Fall on the Danube River

Driving to the Danube River

We left Timisoara on a chilly Friday morning. The weekend was reserved for photo shooting in nature. In mid October fall is at its best so capturing on camera the kaleidoscope of colors on hills’ slides and mountains couldn’t have been a better topic for our outing.

After a pleasant three hour drive we reached our first stop: Cazane. This is a place on the Danube where the river becomes significantly narrower and where in the past (before the “Iron Gates” dam was built) water used to rush through so fast that the river seemed to be boiling – hence the name Cazane which stands for Boilers.

The perfect day for a boat trip on the Danube!

We started with a leisurely boat trip on the Danube enjoying the warmth of the sun rays. We stopped to take pictures in two caves. The first was Veterans’ Cave, a natural “house” which believed that has been inhabited even 4000 years ago. It’s quite accessible and offers good shelter from bad weather or enemies. The second one, Ponicova Cave, is harder to access from the Danube: one enters by boat through a crack in the mountains and from there the exploration of its almost 2km of galleries can start.

Ciucarul Mare Peak- Best Spot to See the Danube

To end the day on a high note we climbed up on the Ciucarul Mare peak and there we found it: the perfect view. One could see both the Romanian and the Serbian sides of the Danube, the river passing through the narrower segment, and all the colored trees still swaying in the breeze while the sun was slowly setting. As the night approached we had an additional element for the perfect picture: the full moon bathing in its blue light the whole area.

This is an example of the pictures we all took in awe at the impressive view.

To climb down we had to take out our headlights and walk behind each other through the forest. The stories from the day started and continued well into the evening over a delicious fish dinner.