So yes, of course, the highlights of our Blue Danube River Cruise with Grand Circle Tour Company were the four European capitals we were visiting: Prague, Czech Republic, Vienna, Austria, Bratislava, Slovakia and Budapest, Hungary. But it was the many surprises surrounding the experiences on the ship that truly enhanced the trip.

Ten of us sat around a kitchen table in a tidy home in eastern Croatia. Over cake and coffee, our hostess answered questions about life in villages still reeling from the effects of a war that ended on paper more than two decades ago.