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We woke up suddenly at
04:30 as the ship bumped into something – I looked
out the window and saw we were at the Iron Gates lock –
Elisabeth had got it wrong again.
After the lock, we entered the gorge and
suddenly the river widened. What had once been a valley
was now a broad stretch of the river looking more like a
lake. Shortly after we docked at Orsova. |
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Most people got on the
coaches to go to Baile Herculane. But Bruce and I decided
that we really needed to stretch our legs. We could see
on the other side of the bay a spire, which Elisabeth told
us was an attractive monastery. So we decided to walk there.
It turned out to be a very long walk – about 7kms
there and the same back. The town was not very attractive,
no doubt having been built after the valley had been flooded.
But we headed uphill and the houses higher up were very
nice and people greeted us as we passed. After a while,
we could no longer see the spire for which we were heading.
We spotted a very old hunched lady and asked her in our
best Romanian "monasteru?" She pointed to a right
hand fork in the road and said something incomprehensible.
We thanked her and took the path indicated. A few hundred
metres later, there was another fork – both now just
dirt tracks. A little faint voice behind us made us turn
round and the little old lady was waving, again to the right.
The path became very steep and passed through alpine meadows.
It was beautiful, full of wild flowers. And it was very,
very hot, with a clear blue sky.
But the old lady was right, and having
left the ship 1½ hours ago, we finally stepped up
to the monastery. It was pretty.... |
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...but the views from it
were fantastic. It was well worth every effort. We sat for
half and hour to get our breath and then explored for a
while. |
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We decided to return. As
we started back through the meadows, we bumped into the
little old lady – she had been heading to the same
place. Goodness knows where she got the stamina! We thanked
her again and gave her some money, which she accepted with
alacrity. |
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As we passed through Orsova again, we bought
some wine (£2 a bottle), some chocolate (pence) and
some cherries (next to nothing). Just as we got back on
board, the heavens opened again with thunder and lightning.
After lunch, the sun came out and ship set off down the
Iron Gates gorge. It was stunning. As we passed through
the amazing scenery, we chatted and shared our morning’s
adventures with impressed passengers. |
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The Iron Gates had been notoriously difficult to pass through
in former days: before the dam it was a narrow gorge with
rapids. One Roman Emperor had made a road and this plaque
to commemorate his achievement.
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And a modern-day
megalomaniac has made his mark, too...
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Golubak Castle (I think!) |
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