this carving is still guarding the Danube
Danube Iron Gates, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia; evening with Serbian entertainment in Belgrade, Serbia
Today is Sunday, I’m definitely sick and the wind is raising whitecaps going upstream on the Danube. The Captain, who seems to like arriving a little early even better than being on time, must be pleased with the speed. This section of the Danube is still deserted with very little traffic and almost no development along the banks. We move up the river with tablets honoring the Roman Emperor Trajan and a large carving on the banks as the riverside raises into cliffs. There is also a large cave where Bulgarian patriots were based when they fought the Turks. We soon are sailing through gorges know as the Iron Gates.
the Iron Gates
We stop for Serbian Customs before we enter Belgrade and several crew members depart into the customs building carrying all our passports. The boat has cleared Bulgarian customs earlier but this is the first time during daylight hours for a customs stop so we all hang over the railing and watch.
After clearing customs, we sail into Belgrade in the late afternoon and see lights along the river for the first time. A fort overlooking the town is lit and Belgrade looks like a Western European city. I feel like we have crossed into another world. We docked next to a very plush Swiss ship and found out we had to carry our passports with us to enter the town. This hadn’t been necessary before and nobody asked us for them so I’m not too sure what the purpose was.
We learned a little about Serbian politics (which I’m not going to talk about now), had an outstanding Serbian dance presentation by Talija and went to dinner.
