The Danube's Boilers Seen from Above The Cliffs

What once used to be a challenging course for cargo ships on their journey towards the Black Sea, sailing the deep and sometimes calm waters of the old Danube, is now a majestic place to be and cross through, an important touristic attraction in the area and one of my favorite places in Romania.

Although the Danube is of about 2,850 kilometres in length, its ties and turns, surrounding cliffs, and depth are not the same everywhere. In some places it looks like a gentle water stream, in others has formed gorgeous waterfalls and in the Danube's Boilers area, the water gets to 120 meters deep and the currents that are forming are strong enough to spin your boat in circles if you turn off your engine.

The location were this footage was taken is near the village called Dubova, in the South-West of Romania, where the tightest point between the borders of Serbia in Romania marks the small entrance into the Dnube's Boilers. We're talking about 230 meters between the two rocky shores, and as I said, a strong water current.

The water level wasn't that high and the depth wasn't the same either, some fifty years ago, before the construction of the Iron Gates, which is an artificially built dam designed to produce electricity. Back in the days, before the construction of the dam, cargo ships traffic was a nightmare through this area and sometimes took up to 40 hours to a giant one to pass through this devil's gate, and involved trains pulling the ships and also the help of the locals.

Where does the name of the Danube's Boilers comes from?

From the boiling effect that the water had, and sometimes is to be seen these days as well, from the stream of the water hitting the shore's rocks. Creating such strong currents and vortexes the locals named the area The Danube's Boilers, due to that boiling effect.

Nowadays cargo ships are way better equipped, the water level is higher and there*s basically no challenge at all to pass through the area. During spring and summer it's flooded by passenger boats that carry tens of thousands of tourists eager to visit the attractions that the area has to offer.

In this video we recorded the sightings, above the cliffs at about 400 meters from water lever, and it's close surroundings. The drone has been lifted from the Romanian shore, but you can clearly see at the beginning of the video on the left side, the Serbian shore, and throughout the video you will have the chance to have a glimpse of the gorgeous landscape around here. Hope you will like it.

Credits for the soundtrack go to Johann Strauss, who dedicated this sweet musical piece for our beloved Danube. Have a great day!

Thanks for attention,
Adrian