Day 24 The Iron Gates and Serbia: Friday 3rd July

It was a spectacular sailing morning as we went through the Iron Gates and a narrow gorge before the Danube opens into a large artificial lake beyond. We still had Romania on the right bank until we got to Golubac in the afternoon. More importantly, it rained the previous evening so the daytime temperatures are lower and much more pleasant.

Second lock. The wall just in front of the ship goes down and we sail over it.

The Iron Gates are a double lock the is also a large hydro power station. It was built in the late 1960s and was a joint project between Yugoslavia and Romania and resulted in a giant lake that drowned land by up to 10m. It also drowned a number of villages, islands and archaeological sites.

The carving is of a former Serbian king (I think)

It was quite rocky on both sides and only 200m across at the narrowest point.

The villages and some of the sites were relocated and we visited one of those in the afternoon.

It’s called the Lepenski Vir site and there’s a new visitors centre that houses a relocated archaeological site.

This is one of 3 relocated 18th century houses at the entrance. The entire area is within a National park with strict building regulations.

The shape of the ancient dwellings seems to mimic this rock that is on the Romanian side of the Danube. The dwellings were all oriented towards it also.

It was a 6000 – 4000 BC settlement of people alongside the Danube. They had food, good climate and protection beside the river cliffs so were very successful. Having said that, the relative peace and ease of life seemed to result in very little innovation of building design or layout over that long duration.

Part of the relocated archaeological site

The foundations of some former dwellings. The shape and layout is very similar for each dwelling. It is assumed they had wooden sides and possibly straw roofs.

Some typical riverside homes. Many of these are likely to be holiday homes

After that visit we stopped at Golubac Fortress which is in Serbia and was restored with funding from the EU (even though Serbia is not in the EU). It was commenced in 2010 and only completed 2 years ago.

Golubac Fortress has 9 towers. It has been restored but was never overtaken by force. Rather, one of the former fortress commanders sold it to the Ottomans because his own bosses essentially didn’t agree with the bonus he thought he was entitled. He is not a popular character in Serbian history.

A trebuchet replica with original salvaged cannon balls

When the lake was created it flooded the lower 8m of this tower

Previously, the main local road went right through the fortress and that was for 90 years until the new road and tunnels were completed 12 years ago. Inside it’s pretty much like every fortress – stones and bricks!

The boat had caught us up so it was just a short stroll to embark.

The after dinner entertainment was a trivia quiz, which we arrived slightly late for. With our usual dinner companions we soon got into the swing of it and were second by one point. Still can’t believe we couldn’t remember the second country with an ‘x’ in it. Shocking!