Beautiful Romania

Two exciting things about this cruise was that the journey went from east to west and included some of the eastern countries of the Danube. The Danube is the longest river in Europe, but most people only get to travel between Germany and Hungary on river cruises. While we didn't get all the way to the Black Sea, we did have Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia on our itinerary, which was pretty remarkable.

Our first port was Drobeta-Turnu Severin. After a most incredible breakfast (I could tell that this would be my spoiling on the trip, and the most difficult part of return to normal, having to forage in my grossly inadequate pantry by comparison), we picked up our buses and our guides for the drive to Orsova. Along the way, we learned a bit of history.

Romania was part of the Roman Empire, and the language is the only romance language of Eastern Europe, closely related to Italian. There are also considerable physical remains, including bridges and arches, although the country tends to Christian Orthodoxy. We also heard about the region of Transylvania, which was Hungarian until 1918, but is the home of the legend of Dracula, loosely based on the real Vlad the Impaler. He was a count in the 1400s, legendary for his resistance to the Ottoman Empire. But I digress.

This region is renowned for its natural beauty. The Iron Gate Gorge is considered one of the most scenic places in the world. Notoriously challenging for ship traffic, owing to the sheer cliff drops creating rough currents and unpredictable whirlpools, the river was widened and deepened numerous times. But in the 1960s and 1970s, the hydroelectric power station went in, complete with dams and locks. While the lock is a 90-minute trip of scenic wonder moving ships nearly 100 vertical feet, its construction drowned the island of Ada Kaleh and forced the moving of the town of Orsova, our destination for the morning. Orsova had been an important Roman town on the border of the Empire, so its destruction was tragic in both humanitarian and historic ways.

The country is beautiful! It was a very scenic drive.

Part of the agreement in moving Orsova was the building of a new church. This is the postmodern Church of the Immaculate Conception, easily one of the most amazing churches I've ever seen. Its architecture is stunning, very unique, and Brutalist in style, with a tent-like exterior shape.

Inside, there is only natural light, gathered from these skylights in the shape of a cross that mirrors the nave. There is a small organ, which resonates beautifully in the space. Along the sides are watercolors depicting the stations of the cross, again, very modern. Masses are said in Romanian, Hungarian, German, and Czech, reflecting the history and diversity of the region.

The watercolors are canvas and wood, done by a local painter. He also included several more unusual historical figures; the woman in white above is Nadia Comenici while other paintings had Lenin and John Lennon.

We stopped at a memorial on the way back to the ship, but I was more captivated by the houses and local architecture. I liked it here.

Back at the ship we had our safety briefing and a Balkan "snack" of local beers and sausages. I missed much of the snack (too bad for the taste experience and yet OK on the caloric intake) dealing with an office issue and invitations for the next evening's dinner, in part because I wanted to be able to spend part of the afternoon on deck, when we would pass through the famed Iron Gate Gorge. I have to say, it did not disappoint, and I was glad for my earlier sacrifice.

Remarkable, dramatic, beautiful scenery! The cliffs were stunning and everything was green. The day was warm, warmer than we'd expected, but quite pleasant as the humidity was low. And the long ship meant that everyone had an open-air window seat. Perfect!

And around every corner, another marvel. Here, a little church nestled along the  coastline, with the road behind it. I was captivated. Not quite the same as watching the clouds and mountains drift by up in Alaska, but I didn't want to move away either.

Then our lecturer had his first ship-board lecture this afternoon before dinner, and that went well. We had great groups for lunch and dinner today, and people were in good spirits. And we would gain an hour's sleep this evening (yay! sleep is always short on these trips), as we moved into central european time and along the Serbian coastline. The hard thing with cruises is that you get just a taste of places. I've learned that I like to be somewhere for a while, make some day trips out of the city/region, but actually get to know a place and its people. But these kind of "survey" trips can help you get an overview, and decide on places for a return. I knew some about the region, after all those years of Soviet/Russian studies. And I knew some about Bulgaria, having a friend who had done Peace Corps in a small town near Sofia. Then I had four days in Sofia; I liked it, I would return if someone gave me an option. But having seen just a very tiny piece of Romania, I'm intrigued and would really like to go back and see more. Interestingly, and I hadn't realized at this point of the trip, a lot of this ship's crew were Romanian. And they were lovely people.