Golubac Fort and the Iron Gates

Golubac Fortress

The weather had been kind to us so far on this trip – blue skies and warm enough to take our coats off. That changed when we approached the Golubac Fortress. We finally had to put on our big red coats. The wind was brutal, strong enough to almost blow us off our feet.

Golubac Fortress sits right where the Danube narrows at the entrance to the Iron Gates gorge, and it’s one of those places that looks like it grew straight out of the rock. Its towers climb the steep cliff face on the Serbian side of the river, with the water stretching wide and fast below. It’s a dramatic spot for a fortress, which is exactly the point, because anyone controlling Golubac controlled traffic along this vital stretch of the Danube.

The fortress dates back to the 14th century, though it likely stands on the remains of an earlier Roman settlement. Over the centuries it became a prize fought over by competing powers, most notably the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Its position made it strategically crucial, and it changed hands many times, often after fierce sieges. One of the most significant clashes came in 1428, when a large Hungarian force tried and failed to take it from the Ottomans, ending in heavy losses.

Golubac wasn’t just about walls and watchtowers. At one point, a heavy chain was stretched across the river from the fortress to control and tax passing ships, turning the Danube into a toll road. That combination of military strength and economic control made it both powerful and highly contested.

Today, after careful restoration, Golubac Fortress has been brought back to life. Its towers, some rising directly from the water’s edge, are now accessible to visitors, offering views across the Danube and into Romania on the opposite bank. It’s no longer a battleground, but it still has that same sense of quiet authority, watching over the river as it has for centuries.

What’s particularly interesting is that after it fell into decay the main road on that side of the Danube actually went THROUGH the fortress. Although Serbia isn’t part of the EU, the EU provided most of the funds to restore Golubac – and build a tunnel through the mountain for the road traffic.

It’s an amazing place. We’ve seen a LOT of forts and castle in our travels – but this fortress is remarkable, rising as it does from the very rocks themselves.

It’s also (of course) a museum, displaying armour and weapons from over the centuries. We also got to say hello to a peregrine falcon and a European eagle owl. Col had a go at using a bow and arrows – and scored a bullseye on his second go. Go Col!

In keeping with the APT experience when we finished the fortress tour we enjoyed a meze showcasing Serbian food and wine. Followed by lunch. And later, dinner. We’re going to have to go on a diet when we get home.

The Iron Gates

That afternoon, after the obligatory nap, we sailed the Danube through the famous Iron Gates. It’s wild country, very different to the much more civilized Rhine Gorge. You get a real feel of the sheer size of this river.

Just upstream of Golubac Fortress, the Danube spreads out to one of its widest points along the whole river. It’s roughly 6 to 6.5 kilometres wide there, forming what’s known as the Golubac Gorge lake section of the Iron Gates system.

That width isn’t entirely natural anymore. The river was significantly widened and deepened after the construction of the Iron Gates dam downstream in the 20th century, which created a vast reservoir. Before that, the river was still broad at Golubac, but not quite the inland sea you see today.

It’s a striking contrast. One moment the Danube feels like an open lake, then just beyond Golubac it narrows dramatically as it enters the Iron Gates gorge, where cliffs close in and the river becomes much tighter and more imposing. Most of us braved the freezing wind on the ‘sun’ deck to take pictures of the river. At least it wasn’t raining.

Right at the Iron Gates, the standout is Mraconia Monastery, a small Romanian Orthodox monastery perched on the Danube’s edge.

It looks ancient, but the current building is relatively new, rebuilt in the 1990s after the original monastery was submerged when the Iron Gates dam created the reservoir. Set against steep cliffs and fast-moving water, it’s a peaceful, almost defiant presence in a landscape shaped by both nature and modern engineering.

Carved into the rock high above the Romanian side of the Danube in the Iron Gates gorge is the face of Decebalus, the last king of Dacia, who fought against the expanding Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan. The sculpture is enormous, about 40 metres high, and was created between 1994 and 2004 as a modern tribute rather than an ancient relic. With its stern expression gazing out over the river, it feels both imposing and slightly unexpected, a reminder of a long-vanished kingdom watching over one of Europe’s great waterways.

And then we reached the first lock beside the dam wall which took the ship down 34 metres. We’re on our way to Giurgiu, nearest port to Bucharest.

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If you’ve missed any of the posts for this trip, go here. Europe 2026