stegosaurus

This post is about a 27km walk from Kladovo to Drobeta-Turnu Severin. I cross the border from Serbia to Romania via the Iron Gate I dam.

When I go to the supermarket in the morning to buy some provisions (mostly bananas, bread, and ayvar), I see a huge dude with a slogan on the back of his shirt: raised in the streets / the realest people don’t have a lot of friends / never trust nobody.

fortresses like dolls

I decide not to go directly to the border. First I want to see the 16th century Fetislam fortress. It’s currently under renovation, and its gate is not wide enough for the Caboose. It takes me a bit of walking around its walls to find another point of entry. Inside there is a sports ground and a football field.

The fortress itself is like a matryoshka doll: there are the outer walls and the inner walls, and then there are the walls of the fortress itself. And within the fortress, there are more walls. I walk around for a little while. The renovations have been funded by the European Union.

wind

The way to the border is windy. It’s exclusively headwind, and of course I take it personally. Why do you keep pushing me around? I ask, just like I have asked so many times before in the Gobi desert.

When I get to the border there’s a long line of cars and trucks. I decide to walk past all of them. There’s a uniformed man at the border who extends his hand toward me and says: “passport!” I feel a bit nervous. Will the permission that Aleksandra got from Belgrade really work?

oh dam

A few minutes later I am on the Iron Gates I dam that forms the border of Serbia and Romania. I am alone. Only occasionally a car zooms by. The water of the Danube is much higher on one side than on the other. I can hear it splashing down from the vents of the dam. A few trucks are waiting on the other side. I ask one of the drivers to take a photo of me and the Caboose.

Then we cross the border to Romania, the 12th country on The Longest Way.

pictures

walk from Kladovo to Drobeta-Turnu Severin:

Mrs. Mladenovic

Mladenovic Apartments

renovations funded by the EU

entry to the Fetislam fortress

inscription

inner walls of the Fetislam fortress

Fetislam fortress

sports ground

more walls

memorial that has something to do with a bus

memorial

more works funded by the EU

roadside memorial

memorial

Iron Gate I hydroelectric power plant

yet another memorial

the road to walk from Kladovo to the border

memorial

road to the border

Iron Gate I dam

on the dam

reaching Romania

The Longest Way on the Iron Gate I dam

Romania

Romanian flag

train bridge

be like this tree

the road from the border to Drobeta-Turnu Severin

Jesus at a roundabout

Corona Hotel billboard

empty swimming pool

found a stegosaurus

model of Trajan’s Bridge in Drobeta-Turnu Severin