Sailing the Iron Gate

 

Entering the Iron Gates

The Danube is 1777 miles Long and runs through 10 countries. The Iron Gate dam allows navigation through this region. Before the dam was built, it took 4 ½ days to navigate what takes 4 hours today. Yugoslavia and Romania cooperated on this project and the first lock opened in 1972.Twenty thousand people, highways, and railroads had to be moved to make room for the 100 km. lake.

Mraconia Monastery

The region has several gorges which make a picturesque scene.  Highlights of the area are the sculpture of Decebalus, the Domitian King that fought the Romans and the stone tablet, commemorating the Roman bridge that crossed the Danube here.

Decebolus, the Daltian King

Living under Communism

Our trip leaders discussed the life their families led under communism.

Bojan lived in Yugoslavia. That meant that everyone had a steady job, free Healthcare, and you received an apartment based on your family size., 80% of the population were middle class, crime was minimal. We had Levi jeans, Coke, and the ability to travel.  But that all changed, after Tito’s death. Inflation was rampant. Fuel was hard to find, there were lines for groceries, you could travel for good reasons, but not as an entire family, someone had to stay home.

Mihai grew up in Romania. At first Nicolai Ceausescu was a hero because he condemned the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia during the 1968 Prague Spring. Later, his administration decided to pay off their Soviet loans which resulted in shortages of food, fuel, and electricity. Far worse, however, was the secret police and their informers. You could only express your opinions in the safety of your own home. After the fall of Communism, the archives were opened, and you could find who informed on you.

Isabela was only 5 years old when Communism fell in Romania, but she remembers all the posters of Ceausescu , it felt like he was always watching. When her mother bought her a new dress, they had a choice of two in the shops. Her grandparents owned a farm but lost it, with the threat of the family being sent to a labor camp. Her father worked in a soap factory, they were able to travel in Romania and traded bars of soap for food and rooms.

Christian remembers at Christmas, they would get oranges, the smell of Christmas. At Yalta, Europe was divided among the Allies. While Western Europe eventually was restored by the Marshall Plan, Romania experienced the Soviet plan: their aircraft factory was packed up and the building became a tractor factory. His grandfather’s farm was confiscated to form a collective. There were two hours of TV daily, mostly news. The only American TV was ‘Dallas’ allowed by the government to demonstrate the weaknesses of capitalism. That backfired, the show was very popular.