We went back and forth through time all day today. On one side of the ship is Serbia and the other side is Romania. Both are in different time zones. Depending on where your phone pings, you may be on Romanian time or Serbian time. We thought we got up in time to meet our group at 8am for breakfast. We found out that we actually got up an hour late and missed breakfast! No worries though..there is coffee and tea available all day and snacks mid morning! Actually snacks today at 10:30am involved Balkan snacks (sausages and potato salad) and beer. Hey it was 5 o’clock somewhere! Most of the day we didn’t know what time it was but they assured us that it was just that area of the river that would be confusing.
This morning we went through a gorge called the Iron Gates. In order to do this, we had to go through the Portile de Fier or Iron Gates Locks, which were Locks that were built in 1972 and 1984. Previous to the 1970’s, this part of the river was very hazardous with rocks and whirlpools and only experienced captains could navigate it. The Yogoslavian and Romanian governments worked together and built a hydroelectric plant in 1963. The dams that were built resulted in a substantial increase in water in the Danube so ship navigation was much easier. Of course it was a little controversial because this change in the river had some adverse effects on the fauna and flora…oh and a town was submerged(!) So now the area is protected by Serbia’s Djerdap National Park and Romania’s Portile de Fier National Park.
Part of this national park area that we sailed through was called the Kazan Gorge which has very tall and beautiful cliffs that are around 980 feet high. Another sight here is the rock sculpture of Decebalus (on the Romanian side). He was the last king of Dacia and fought against the Roman emperors to preserve his country (present day Romania). It was carved between 1994 and 2004 and is 180 feet high.
The AHI Tour guides called a special meeting for a special announcement. Everyone felt a little nervous when we walked into the lounge and heard the background music- the theme from the Titanic! I’m not sure if that was planned or just a weird coincidence. However, there was no warning of an iceberg ahead…just wind. Apparently there were high winds up ahead that officials deemed unsafe for ships so everyone had to dock and wait for the weather to change.
We docked at a small town in Serbia called Milanovac Donji. It was a cute little town, very clean and quiet so it was easy to take a stroll around. There were a few stands at the dock selling handmade goods - lovely crocheted and embroidered items. It was an unplanned excursion that we saw as a bonus.
On a side note..When river cruise ships dock, they dock right next to each other with hardly any space between so when you disembark from the ship farthest from the dock, you walk through the other ship to the dock. A great way to scope out the competition!
It wasn’t until dinner that we received the announcement that we could proceed with the trip. Supposedly the guides had a plan B but they wouldn’t tell us what that would have been and I’m glad that we didn’t have to find out.
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