20240810 Viking European Sojourn River Cruise Day 9/27 - Here's looking at you, Serbia - Country #68

Viking European Sojourn River Cruise Day 9/27 - Sailing the Danube to Donji Milanovac & Golubec, Serbia

Last night was a noisy night. We went through our first set of locks around midnight and the second set started before 5:00 this morning. Being right at the waterline means we hear everything. I was going to get up and photograph the locks this morning but we were there over an hour early and I just didn't feel it. No matter. We will pass through a ton of locks on the way to Amsterdam and I'm sure that I will have plenty of opportunities to photograph some locks.

We have been sailing along the Romania/Bulgaria and Romania/Serbia borders since we sailed last night. That's pretty easy since it runs right down the center of the Danube. Our room is on the left (port) side of the ship so we've been looking at Bulgaria and Serbia through our small window.

Ivan, our Program Director, was giving commentary in the lounge and up on the Sun Deck so after breakfast, we headed up and outside. Our timing was perfect as we were passing the Rock Sculpture of Decebalus right as we came up.

it is a huge rock carving of the face of the last king of Dacia named Decebalus from the first venture A.D.  He is credited with fighting with Roman emperors to keep what is present-day Romania independent.

The sculpture took a decade to carve between 1994 and 2004. It is on the Romania side of the Danube, at the Iron Gates, a rocky passage on the Danube that forms part of the border between Romania and Serbia. The sculpture is 180' high and 82' wide.

He stares endlessly at Serbia, across the river

Mraconia Monastery

More of the sights along the Danube.

Both sides were quite rocky

Pestera Veterani cave - only accessible by boat

We stopped for about three hours in Donji Milanovac, Serbia. Officials came onto the ship and processed everyone's passports. The main purpose of the stop was to disembark passengers taking this afternoon's optional excursions. We took the opportunity to walk around and set foot in our 68th country.

This isn't a tourist town so there wasn't much to see.

After a look around, we returned to Lofn to get some lunch. Here is a good look at the type of window we have in our room. Do you see that double window to the left of the dock, just above the waterline? That is the same type of window we have. Ours isn't visible as it was halfway down the dock. That means our view while docked was a black wall about a foot away.

While we were docked, another ship docked. When multiple boats dock in the same place, the first to arrive ties up to the dock. The second ties up to the first. The third ties up to the second. Ultimately, you wind up with a bunch of boats side-by-side. That happened today. The other ship tied up to us. They had to pass through Lofn to get ashore. It's a weird arrangement.

Shortly after lunch, we went up to the Sun Deck and watched the sites float by. There was what appeared to be a significant fire, or fires burning on the Romanian side. There didn't appear to be any emergency response.

We came downstairs and spent a little time in the room before our scheduled docking in Golubec, Serbia. Our walking tour was directly from the ship into the Golubec Fortress.

The fortress, built in the 1400s has been extensively restored. We passed by it on the way to our docking point. Across the river, in Romania, we saw another fortress, the Laszlovar Fortress.

This area of the Danube is interesting as it is the deepest part of the river and the widest, but a very short distance away, is the narrowest. 

We docked and went on our tour of the fortress.

Entering through the main gate

The fortress was divided into multiple unconnected towers

These independent towers made it harder to attack and much easier to defend

The interior is now a museum.

We assumed this was a model of a tax collector - read the note

Arlona climbed this tower - see her there in the right-hand shaded opening?

She also climbed this - look at the right-hand window

Dinner tonight was all Balkan-inspired. We had sliced meat and cheese appetizers, fresh salad, bean soup, and this sampler plate of roast port, chicken, and lamb kebab with roasted veggies.

After dinner, Program Director, Ivan, and General Manager, Daniel, ran a game of Majority Rules where teams had to provide answers to questions, and the most popular answers got points. For example - what is something women carry in their purse? In our game, most teams guessed lipstick so the teams that guessed lipstick were awarded the point. It was fun and a nice way to end the evening.

We passed by Рамска тврђава - another 14th-century Ottoman fortress that has been restored

We will spend tomorrow in Belgrade, Serbia - the capital city. We have a panoramic tour in the morning and then an interactive tour of the Nikola Tesla Museum in the afternoon.