Passage to Eastern Europe: Scenic Cruising on the Danube I (8/21/2021)

Saturday, August 21, 2021

Many of us woke up to find ourselves in a lock at Iron Gate I Dam (1964-1972). We had already passed through Iron Gate II Dam (1984) during the night.

The Danube River we previously traveled was the border between Romania and Bulgaria, but now it follows the border between Serbia and Romania. We passed through the locks on the Serbian side. This lock was a double-chambered lock.

We started in Chamber 2 of 2 (KSS)

The downriver gates of Chamber 2 begin to close (KSS)

Chamber 2 gates continue to close (KSS)

Chamber 2 gates are closed (KSS)

Sydney and her grandfather walk
the track on the Sun Deck
while the ship is raised 13.7 m/45 ' (KSS)

This chamber of the lock begins to fill with water (KSS)

Whoa - the chamber is full! (KSS)

The captain is on the wing bridge,
with controls for the ship where he
can also look over the side to note
how close he is to the wall

Fire-fighting equipment lines the
edge of the lock

Iron Gate I Dam and spillway

Now the middle gate is lowering

Going down...

Gone! But of course, we wait for it to
lower completely under water!

Having double chambers means that ships going in both directions can be moved at the same time. With one chamber, ships can only be moved in one direction at a time.

Gate mechanism (KSS)

Egg of the Day: Salmon on scrambled eggs on an English muffin

Now we will go up another 13.7 m/45 '

Going up...

...and up...

...and up

A  nod to Tito and the old Yugoslavia flag

Now the upriver gate needs to lower

Going...

...gone!

But wait for the green light!

Green light! (KSS)

The captain continues to use the wing bridge
to exit safely from the lock

Viking Ullur life ring

Now we have the Serbian flag

What?! They served us on deck with
iced coffees with whipped cream (it was hot!)

Approaching the first narrow gorge; if you consider
the Iron Gate Dam raised the water level of the Danube
River 35 m/114', the gorges would be that much deeper

Floating water bottles are not trash, but floats for fishing gear

Tabula Traiana/Trajan's Tablet (c 100 CE) was raised from
its original location below the present waterline, marked the
end of a Roman road along the gorge that ended in an arched
bridge across the Danube (built as a supply line for Roman
troops invading the Kingdom of Dacia, probably for control
of gold mines); the conquered Dacian peoples then became
"romanized," which was the start of the Romanian culture
that is separate from the surrounding Slavic cultures

Next: Scenic Cruising II.