Sailing Through the Iron Gates

August 1, 2015

Today we stayed on board the boat, cruising on the Danube towards Belgrade. The Danube River is the second longest river in Europe, next to the Volga. It originates from the Black Forest in Germany and flows over 2800 km through 10 countries, ending at the Black Sea in Romania and Ukraine. The measurements of the Danube actually change, because the river carries mud and the bottom silts up. This makes the Danube Delta extend out into the sea 150-200 feet every year. It is the only river in Europe to flow from west to east, so our trip is upstream. We had actually seen the Danube before, when we were in Vienna.

Since we are cruising with Serbia on our left and Romania on our right, the cruise director said your cell phone might pick up signals from both countries.  Since we set our clock back one hour last night, the 2 countries are an hour apart in time.  So you could start your morning coffee at 8 am and finish it at 7 am.

The Iron Gates is a 134 km stretch of the Danube River separating Serbia and Romania. Much of the Danube flows through wide valleys, but in the Iron Gates it runs through narrow sections with high cliffs. The Carpathian Mountains are to the north and the white chalk cliffs of the Balkan Mountains are to the south. This created four steep gorges known as the Iron Gate.

The gorges made transportation treacherous on this part of the Danube, so the Iron Gate Dam was constructed, starting in 1964 and ending in 1984. The water level is now 130 feet higher than before the dam was built. At least 7 towns were covered, the Turkish fortress island of Ada Kaleh was destroyed, and 23,000 people were relocated. The dam consists of 2 locks: Iron Gate I and Iron Gate II, which are more than 80 km apart.  Apparently we went through one of the locks while we were asleep, but we didn't notice!  We went through the second one (Iron Gate I) at 9 am, and everyone crowded onto the sundeck to watch.

  
It took half an hour to get through each chamber, 2 chambers total.  The ship was raised 32 meters.  Since we were not on land today, we were lucky to find graffiti here at the locks. Ships that have passed through like to paint their name and date on the walls of the locks.

The narrowest gorge is called the Great Kazan (Kazan means reservoir). The river here is only 150 meters wide (it is 53 m deep). The limestone cliffs on each side are about 300 meters tall. Around 104 AD, the Roman emperor Trajan had a "hanging road" or bridge built here, before he even fully conquered Dacia (Romania). Tabula Traiana is a plaque on the Serbian bank that Trajan placed there to commemorate his road to Dacia.

A bit farther on, the Romanians carved a likeness of Decebalus, who was Trajan's opponent in the Dacian War. Decebalus committed suicide when Trajan finally conquered Dacia. The carving took 10 years and was completed in 2004. The carving is 43 meters high and is the tallest in Europe.

At the narrowest point in the Great Kazan gorge, there is Mracunia Orthodox Monastery built on a small pier. 

Other interesting sights along the Iron Gates include Trikule, which is the ruins of a 14^th century castle. Three towers still protrude from the water.

There are many caves. One is Veteran's Cave, from which Austrian soldiers once harassed Turkish shipping on the river.

Another is Ponicova Cave. Romanians used it to attempt escapes from their communist rulers. A few succeeded to swim to Yugoslavia. Others were shot as they swam, and some made it across but were returned by the Yugoslav guards.

We stayed on the sundeck until lunch because that was the most interesting part of the day.  It was hot again but thank goodness it was overcast or we would have fried up there.

After lunch we found it too breezy up on the sundeck, and too air conditioned in the lounge, so we found a spot at a table outside the lounge and relaxed with books.

Our cruise director explained that we would be sailing very slowly tonight, because we did not want to arrive in Belgrade at 1 or 2 am, as it is a party city and we would hear boom boom boom in the middle of the night.  So they will try to arrive at 5 am instead.

Graffiti shot of the day (ship name and date):