Beyond the once formidable Iron Gates
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2007
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88
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Trip End
Oct 01, 2007
Drobeta-Turnu Severin,
Romania
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Now most people that cross into Romania from the western borders make a beeline for Transylvania. Nothing against the place, as it's fascinating, beautiful and well worth anyone's time, but I've already seen a good chunk of it and feel like I should try something new. And if there's one area of Romania that gets regularly ignored, it's the southern regions of Oltenia and Muntenia - the two parts of historic Wallachia. Some of it is perhaps for good reason: a lot of the terrain is more boring (heavy on flat plains) and many of the cities bore the heaviest brunt of Ceaușescu's grotesque industrialization and systematization schemes. But there are some intriguing sights around, even if they often struggle to steal the limelight back from places like Transylvania, Southern Bucovina and Maramureș
01: The Danube and industry from my hotel window
. In my book though, it's that very absence of tourists that makes a visit attractive . . . well, that and simple curiosity (which tends to rule my travel decisions more than anytthing else).I first had it in mind to stop off in Băile Herculane, a former Habsburg spa town in the mountains southeast of Timișoara. I ended up changing plans due to simply being cramped on time somewhat; there's a fair bit I want to see down in Wallachia, and I intend to be in Bucharest by Sunday at the latest. So wading around in crumbling historic baths got cut, simply due to logistics. Another time perhaps. Instead, I stopped off in the small Danubian city of Drobeta-Turnu Severin, a rather laidback place that sits facing the hills and villages of Serbia just across the water. Given its location just 10km away from the largest dam in Romania (and the Balkans, I believe), I expected it to be a rather unsightly, industrial place. Fortunately though, it's far more pleasant, with many backstreets of attractive Romanian-vernacular houses.
As with most towns in the country, Turnu Severin saw a period of "rationalization" under Communism. A fair-sized swathe of the center was cleared and replaced with ugly modern buildings, but even amongst the bland Centru Civic touches of the old city have survived. All around that core though are countless residential plots, the vast majority of which are nicely simple and historic. The city is laid out on a grid of sorts, with some uniquely-positioned gardens and plazas throwing a few curves into the mix
02: Iron Gates Museum
. Apart from the aforementioned "downtown" and a few boulevards further out, the crumbling concrete tower blocks characteristic of Romanian cities are mostly absent. The outskirts lining the rail tracks on the way in are predictably hideous and industrial, but overall the place still has the feel of the provincial, riverside town it once was.All that said, there really isn't a whole lot to see. Most of the sights are in a ruined state: an old fortress and accompanying church, the foundations of another, more ancient church, and - going back even further - the remnants of Roman Castrum Drobeta and the remains of a couple pillars of the once great Trajan Bridge linking the empire to Dacia. It was via this bridge that the Roman legions invaded and crushed the state of Dacia in the 2nd century AD. The subsequent town of Drobeta grew out of the military fort first established to guard that same bridge. And, much later on, Ceaușescu found the addition of the old Roman town's name to that of the Oltenian city Turnu Severin a rather convenient way of reinforcing Romania's Latin origins. Ah, the odd things done in the name of hyper-nationalism!
There are a few churches lingering about on the backstreets of the town, an early 20th-century water castle that looks a fair bit older from a distance, and even a synagogue (that has certainly seen better days). Strangely, the workmen at the latter acted very suspicious when I came up for a closer look and then insisted that I not take pictures
03: Ratty old Romanian train passing by
. Not sure why exactly, since it's one of the more interesting historic structures extant in the city. On another end of town, I stumbled upon the handsome white Church of St. John the Baptist, built in the late 19th century as a copy of the more famous Episcopal Church in Curtea de Argeș (which I'll be visiting in a few days' time). A young guy sitting inside went out of his way to give me a private tour of the place (in Romanian) when I stepped in, which was a very nice gesture, I must say.Unfortunately, what is arguably the biggest "sight" in town - the Museum of the Iron Gates - was closed today. In one of my sloppier miscalculations, I neglected to consider that I would be coming to Drobeta-Turnu Severin today on a Monday (and everyone knows that's siesta day for European museums!). Oops. Sadly, I'm going to have to miss it altogether - along with its scale model of the ancient Trajan Bridge - as the only reasonable direct bus to my next destination (Târgu Jiu) leaves at 6:15 in the morning tomorrow. I also had it in mind to visit the Iron Gates Dam itself, but the brutal heat kept me down by the time I might have been up for it mid-afternoon. I got a pretty thorough look at the place on the way in though, and really a dam is a dam is a dam. Japan's got plenty and I can't imagine it keeping me engaged for more than a half-hour. That's not really enough to justify the hassle of getting out there from here by public transport (a process that I was never able to completely figure out). So no pictures of the big dam, folks!
Anyhow, a mildly interesting first step into Oltenia. I retreat a little ways into the mountains for the day in Târgu Jiu tomorrow, which is welcome. The forecast is not looking good at the moment - highs of 38-40°C predicted for this area of the country across the week. It's going to be a hot, sweaty slog across Wallachia, methinks.
