RITAM SRBIJE / RHYTHM OF SERBIA
HAPPY 29 TH JUNE! Show me where the Danube kisses the sky The Danube is the emperor among rivers - as eternal as the Tiber, as fertile as the Nile, as magnificent as the Mississippi, as loved as the Volga, as spirited as the Rhine. And we can’t disagree with Napoleon. Let’s head out together along the beautiful, blue Danube on the international day of this magnificent river… T here isn’t a single tavern in Serbia where you won’t sing along to gentle melodies and nos- talgic verses about the Danube. Even if you’ve never walked along its quaysides and sailed its stormy waters, you simply cannot be left feeling indifferent when musicians sing “I grew up be- side the Danube, alongside good old anglers”. Zvonko Bogdan will carry you along the river from Petrovara- din, alongside eight tamburitza players, Josipa Lisac will show you where the Danube kisses the sky, while Đorđe Balašević will apologise to the mighty river during the night when he swam across the Danube because he sim- ply had to, for love. And this is just a small selection of all the love and verses that have been dedicated to the Old Continent’s second largest river, which emerges in Germany’s beau- tiful Black Forest and flows through 10 European coun- tries. The Danube forms by the confluence of the streams of Breg and Brigach near Donaueschingen, where the castle park boasts the 19 th century Donauquelle Foun- tain that symbolises the official source of the river. From there its course carries it through Bavaria to northern Austria, then through southern Slovakia before cross- ing the entire length of Hungary from north to south, after which it reaches eastern Croatia. The Danube then makes its way into Serbia, forming part of the country’s border with Romania, before heading on to form the bor- der between Romania and Bulgaria. After flowing for 2,850 kilometres, the Danube empties into the Black Sea at the point where Romania and Ukraine meet, form- ing a delta that’s one of the most beautiful natural phe- nomena and a protected natural region that has been on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List since 1991. Throughout the course of its long history, the Dan- ube has been a place of division, but it has also long been a place unifying nations, history, love and beauty. Its un- deniable importance, beauty and uniqueness were al- ready known in ancient times. Herodotus dubbed it the greatest of rivers, while Hesiod called it the brother of the Nile. It represented the border of the Roman Em- pire, with the Germanic tribes living on the other side
GOLUBAC FORTRESS At the very entrance to the Đerdap Iron Gates Gorge, at the point where the wide, dangerous Danube most resembles a sea, and where it appears as though you could reach out with your hand and touch Romania, rises Golubac Fortress, a site dating back to the 14 th centu- ry. This fortress, with its ten towers and beauty that’s difficult to resist, both from the air and from the ground, evokes the medieval atmos- phere in a completely authentic way, while the incredible landscapes that surround it provide additional charm. Golubac is connected by a heavy chain to a rock called Baba-kaj, which rises from the river to a height of six metres and is linked to an unusual legend about a girl called Golubana, after whom this fortification was named. Talk of this girl’s stunning beauty reached the Turkish pasha, but she rejected him and the punishment she received was draconian - she was tied to the lonely rock in the water, while the people shouted to her “baba kaj, kaj” or “repent, woman”. And thus today we still know this rock as Baba-kaj, and this fortress as Golubac. ensuring that the Romans didn’t dare cross it. Back then it wasn’t even known where the source of the Danube was located, and Aristotle believed it emerged some- where in the Pyrenees… However, one Roman emper- or left traces on the Danube that can still be seen to- day. In the area of the Iron Gates Gorge, Đerdap, Trajan constructed one of the Roman Empire’s most impor- tant roads. He also built a bridge there, which was the world’s longest for almost a thousand years. Merchants and soldiers crossed the Danube for cen-
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