GFE Stumpes: Iron Gates and Donji Milanovac, Serbia (4/2/2026)

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Today is scenic cruising through the Iron Gates of the Danube, which we had done in 2021.

We woke up to a view of a wall from our "porthole"

We were in the first lock of two of
Hidrocentralei Porțile de Fier I/Iron Gates
Hydroelectric Plant 1 (1964-1972);
we were on the Romanian side of the dam

Looking back to the start of the lock

The hydroelectric plant has six turbines for Serbia and
six for Romania; the dam is the largest on the Danube and
raised the water level of the river about 35 m/115'; previously
it was dangerous to navigate the rapids in a narrow gorge

Aha, the black gate is descending...

...and continues to descend until we can see into the
second lock; each lock can raise the boats 14 m/45'

The Aquavit has a small buffet for breakfast,
but you can also order from the menu

This morning the banitsa was filled with mushrooms
and accompanied by clotted cream

Plenty of pastries and fruit

Approaching a narrow section of the Danube

Трајанова табла/Trajan's Plaque (c 103 CE) honors the
Roman Emperor Trajan who managed to build a road
along the Iron Gates Gorge to a place to build a bridge that
allowed him to cross the Danube and conquer the Dacians;
the tablet had to be raised 30 m/98' after the dam was built

Entering the Lower or Small Kazan Gorge, which
before the dam was a narrower gorge with boiling rapids
and whirlpools that were dangerous for navigation

Chipul regelui dac Decebal/Rock sculpture
of Decebalus (1994-2004, lead sculptor
Florin Cotarcea), the last king of the
Dacians who fell to the armies of
Roman Emperor Trajan in 106 CE (KSS)

At 55 m/180' in height and 25 m/82' in width
it is the tallest in Europe and third in the world

Mănăstirea Mraconia/Mraconia Monastery (15C,
destroyed during the Russian-Austrian-Turkish war
between 1787-1792, rebuilt only to be flooded in 1968
with the building of the Iron Gates Dam 1, 1993-1994)

Varnica Balloon Signal Station (post WWII)
was part of the semaphore system to safely
guide boats through the narrowest stretches;
when the big ball was raised, ships were free
to pass, but when it was lowered they had to
wait for a ship to pass in the opposite direction

Looks like a former signal station, or is it an entrance to a cave?

View of Donji Milanovac from Viking Rinda

Donji Milanovac is known for relocating three times. When the earliest settlement was destroyed by the Ottoman Turks in 1690, the survivors rebuilt on a nearby island (Poreč) in the Danube. Because the island was frequently flooded, in 1830 Prince Miloš Obrenović ordered the town to be relocated to the right bank of the Danube. It was the first town in Serbia built through urban planning, complete by 1832. With construction of the Iron Gates I hydroelectric power station, starting in 1964, the town had to relocate to higher ground once again. The old town was completely flooded in 1971.

Lunch: Green Asparagus Soup

Farfalle al Salmone Affumicato

Or Chicken Club Sandwich

Off for the included shore excursion Charming Donji Milanovac, in the rain.

Мамут/Mamut (1979, by Budimir Novaković)
a woolly mammoth is the unofficial mascot
of the town because of the 1996 discovery
prehistoric mammoth fossils nearby