In 1993 a Romanian businessman commissioned a giant head, 40 meters tall, to be carved out of stone to commemorate the last king to fall to the Romans. While some would say the stunning beauty of the Danube as it passes through the Iron Gates, a mix of dramatic rock and now real iron, or more likely steel, dams, is sufficiently dramatic beauty, this extra touch of modern absurdity entertained me for most of today’s 114KM ride.
We left our scenic guesthouse, overlooking the Danube and just past the first fortress marking the entrance to the Iron Gates, a little after 8. The scenery immediately turned dramatic, as the road on the Serbian side clung the cliffs of the coast. Many kayaks and tour boats were already on their way downstream to take in the sights from the center section.
I knew we were in for a long flat ride, the former being an intended function of the latter, and we sped through the first 20km / 12.5 miles. Most of our predicted elevation turned out to be data errors caused by topo readings near any of the 11 tunnels on our route, so we were even faster than anticipated and stopped for a burek and yogurt at 50km / 31.1 miles.
Philipp flagged down the only other cycle tourist we saw today, an Israeli man who was adamant that we avoid the Romanian side of the river further down, due to 1. distance of route from river (we agreed having seen this on maps) 2. superiority of Bulgarian food, 3. superior tidiness/less poverty of Bulgarian neighborhoods, and 4. lack of climbing. He warned us of the climb to come later in our day and sped off.
Luckily, the climb was less than 200 meters, and the stunning sculpture man came into full view, providing infinite distraction from the incline!
About this time the storms rolled in, so we switched order and I drafted off Philipp as we set a brisk pace for the last 30km / 18.6 miles of the day, stopping only to rescue a turtle who was traversing the road. Into Kladovo dry and in time for an ice cream and some route planning. Despite the Israeli’s warnings, we’ve decided to abandon the Eurovelo 6 to the Black Sea, and seek instead the cooler weather (we hope) and more scenic views (we’re pretty sure) of some of the mountain passes in Transsylvania. And if we happen to pass the Dracula castle, so be it…
Total distance/elevation to date: 5132km/41’953m
Rest days: 18
Route and Stats
Relive Video
The 1948 Tour 
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