The multi-section Iron Gate Strait is located on the border of Serbia and Romania, the Danube flows through these gorges between the Southern Carpathians and the Serbian Ore Mountains.
The first narrowing after the island of Moldova is followed by the Galamboc gorge named after the castle on the Serbian side, and then the part after the Ljupovska valley by the Gospodin Vir gorge – here huge, 500-meter-high, hard-to-reach cliffs rise above the Danube. Then comes the wider section called Donji Milanovic,
followed by the narrowest section, the Great Boiler Strait, just 150 meters wide, followed by the Small Boiler Strait. Then the river widens again, flowing through the Orsova Valley, and then narrowing again in the Whistle Gorge. This is where the Danube exits , in a narrower sense it is often called the Iron Gate.
The Danube-Main-Rhine waterway was opened in 1992, creating a 3056-kilometer, connected European shipping route with a network of tributaries and canals of about 12,000 kilometers.,New, large, luxury excursion boats travel the entire length of the waterway, and one of the main attractions of the road is the crossing of the Iron Gate Strait. These cruises are offered by many large travel agencies. Bus trips in the area, often combined with cruises, are also often offered.
Access : Coordinates: 44.671111, 22.529722 / After the village of Plavisevica, the Kazan Strait begins. Pal Szechenyi and Vasarhelyi stayed in the village at the time of the first Danube regulation and Szechenyi road. There was also the Szechenyi memorial plaque, which is now deep below the water level. /
/ finally arrive at the end of our journey to Turnu Severin. To the center of the medieval Szorenyi Banat (which included present-day Oltenia)
Highlights :
- The museum of the archaeological site of Lepenski Vir is located on the narrow Serbian coast, in the section of the Gospodin Vir Strait, where relics of more than two thousand years of European Mesolithic and Neolithic, of which 500 years have very distinctive features, have been unearthed
- Ada Kaleh Island : This 1,700-meter-long, small island, 4 to 500 meters wide, was located three kilometers east of Orsova in the Danube riverbed, until it was submerged after the construction of the first Iron Gate I power plant, built between 1964 and 1972. In 1689, Imperial General Veterani recognized his strategic importance and proposed the construction of a fortress.The legend of the island is about the unhappy love of Sultan Kaleh and his wife Ada
- A special attraction of the Little Boiler Strait is the huge face of the Dacian King Decebal, 40 meters high and 25 meters wide, seen in the Gulf of Mrakonia
- the orthodox Mrakonia monastery with a vomiting past. Based on its former floor plan, it was probably built in the 15th century by Serbian monks fleeing the Turks, and was destroyed in 1788 during a Turkish attack. It was re-established in 1931, but was submerged as a result of the construction of the 1st Iron Gate.
- The Veterani Cave : The cave got its name from General Veterani, who at that place, in 1692, successfully held himself for forty days with three hundred soldiers and five cannons against an army of Turks. . The Veterani Cave can be visited for an entrance fee
- Dubova , is a village in Dunatolgyes (Romanian: Dubova) in Romania, in the Banat, in Mehedin?i County, in the Iron Gate Strait. / and the 1666-meter-long, semi-flooded Ponyikova Cave
- The Kazan gorge actually consists of the Great Boiler, below it the Little Kazan gorges and the Dunatolgyes bay between them. Its narrowest point is 170 m, its deepest 80 m below the water level of the Danube. Nagy-Csukar rises above the Danube with a 316-meter vertical rock wall.
- Golubac Fortress is a medieval fortress located on the right bank of the Danube, 4 km downstream from the Serbian town of Golubac in the Danube Gorge.
- the Hungarian city of Orsova : at the mouth of the Cserna there was a Danube ferry. The old Hungarian border was a little lower, after Mount Allion, which established its significance. In 1096, St. Ladislaus defeated the Cumans here. Lajos Nagy, Zsigmond, the German Order of Knights, Ulaszlo I and the Hunyadians also visited here.Orsova’s royal castle was part of the Danube border fortress system, which saw many battles and sieges.
- Bath of Hercules : is a city in Romania, Cara?-Severin County / the romantic Cserna Valley. / Iron Gates Natural Park is in the Banat region of Romania. / Tricule Fortress (Cetatea Tricule). Ruin of a 15th-century fortress / The Roman plaque “Tabula Traiana”, Serbia /
- The Iron Gates Region Museum (Romanian: Muzeul Regiunii Portilor de Fier) is a museum in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania.
Activities : sightseeing / photo opportunities / trekking / Scenic Driving- Auto Touring / Cruising the Iron Gates / Lodging / Camping / Backcountry / Danube Cycle Path / Guided bike tours along the Danube.
Go next : Continue with Hercules Baths a town in Romania. / the romantic Valley of the Cserna River. /
