Walk No. 11 A second walk above the Danube
You arrive to Cluj Napoca airport. You will have a FREE guided tour in the city, depending on your flight hours. Transfer to Baile Herculane where you will spend the night.
The Iron Gates are the most beautiful section of the ancient Danube. After flowing across Germany, Austria and Hungary, the mighty river forms here the border between Serbia and Romania. In 1970 the Danube was dammed with the construction of the famous Iron Gare dam between Serbia and Romania, and water levels rose with 40 meters, so what you see now is a huge, long lake between the two rocky sides. We are now on the Romanian side, after a scenic drive and some stops to take pictures, we start our hike at the edge of Dubova village. On a huge plateau, which ends abruptly and drops 300 meters to he water. after half an hour’s of very easy walking you stand just ont he top of the white cliffs with very beautiful views of the Great Kazan Gorges. White limestone cliffs, with the mighty Danube down there, opposite you see the Serbian side and the sheer rock face of Velki Stirbac/The Great Strbac at 768 m altitude. You walk all the way arount the rim enjoying the very beautiful Danube panoramas and you end with the majestic view of Dubova bay. (Very easy circular walk, Duration 2 hours, distance: 3 km. Altitude up: 200m, down: 200m.) After this hike we usually arrange for a boat trip on the Danube, visiting the famous landmarks: the two millenia old Tabula Traiana, the impressive rock statue-head of Decebal, the Mraconia monastery perched on a rock just above the water, the cave of Veterani. You will pass through both the Small and Big Danube Gorges, and you can admire the huge rock faces from the boat as well.