Day 3 saw us driving from Belgrade towards the East to the Golubac Fortress and the Iron Gate Gorge, four kilometers from the town of Golubac. It took us about 2 hours to traverse a distance of 136 kilometers, and it was just wonderful to drive by the River Danube at several places.

We reach the medieval fort that does look like a fortress from a fairy-tale and I half expect some knights in their shining armour to come out to battle the dragons. From the fortress across the Danube, you could see the Romanian border. The Iron Gates is a gorge on the river Danube. It forms part of the boundary between Serbia (to the south) and Romania (north). It is one of Europe’s most dramatic natural wonders.  The Danube begins in Germany’s Black Forest area and flows through nine counties. About 10 percent of the Danube flows through Serbia where it is called the Dunav. It passes through Belgrade, the capital of Serbia where it meets the Sava tributary. From Belgrade, it now flows south-east separating a 142- mile portion where Serbia borders Romania.  At this point, the Danube separates the Carpathian Mountains from the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. This Serbian side of the river is part of the Djerdap National Park. It is in this section that the four gorges form the high cliffs of the Iron Gates.

Some quick information about the fortress

• The fortress was built by Hungarians, who called it Galambocz, sometime in the second half of the 13^th century.
• It was captured by the Turks in 1391and changed hands (Turks, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Austrians), till it was finally reclaimed by the Serbs in 1867 to Knez Mihailo Obrenovic III.
• The fortress has a distinction of successfully repelling over 120 conquering attacks during history.
• It is said that it was named after a beautiful Serbian girl Golubana, who thwarted the overtures of a Turkish Pasha. Angered, he imprisoned her in one of the towers leaving her to die.
• Golubac has architecturally, three main compounds, 9 towers, a palace, all connected by fortress walls.

You can wander around the fortress, admire the structure, and the ramparts; soak in the natural beauty of the River Danube and the adjoining national park before you make your way to Lepinski Vir, a famous Mesolithic archeological site. Indeed, the fortress gets tens of thousands of visitors every year. There is a cafe where you can have some coffee and ice-creams too. There are four categories of tickets and we basically opted for the one that gave access to most areas for adults.

June 25th, 2022

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You can fine the Day 2 travelogue here .