It departs from Drobeta Turnu-Severin on the DJ607B towards the village of Breznita-Ocol and we keep the county road towards Jidoştiţa commune. The route is on the asphalt to the intersection with the road to Schit at the exit from Jidoştiţa commune. From here we head towards the 7 km of macadam route and climb the forest to the Upper Schitul, a hamlet hidden among the trees in the Mehedinţi Plateau. Coming to the hermitage, we visit the area and rest on our way back to Drobeta Turnu-Severin.

The hydropower system „Iron Gates I” and the Navigation System, which is a symbol of the Romanian energetic industry and which is the result of the Romanian-Yugoslav collaboration, was inaugurated on May 16, 1972. The Museum of the Iron Gates I Hydro Power Station was opened in 1976 and presents the general characteristics of the Danube, hydrological data, material evidence of human settlements in the region.

The museum exhibits folk costumes specific to the Iron Gates region and a water mill considered to be the precursor of the modern turbine, Pelton.

The biological diversity, the complexity of the geological substrate and the cultural values make the Iron Gates region a place with a scientific reputation internationally. The Iron Gates Gorge is considered to be an open-air geological museum. There is a variety of magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Because of the avifaunistic wealth, the Danube course in the Portile de Fier area was declared Sit Natura 2000.

The trip to the „Iron Gates I” Hydropower Museum ends with the Turbin Hall, where the visitor can admire the six Kaplan turbines, each with an installed capacity of 194.5 MW.

Address: Bulevardul Carol 2, Drobeta-Turnu Severin 220111

Telephone: 0372 528 828

Trajan’s Bridge or Apollodor Bridge built above the Danube was a Roman bridge, the first bridge built over the Lower Danube. Although it was functional for only a few decades, for over 1,000 years it was the longest arched bridge.

The bridge was built in 105 AD. at the request of Emperor Trajan, by the Greek architect Apollodor in Damascus for the passage of Roman troops and supplies during the conquest of Dacia.

The bridge was east of the Iron Gates near the cities of today Drobeta-Turnu Severin in Romania and Kladovo in Serbia.

The structure was 1,135 m long (now the Danube has a width of 800 m in this area), the width of 15 m and the height of 19 m, measured from the surface of the river. At each end there was a Roman camp, each built around an entrance, so that the passage of the bridge was possible only by passing through the camps.

The bridge engineer, Apollodor of Damascus, used wood arches, each 38m wide, set on twenty brick masonry pillars, mortar and Pozzolan cement. The bridge was built unusually quickly (between 103 and 105).

This face with a 40-meter-high stone beard, overlooking the Danube River, looks like something coming directly from the fictional Middle Earth of British writer J.R.R. Tolkien. In reality, however, it is the recent creation of a Romanian businessman.

This monumental portrait of Decebal is the original idea of Joseph Constantin Dragan, a businessman and historian.

It is situated on the Romanian side of the Danube, right across Tabula Traiana, a memorial of the Romans conquest of Dacia.

At its 40 meters, it is the highest rock sculpture in Europe and lasted 10 years (from 1994 to 2004) for a team of 12 sculptors to complete it.

The Danube’s Cauldrons have two bottlenecks – the Big Boilers and the Small Boilers. They are certainly the most impressive part of the Danube Gorge.

Prior to the construction of the Iron Gates Dam (Iron Gate Barrier) in this area, the entire flow of the Danube flowed through the narrow bed creating cataracts. The waters created choices that seemed to boil, hence the name of boilers.

The Danube’s Cauldrons are included in the Iron Gates Natural Park. The park’s symbols are the towers of Tricle, the Cazane’s tulip and the fossils of an ammonite. Of course, they refer to the three characteristics of the park: historical, botanical and geological.

The Danube’s Cauldrons Region is one of the 18 natural protected areas of the Portile de Fier Natural Park.

The entire area of the Danube’s Cauldrons, between the confluence of the Danube with the Plavisevita and Ogradena streams, measures 9 km.

The location is located in the Danube Gorge in the Danube boilers area, on the Mracuna Valley (which means „hidden place” or „dark water”) where an ancient monastery existed until 1967.

During the construction of the „Iron Gates I” hydroelectric power station, the monastery was sacrificed because the basin flooded the ruins of the place, swallowing them entirely, so it was named by the locals „the underwater monastery.” When the water level descends, the ancient ruins of the monastery can be seen with the naked eye.

Over the centuries, it was also known as the Monastery of the Danube Valley or the Old Ogradena Monastery, a village in Mehedinţi County that was also flooded by the waters of the Danube Basin.

In 1931 the monastery was rebuilt and, due to the intense activity of the monk Alexe Udrea, was tiled in 1947 only to be destroyed again in 1967 by the Danube’s waters as the Iron Gates rose. In 1993, Metropolitan Nestor Vorniceanu began the second reconstruction of the monastery patronized by St. Archangels Michael and Gavriil and the Holy Trinity. The works were completed in 1999-2000.

The church is built in the shape of a cross and is divided into an altar, nave, pro-nave and an open portal. The structure of the building is made of brick walls.

A series of two-story galleries, totaling more than 1,600 meters in length, form one of the most interesting and, surprisingly, one of the least known caves in Romania.

Ponicova cave has three entrances. At the main one can be reached; the second is located at the main entrance, on the vertical limestone wall, accessible by booster in the forest above. The third is both entry and exit, depending on how you look at things, opening up into the wide left bank of the Great Casinos of the Danube.

A short climb on a muddy slope leads to a series of labyrinthical galleries and rooms filled with delicate cave formations.

It has everything cave lovers hope to find – huge stalactites and stalagmites, columns, narrow tunnels, mound holes, chandeliers, rock formations and terraced cave pools. And a lot of bats.

Address: 106A Tudor Vladimirescu Blvd.

Phone: 0743 128 658

Address: Strada Portului 1, Drobeta-Turnu Severin 220234

Telephone: 0372 528 828

The „Danube On 2 Wheels” Project is co-financed by the European Union though the European Regional Development Fund, within the INTERREG V-A Romania – Bulgaria Programme.
The total eligible value of the project is EUR 497.713,26, of which EUR 423.056,25 represents the value of the European Union contribution through the European Regional Development Fund.

The content of this website does not necessarily represent the official position of the European Union. The initiators of the site are the sole responsibles for the information provided through the site.
www.interregrobg.eu

Route Drobeta Turnu-Severin – Schitu de Sus

Touristic objectives in area

Museum of the Iron Gates Hydro-power Museum, Department of the Iron Gate Region Museum in Drobeta Turnu Severin

Continental Hotel, Drobeta-Turnu Severin

Foot of Trajan’s Bridge

The rock sculpture of Decebalus

Danube’s Cauldrons

Mraconia Monastery

Ponicoava Cave

Corona Hotel

Danube’s Spell Garden Restaurant

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0371.015.145

Level – Beginners
Distance – 43 km
Total vertical climb – 700 m
Surface – 36 km of asphalt and 7 km of macadam
Bicycle Type – Race / MTB

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