That fairy tale impression continued to occupy my mind even when we were met in front of the fortress by the knights of the Order of the Drag- on, four of them dressed in knight- ly garb. What they would recount to us about the fortress was partly praise for incredible human cour- age – the battles that were fought here and the fortified town that re- mained unconquered – and partly the story of the legends linked with this place, starting with those relat- ed to the name... It would thus turn out that my imaginings about an impris- oned princess weren’t far from the truth – okay, that’s according to one of the legends that has it that a Byzantine princess called He- lena was imprisoned in the high- est tower and passed the time feed- ing pigeons. Our knight guides say that this story isn’t even close to the truth about the origins of the name Golubac, as it is much more likely that the pigeon became a symbol of this place simply because these birds never leave the fortress. Nonethe- less, even if it is true that the cred- it for the name belongs to resident pigeons, there is a much more ap- pealing story that has been recount- ed in this area since bygone times about a beautiful girl called Golu- bana, who refused to join the har- em of the Ottoman agha. To punish her and force her to repent, the cruel Ottoman officer had her tied to a rock in the mid- dle of the Danube. The unfortunate girl was shackled to the rock and died there, while her captor’s words “Baba, kaj se” [Baba, repent] echoed across the Danube, which is why that rock is still called Babakaj to this day, and the fortress is called Golubac in honour of that coura- geous girl. It isn’t entirely clear why he would have referred to this beau- ty as baba [grandmother], while it is interesting that ‘baba kaya’ can also be translated from Turkish as ‘father’s rock’, which again has no connection to the recounted tale... Legends aside, who actually con- structed Golubac Fortress really re- mains a mystery to this day, with
GOLUBAC, ĐERDAP, THE HISTORY OF CIVILISATION Stone guardian of the Iron Gates The history of mankind, natural extremes, whirlpools and sheer cliffs, indelible traces of history, dragons and princesses imprisoned in towers... The Đerdap ‘Iron Gates’ Gorge has it all
IF YOU HAVE A FEW FREE DAYS TO SPARE , hop aboard a boat in Belgrade and embark on a voyage down the Danube all the way to the end of Serbia, where you are await- ed by one of the cradles of modern civilisation, traces of Roman archi- tectural achievements, the coun- try’s largest national park, one of the most beautiful fortresses and much more. Following the course of the river along the route, you’ll come across all of its sites of pow- erful beauty, of which there are too many to count and describe them all. But if you have only one day, as I did, catch a bus instead. After just a two-hour drive, you’ll arrive in one of Serbia’s most beautiful and famous destinations, where you can almost reach out and touch Roma- nia. Well, if you have a miraculous arm that’s around six kilometres long, which is how wide the Dan- ube is at this point, which is actu- ally the widest point along its en- tire course from the Black Forest to the Black Sea. If you snoozed a little on the bus, you’ll get the impression that you haven’t even woken up. Or at least that you’re having a waking dream. Because right there at the en-
trance to the Đerdap Gorge, where the Iron Gates have preserved the history of these lands for centuries, you’ll get the impression that you’ve arrived at the seaside. As I stand in amazement at the scene of an ex- panse of gently rippling water that calls me to swim on a warm day, my gaze turns slowly towards the en- trance to the gorge... Along the entire, almost-3,000- kilometre-long, course of the Dan- ube, it’s unlikely that there’s a more dramatic contrast in its character than right here at the entrance to this gorge, where the gentle river begins forcing its way through the rock of the Carpathians, narrowing abruptly to barely a few hundred metres. No surprise, then, that it was right here that one of the most impressive medieval fortifications along the entire Danube – Golubac Fortress – arose. It might sound totally cliché, but the view of the renovated for- tress really is breath-taking. It re- sembles a scene from a fairy tale, and the thought immediately crossed my mind that there must be a princess imprisoned in one of its highest tow- ers, busily plaiting a long braid of her own hair in an attempt to escape.
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