Day 7, Serbian Danube with Golubac Fortress & Djerdap Gorge to Iron Gates

On June 9, our 7th day of PASSAGE TO EASTERN EUROPE aboard the Viking Lif, we were seeing some of the most spectacular sights of Serbia and into Romania!

Golubac Fortress is seen here and the mighty Danube River being about 7 km wide there!

This was around 11:19 as we were pulling out already...

This is the spot where we were, away from the shore.
You also see the red line in the River Danube, marking the border of Serbia and Romania to the north.

This photo I took just 20 minutes earlier...

To give you an idea, we were closer to the shore still on our way out from Golubac Fortress.

And again here you see the spot where we were and you also see that the Danube River there is about 7 km wide!

THE SERBIAN DANUBE click for more info and click again to discover the Danube in Serbia!

This is husband Pieter's Strava walk, only the return of it.

They left the Viking Lif around 8:30 AM for a shore excursion to Golubac Fortress.

Since I was not feeling well, I did not join him...

Pieter walked twice this 1 km distance to the Fortress as he did not climb the stairs leading up to its towers. Not with his weak heart condition.

Look at the gray area bottom for the surface level, not the surrounding, much taller rocks.

Unless the previous day spent in Serbia, where we could not enter the Saint Sava Church as it still was under construction, we were lucky here!

This is Golubac Fortress seen from above video taken in November 2015

The European Union invested in its reconstruction!

Click this link above...

Opening of the Golubac Fortress video, just click to see this marvelous video with lots of info from March 2019!

Yes, it also shows you the incredible width of the mighty River Danube on its way to the Black Sea!

Now tourists from all over the world can admire this 11 millennia old history...

On the upper deck around 11:30, I captured Pieter during our Wheelhouse Tour with lots of information by Cpt. Aleksandar about the Viking Lif and this majestic water way of Eastern Europe!

You can already see that some very SCENIC SAILING is about to start...

All done while enjoying terrific weather every day!

Photo taken at 16:30 from the upper deck as we sail along the Kazan stretch...

Indeed this would be sailing through one of Europe's most dramatic natural wonders, the picturesque stretch famously known as the Iron Gates.

Photo got taken at 16:38

These spectacular narrow gorges, a series of four, slice through the Carpathian Mountains to the north and the Balkan Mountains to the south, marvel at the towering white limestone cliffs draped with forest.

Photo got taken at 15:45 and is in Romania now with one hour time difference!

Monastery Mraconia in Romania from 1452...

Photo taken at 15:53

Now closer to this marvelous medieval Monastery Mraconia in Romania 

Looking back here, where we came from, past Monastery Mraconia now and one minute later...

The Iron Gates show clearly the Danube at its wildest!

Spectacular views of Iron Gates...

The Iron Gates were once treacherous, filled with rocks and rapids. The Serbian name for it, Djerdap, means 'whirlpool'. Passage was eased in the 1st century when the Roman emperor Trajan built canals, then again when the first Iron Gates Dam opened in 1972.

Dam construction impacted the ecology, and both Serbia and Romania have added some protection by creating national parks on either side of the Danube. With a landscape boasting thick coniferous forest, 4 spectacular gorges, 2 canyons, 3 valleys and more than 1,000 caves, the area is one of staggering biodiversity. 

Large perch and catfish can be found in abundance, along with sturgeon and salmon. On land, mammal species include lynx, bears, wolves and jackals. 

Seeing the carved face of Dacian King Decebalus, who fought the Romans and is hailed as a Romanian hero. His 141-foot or 43 m high likeness is carved into a cliff overlooking the Danube near the city of Orşova.

Some interesting facts about Serbia!

My Relive.cc video Viking Lif from Belgrade to Golubac Serbia.

Once again, the signal got completely lost at times and the straight line connects between the two areas with signal. Sorry for that, but you DO see in the end the VAST WIDTH of the RIVER DANUBE!

Golubac Fortress along Kazan stretch via Relive.cc

Thank you for your visit and comment!

Related links:

Day 6, Panoramic Belgrade, Serbia | previous post

Day 5, from Vukovar to Osijek, Croatia | previous post

Day 4, Kalocsa Baroque Cathedral with Organ Music and Puszta | previous post

Day 3 Departure from Budapest on Viking Lif | previous post

Day 2 Passage to Eastern Europe - Panoramic Budapest | previous post

My 3rd Trip with Husband Pieter to Hungary with stay at Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest | previous post

Our Historic Christmas in Italy - END of Romania's Communist Dictator

As most of you know, we lived and worked about one year in Italy.

That also included one Christmas...

Watching TV on Christmas day, in Italian and also in Romanian, which I understand for about 60% since it is one of the Roman languages.

 old Romanian: 'NIMIC FARA DUMNEDEU'

Meaning: 'NOTHING WITHOUT GOD'

On December 22, 1989 the Romanian Revolution had started.
On December 25, 1989 the communist dictator from Romania got executed together with his wife...
Execution of Romanian Dictator Ceausescu and his wife Elena on Christmas day 1989 click on link.

Quite shocking to see this unfold on TV on Christmas Day! 
Read more about Romania by clicking this link.
Still former Communists dominated the country till 1996...
The place where both got executed is now a national museum and you can see photos here.
We've never been to Romania yet...

We didn't study politics, but traveling and working almost all over the globe, we have seen too much of the negative impact on the population as a result of communism and socialism. 
Almost all over the globe and including our then neighboring countries close to Italy, like Slovenia where our First Lady Melania is born.
In my work in Italy, I've trained several women from Slovenia who fled before the breakup of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 

We both lived in the Province of Treviso, near Venice, Italy.
Our cars did arrive per container from the USA, in the harbor of Trieste, which is right on the border with Slovenia.
We had to go there, to pick them up and driving both cars home.
Our First Lady Melania Trump is born in Novo Mesto, not far from Trieste.
Melania did grow up in Sevnica, which is only 2 hours and 15 minutes away from Trieste!

San Lorenzo in Raka, Slovenia where First Lady Melania got baptized

Melania Trump was baptized Catholic, confirms Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rodé click on link.
In an interview by Larry King in 2005 Melania is saying that she left Slovenia 15 years ago, so that means she left in 1990. We left Italy in January of 1990,
Click here and go to minute 12:37 where she starts saying this.
Husband Pieter and I can only admire our First Lady Melania Trump, for having come from such a difficult, communist environment and yet, having made it to Milan, Italy and later to Paris, France before coming to New York, USA while being a super model.
Now she is our classy and elegant First Lady!

On Thursday, August 3 of 1995, we had a Slovenian and Romanian Wrestling Team practice in our town of Dublin, Georgia/USA for the Olympics that were held in Atlanta.

Our local Chamber of Commerce called me to ask if I knew Slovenian or Romanian. No I said but I sure can understand Romanian and if I speak slowly Italian, we can communicate. That's what we did over supper and those men had an entire wish list for their girlfriends that I could translate into English and also point them to the right store for obtaining... They were very happy and we felt good as well.

Both of us also have visited another communist country, Hungary and we have seen with our own eyes the impoverished people's suffering.

We only pray that more and more people in this world, still under communist rule, will get to experience their FREEDOM.
God forbid that our own USA is going the Socialist route...
We both have come a long way for escaping its vicinity and at times it looks like we're heading right into it!

Related links:

{Romanian box with Royal Blazon: Nothing Without God} | previous post by me

{Romanian box with Royal Blazon: Nothing Without God}

This is a very unique, vintage box from Romania.

The blazon reads in old Romanian: 'NIMIC FARA DUMNEDEU'

Meaning: 'NOTHING WITHOUT GOD'

That was the blazon of the Royal house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in Romania before  WWII.

In Latin 'NIHIL SINE DEO' and translated into Romanian as 'NIMIC FARA DUMNEZEU'.

Pronounced in old Romanian as 'NIMIC FARA DUMNEDEU'.

Have a look here for more info and click on all the other hyperlinks from there.

This very unique box is again available at my Zen Cart powered on line boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics.

Lined in burgundy velour this is a very special treasure.

Sorry Sold out...

In 1989 while living and working in Italy near Venice, I did watch often the Romanian channel on TV as I could understand that for about 60%, with my ability to speak fluent Italian at that time...

It was on Christmas day of 1989 that we witnessed the execution of the communist Romanian dictator  Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena... This communist dictator ruled for almost 30 years. 

It was therefore a joy to help some wrestlers from Romania from the now free nation, when they were here in my town, for some Olympic training, in 1996. 

You all know that the 1996 Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta; my capital.

They all needed special gifts for their wives and girl friends and thus the local Chamber of Commerce called on me. 

They asked if I spoke any Romanian. 

No I said, but if they speak slowly and I speak slowly Italian we can converse. 

Indeed it worked and they got their list translated and stores mentioned for finding their loved ones' wishes...

A young lady from Romania did help me out with the translation of the old Romanian, which I was not sure of... Her name is Alexandra.