Contemporary Romance.
If the rest of the books in this string is of this caliber, Ms Risk will find herself with a very successful series on her hands.
Happy Ever After~ 5cups- It is a wonderfully written book about true love and the rarity of second chances. I would prescribe that anyone wanting a lighthearted fast-paced love story should read this book.

Temples and Characters

OSIRIS’ MISSING PART

Sensual romance but not erotic.

According to the legend, the evil Egyptian god, Seth, killed his brother Osiris, chopped him into fourteen pieces and flung them all over Egypt. Isis, goddess of family, reassembled thirteen of his body parts. Since she couldn’t find his supernatural male member, where his godly power was stored, she reattached a human one.

Isis has always loved Osiris, the charming god of labor, and helps him fight Seth. Together they search for his missing organ so he can recover his godly attributes, but can Isis forgive the sins of his past and their unexpected consequences?

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Temple of Isis in Philae

Philea is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt. The complex was dismantled and relocated to a nearby island by UNESCO. The project started because of the construction of the Aswan Dam, after the temple was partly flooded by the earlier Aswan Low Dam for half a century.

Beyond the entrance into the principal court are small temples, one of which, dedicated to Isis and a wide range of deities related to midwifery. The site is covered with sculptures representing the birth of Isis ' son, the god Horus.

Part of my story is set in the Temple of Philae.

The story of Osiris is represented on the walls of this temple. Two of the inner chambers are particularly rich in symbolic imagery.

Roman Temple of Isis in Pompei

This Temple of Isis is a Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess, Isis. The small and almost completely intact temple was among one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii in 1764. In the aftermath of the temple's discovery many well known artists and illustraters swarmed to the site. The preserved Pompeian temple is actually the second structure; the original building built under Augustan was damaged in an earlier earthquake of 62 CE.

The famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is known to have visited the Temple of Isis in Pompeii in 1769, at the age of 13, just a few years after the temple was unearthed. His visit and the memories of the site are considered to have inspired him 20 years later in his composition of The Magic Flute

Temple of Osiris in Abydos

The town and district of Abydos is located west of the Nile, on the border between the valley and the desert some 145 km from Luxor. It was here that the ancient kings of Egypt were buried and from predynastic times the area grew to become an important religious centre. This temple is associated with Osiris, one of the great gods of Ancient Egypt, known as the "Lord of Abydos." His mysteries were celebrated there annually during the Festival of Abydos. The ritual re-enactment of Osiris' death and resurrection brought pilgrims from all over Egypt.  Two chapters of my story depict the Festival of Osiris in Abydos.


Temple of Seth in Kom Ombo

Seth, god of storms, is the villain in Osiris' Missing Part. I visited his impressive temple located on a hill right on the Nile River, in the industrial city of Kom Ombo where the air pollution is one the highest in the world.

Bulgaria and the Black Sea

Today Varna is the largest city on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast and is the main port for both naval and commercial shipping.

The sea was a beautiful deep greenish blue but so cold.

The Black Sea ows its name to the low level of salinity that encourages the growth of micro-algae and darkens the deep blue of the water.




Topless was the norm.

 

It was fun to stroll through the streets and parks that boast many statues. I couldn't read the Slavic letters and the Bulgarian language, so I just admired the scenery.



The city’s structure resembles an amphitheatre as it follows the curves of the Bay of Varna. It is surrounded by gardens, vineyards and groves.



Varna’s origins go back to almost five millennia. The modern city is both a shipyard and port for incoming freighters and the navy, and a riviera town visited by tourists of every nationality.

Cathedral of the Assumption built around1880,
with golden domes, stained glasses and modern wall-paintings

It’s a cosmopolitan place and a nice one to scroll through: Baroque, turn-of-the-century and contemporary architecture pleasantly blended with shady promenades and a handsome seaside garden.



A venus with a strange pose in the middle of a park.



Near the port of Varna, the oldest gold treasure in the world (dated from 4,500 BC) was found In 1972; an ancient necropolis with 280 tombs and 3,010 golden objects were found weighing over 6 kg altogether. According to experts it is the oldest processed gold ever found in Europe.



The museum where we admired a large collection of gold coins discovered in or near the Black Sea.

During occupation by Turkish forces in the last decades of the 14th century, Varna preserved its significance as a port and trade center. As Bulgaria fell under the Ottoman yoke, the only bearers of the Bulgarian cultural tradition remained within the folklore, the people’s festivities, and the church paintings.


The brothers who liberated Varna from the Turkish domination in 1878

We stopped at a pirate ship for lunch and enjoyed a gorgeous view of the Black Sea.

If you like to travel and love to read, come and enjoy my international romances. I will take you around the world through stories that simmer with emotion and sizzle with passion.

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Romania, the vampires' country



Cruising along the blue Danube that was brownish green.
Apparently you can see it blue only when you are in love.

We flew to Bucharest three weeks ago to start a cruise along the Danube River. Our ship looked more like a renovated barge than an ocean cruise liner.



King Carol I of Romania who liberated the country from the Ottoman Empire in 1878

Bucharest, capital of Romania—the vampires' country— was first mentioned in documents as early as 1459. Since then it has gone through a variety of changes, becoming the state capital of Romania in 1862 and steadily consolidating its position as the centre of the Romanian mass media, culture and arts. 

This statue represents the collapse of the communist regime.

Bucharest's eclectic architecture is a mix of historical, Communist-era and modern.

A Russian Orthodox church from 1500

In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of Little Paris.

Although many buildings and districts in the historic centre were damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes and Nicolae Ceaușescu's program of systematization, many survived. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic and cultural boom.



The Parliament built by Ceaușescu and finished after his death has never been used.

According to July 1, 2010 official estimates, Bucharest has a population of 2.15 million people.

Some say that Transylvania sits on one of Earth's strongest magnetic fields and its people have extra-sensory perception. Vampires are believed to hang around crossroads on St. George's Day, April 23, and the eve of St. Andrew, November 29. The area is also home to Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it's easy to get caught up in the tale while driving along winding roads through dense, dark, ancient forests and over mountain passes.

The newly published Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies: Compendium Monstrum allows readers to get acquainted with the attractions of the Romanian region of Transylvania from a 19th-century perspective.

I highly recommend THE WOLF'S TORMENT by Stephanie Burkhart. This paranormal fantasy is set in Romania and Bulgaria. I read it while visiting these two countries and highly enjoyed the plot and fabulous characters.

Airport security

I travel a lot and have to go to the airport two hours in advance to pass security check. Open the laptop, take off jackets, shoes, belts, watches, any jewelries, and stand legs apart in front of an x-ray machine. What next??

September 11, 2001: 911

Yesterday was a day of remembrance and prayers. In my family, it was a day to give thanks to God for sparing my uncle and my cousin—his nephew.

On September 11, 2001, my cousin Alex, a twenty-five years old accountant was cursing himself for staying up late the night before, ignoring his alarm while still dozing and missing his train from Long Island to Manhattan. His Mom had just arrived the night before and the whole family was celebrating her visit with a special dinner.

Alex took the next train and worried during the whole trip about what his boss would say. It was his first job after graduating with an MBA, a nice position as accountant in a firm on the 18th floor of the World Trade Center.

The train stopped for 20 minutes at the previous station and then zoomed without stopping for the next four stations. Alex and the passengers couldn’t understand why. They were told to evacuate the train and walk. While walking toward the World Trade Center, Alex saw the smoke and fumes darkening the sky. People were running in all directions. Someone told him about the attack. He tried to walk away, toward his home. From 9:30 am to 5 pm he roamed in the streets, not knowing how to find transportation and reach home. By 4 pm he finally found someone who agreed to let him use a cellular phone and he called home.

His mother had seen the attack on TV and collapsed thinking her son dead. The whole family gathered around her, supporting and comforting her with words of hope, as she screamed, prayed, cried for hours, until she heard my cousin’s voice on the phone.

That same day, my uncle, a VP in a contracting firm was meeting with important clients in the company’s office on the 80th floor of the World Trade Center. A man in his sixties, he often had health problems.

While driving at 8:30 on the Expressway, he felt sick and had to stop at a fast food restaurant to use the restroom. At 8:45 he called the office, talked to the administrative assistant and to the owner’s son and informed them that he would be fifteen minutes late for the meeting with the clients. A moment later, he raced on the highway. But at 9:15, his wife called him and said to make a U-turn. His office was no more. Later he learned that his boss’s son, a young man in his early thirties, ran down the 80 floors, but their administrative assistant and the old client waited for the elevator and never made it.

Yesterday was a sad day for many. We will never forget 911.
 
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Remembering Hurricane Wilma

While we are preparing for Hurricane Irene, I can't help remember Wilma and the damage it caused in Florida, particularly in Pompano Beach where I was living at the time.

Picture me sitting in my 18th floor apartment, on my living room sofa, at 9:00 am, staring in the dark at the wood panels blocking the bay window and sliding door to the balcony. The rest of the windows were sealed by hurricane shutters completely blocking the day light.

I've called a friend who lived in a building with hurricane-resistant windows to ask what the weather looked like outside. With panic in her voice, she said she was watching cars flying and landing on top of each other.

Imagine my terror when the sofa moved and the chandelier hanging above the dining room table swang left and right with a mind of its own, the way you see it in ghost movies. Except that this was real life!

I asked my husband in a weak voice if there was a chance for the building to collapse. You see, we were living in an apartment building on the beach, a beautiful area for vacation, but the worst place to be in case of hurricane. My husband was scowling at the wood panel too. He muttered he was more concerned about the window and wood cracking under the wind hammering. In fact a few seconds later, streams of water leaked from the side. We used all the towels we had to stop the water. In a bedroom, the shutters unhooked and opened. My DH rushed to close them. I rushed behind him, my arms wrapped around his waist, I pulled him back with  all my strength to stop him from being sucked outside.

By 10:30 am we had no electricity, no telephone and no elevators functionning. We climbed down the eighteen floor to find a chaos in the building lobby. An owner cried that the wall between her bedroom and her neighbor's living room collapsed. Another neighbor called on his cell for help. He'd locked himself in his bathroom when his bedroom window blew. The wind created a vaccum and he couldn't open the bathroom door to get out.

We huddled in the conference room and exchanged stories while the wind roared outside. Wilma was a category 3 and came with a tornado on Pompano Beach.

Amazingly, in the evening the storm abated and the sun shily appeared at the horizon just before sunset.  We finally went out to assess the damage. The beautiful resort looked like a war zone. The beach was littered with window frames, shutters, rails, doors. Crashed cars cluttered the parking lots. Trees and electric wires blocked the streets. Many roofs had collapsed.

There is nothing like a disaster to bring people together. All the apartment owners emptied their freezers and refigerators, now useless without electric power, and brought their meat, poultry, fish, seafood, veggy to be barbequed on the terrace. We had a huge get-together, complete with wine, songs and nervous laughters.

The next morning after coffee and breakfast on the terrace, my husband who was president of the building association, organized the assessment procedure. Teams of volunteers entered each apartment and recorded the damage. Later my DH prepared the report for the insurance.

We remained without electricity and telephone for a week. Not bad under the circumstances. The next-door building lost its water supply for three weeks when a huge tree collapsed over the tank. The residents came to shower and filled pails of water from our building.

It took more than two years to repair all the damage. Now I have a respectul fear of hurricanes.

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