Oct 8 - Iron Gate, Serbia

We spent the afternoon on the upper deck simply watching the scenery as we sailed along the Danube. It felt good to put our feet up. The wait staff circled frequently to bring drinks. The day was a little overcast and it was quite breezy up top, so hot chocolate was our drink of choice.

The Scenic app on our phones would “bing” as we approached an interesting sight and give a ~1.5-minute explanation. The ultimate sight was the Iron Gate which is the narrowest part of the Danube River at only 150 metres. The sloped rock faces on either side stood like silent sentinels waiting to our credentials as we passed through.

We had a lovely chat with a couple who live in Ottawa. Their daughter is married to the Reformed Presbyterian minister in Almonte, so we had a grand time talking about Almonte. They mentioned the train wreck there, and I told them of Dad’s involvement in the actual event and in establishing the memorial.

Soon after, we came to Iron Gate Lake which was created as a result of a joint venture by Romania and Serbia to build a huge dam and hydroelectric plant on the river about 50 years ago. Serbia at that time was led by Tito. He was the chief architect of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and wass a despot who brutally suppressed internal opposition, but he made many, much-needed improvements to the infrastructure and built a much stronger economy.

The dam sat on our left as we approached with the locks on the right. The lock structure is totally different from what we see in Canada and America. Instead of the roadway swinging away or up or around out of the way of the passing boats, here, the roadway stays in place, ensuring the continual flow of traffic between Serbia and Romania, which is crucial as the crossing points along the Danube are hundreds of kilometres apart. We were joined in the lock by a Viking Cruise Lines boat. We watched as the level of the water level dropped – the captain dropped the level of the wheelhouse and the radar antenna for insurance – to the point where we could slip right under the roadway. Absolutely genius engineering. We entered a second lock to complete the required 34 metre drop in elevation. The gates on the second lock folded inwards, like a butterfly – that design is common on the Welland Canal lock system.

We sailed onwards through the evening and the night towards Bulgaria, and yes, to the next time zone.

There have been several evenings of entertainment which I haven’t mentioned. By the time I finish a two-hour dinner, complete with non-stop wine pourings, I’m ready for bed. Doug is more of a trooper, so he has attended these events. There has been Trivia Night, Battle of the Sexes (the men won) and Name That Tune. The entertainment director, a lovely young lady named Georgia from England, is doing a great job of organizing these events. And one afternoon when I was in nap mode, Doug watched a gypsy band up on the upper deck, but the bugs were out in full force which was a huge distraction.Read more