Vidin, Bulgaria

 Vidin, Bulgaria

The Danube is the second longest river in Europe after the Volga in Russia. The river rises in the Black Forest Mountins of Southern Germany and flows for 2,850 kilometres to the Black Sea passing through ten countries, namely Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania Moldova and Ukraine and four capital cities, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade.

It has been a major trade rote into the heart of Europe for centuries and the Greeks were known to have traded up the river as far as the Iron Gates. Rome expanded its empire and the Danube formed the northern boundary of the empire.

Other rulers built castles along the river such as Charlemagne who built Werfenstein and many of the fore runner kingdoms that emerged as the Austro Hungarium Empire. The Ottomans expanded their empire through the Balkans to the Danube to challenge the supremacy of the Austro Hungarian empire.

Both empires collapsed at the end of the First World War and the Danube saw more changes with the Second World War, the Cold War, the collapse of communism and the expansion of the European Union and with the opening of the Rhine Main Danube canal, shipping can travel from the North Sea to the Black Sea. 

The sand banks of the river change constantly and during low water levels especially in summer, ships can get stranded like this ship that has run aground.

We were bused from Vidin on the Danube into the Balkan Mountains to visit Belogradchik.

There is a fortress here originally built by the Romans, expanded in the Middle Ages and more than doubled in size buy the Ottomans between 1804 - 1837. The main entrance.

Looking out along the Ottoman walls.

The inside gate to the inner courtyard.

Looking back to the main entrance.

Looking up through the gate to the higher courtyard.

Some of the fascinating odd shapes that have arisen from erosion of the conglomerates in the area.

Looking down at the town of Belogradchik.

We returned to Vidin to walk around the Baba Vida Medieval fortress that guarded the trade routes through the city.

The walls overlooking the moat.

The bridge over the moat.

The entrance to the castle.

The Octagonal Tower built by the Austrians.

One of the bartizans.

Another bartizan.

The Weeping Soldier outside the railway station erected after the two former parts of Bulgaria that had achieved independence from Ottoman control in 1888 announced their union in 1885 and were invaded by neighbouring Serbia, an attack that saw a Slav state fighting another Slav state.

Pleven

 Pleven

The Siege of Pleven played an important part of the Russo Turkish war involving four major battle between July and December 1877 which led to the liberation and creation of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia from Ottoman control.

On 31st August 1877, Field Marshall Osman Pasha had retreated from his defeat at Nikopol and set up defences at Pleven and had successfully resisted two attacks on his position. The third Russian attack was led by General Skobelsev, capturing two redoubts and a Romanian division took the Grivitsa redoubt.  The Russians were pushed back but the Romanians held their ground at the Grivitsa redoubt.

The Russians lost 20,000 soldiers but finally surrounded Pleven by 24th October. Osman requested permission to retreat but the Ottoman High Command refused permission. On 9th December the Russians attacked and Osman lost 5,000 men and surrendered the city to Colonel Mihail Cerchez.

The Ivan Radev Drama and Puppet Theatre in Pleven. 

An interesting building in the town centre.

The tower of St Nicholas church.

The entrance to St Nichlas church.

Inside the church. By tradition there are no musical instruments allowed inside the church. 

The candles are lit by the faithful and are always bought in even numbers. The top level is for the living and the lower layer is to remember the dead.

A memorial to the fallen during the First World War.

A memorial to all those who died in the Liberation War. There is also an eternal flame to those that fell.

Another interesting piece of architecture.

The Panoram Museum on the top of the hill overlooking the town centre where the battle was fought.

A long line of artillery outside the museum and more guns were on display inside.

Part of the panorama inside the museum, part actual exhibit, part painted diorama.

Bucharest

 Bucharest

Bucharest lies on the Dambovita River which joins the Arges River which is a tributary of the Danube so we would be getting there by coach from the Danube. We moored at Turnu Margurele and it was three and a half hour drive to the capital.

The city was first mentioned in documents dating from 1459 and became the capital in 1862. Its architecture is a mix of historical, neo-classical, Art Deco, Communist and modern. Despite war, earthquakes, (the last two big ones were 1914 and 1977) and Nicolae Ceausescu's program of redevelopment, many have survived. 

We didn't go on a walking tour but sat on the bus and were driven around the centre on a whistle stop tour and often photos were spoiled by reflections on the glass or I was on the wrong side of the coach to get a picture. But some came out alright.

The house of the People, also the Parliament, hosting both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and it is the largest building in Europe and the second largest in the world. It also houses the National Museum of Contemporary Art and a convention centre.

The Memorial of Rebirth, unveiled in 2005 to commemorate the victims of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 which overthrew communism.

The Arcul de Triumf, based on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris built in 1935 and like in Paris, it stands at the centre of several major thoroughfares.

The Iron Gorge

The Iron Gorge 

The Danube here forms part of the border between Serbia to the south and Romania to the north and 134 kilometres long. The Romanian side is the Iron Gates National Park and on the Serbian side is the Derdap National Park.

Archaeologists have named the mesolithic culture found in the central Danube region dating between 13,000 to 5,000 years ago after the gorge.

At the far end of the gorge is the city of Orsova, and beyond it is a large hydroelectric power plant, the first plant opened 1972 followed by the second plant in 1984. The dam raised the level of the water by 35 metres.  

                                        

Early morning as we approached the Iron Gates Gorge

Red sky in the dawn.

But it was atmospheric down at the start of the gorge...

...but the sun was rising and burning off the mist

In the gorge.

Part of the gorge where the river widens before entering the next gorge section.

A border police boat cruising along the border.

One of several caves that can be visited but only by boat.

Another view of the gorge.

A distant view o a monastery.

A couple of closer views...

...and a large flag painted on the wall downstream of the monastery.

The rock sculpture of King Decebalus who reigned 87 - 106AD, the last king of Dacia who fought against Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan in order to try to preserve his kingdom. It is Europe's tallest rock relief at 55 metres high and 25 metres wide.

The Ion Gates Dam.

A road bridge across a tributary,

The lock entrance.

A tribute to Tito above the dam.

Two ships followed us into the lock.

And the gate rose into place...

...looking across the dam.

Water flowed out and the lower section of the lock dropped to allow boats to enter the next lock.

And then we were out...

...and steaming away from the dam.

The down stream side of the dam.