It was nice
to actually get the internet last night.
We hope we’re as lucky today.
Today we
have been through the “Iron Gates Gorge”. To do this we had to transit through 2
locks lifting our boat up 17 meters in total and taking around 2 hours to complete
the process. This was very interesting to see as it was slightly different to
the Panama Canal in that at the end of the 1st and 2nd
lifts, the wall raises and falls appropriately.
In the Panama Canal the big doors open and close in front and behind you.
There was another River Cruise boat in the lock at the same time as us, they
were coming the opposite direction, and so 2 boats fitted side by side in the
locks.
After going
through the locks, we entered the area known as The Iron Gate Gorge. This gorge
is just spectacular; it is 84 mile long and forms the border between Romania
and Serbia. With high very craggy mountains towering over the Danube here it is
sure something to see! Some ways further along the River we came across the
long awaited rock carving of the Dacian King, King Decebal. This structure is about 50 or more meters
high, carved into the mountain side and is magnificent. It was carved in his
memory as he was a great protector of the people. This Iron Gate Gorge gets
quite narrow at this point and is very picturesque with some little villages
dotted along the shores. There are a fair amount of small boats taking tourists
to see the Rock Carving all along this area.
After lunch
we pulled into a small Serbian Village, Donji Milanovac, and from here we went
to visit an Archaeological site, Lepinski Vir. Although these types of places
aren’t our ‘strong point’, we appreciated the History behind all these important
discoveries. We did get time to have a
walk around this pretty little town and it was a breath of fresh air after all
the decayed and deserted buildings we have seen in Bulgaria and Romania. The
scenery is getting a lot more interesting now and we are enjoying the change.
Lock
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Iron Gates Gorge
King Decebal
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