A day of cruising and enjoying the magnificent sights of the Iron Gates in Serbia

The Iron Gates of the Danube River originally consisted of four narrow gorges and three wide basins spread over several miles of the river dividing Romania and Serbia. Some people consider the 140km stretch of the river to be the Iron Gates, but most define it as just the section with the four narrow gorges. The term "Iron Gate" was first used by The Times of London in an 1853 article about this section of the river.

In the 1960's the government built a huge lock and dam to help control the speed of the river and make navigating this section of the Danube River safer. Before the Danube River was dammed, commercial river boats transferring goods up and down the river dreaded having to navigate the rapids of the narrow Iron Gates section of the river. Today, the river flowing through the Iron Gates is peaceful, and it is 130 feet higher than before the dam and power station was built. The effect of the dam can be felt on the river for over 100 miles; and two locks, spread more than 50 miles apart, anchor each end of the Iron Gates. Over 23,000 citizens living along the river had to be resettled after the dam was completed.

Tabula Traiana is a memorial plaque on the Serbian side erected to commemorate the construction of a military road by Roman Emperor Trajan to move supplies to his troops in Dacia. The construction of the road in the rugged mountain terrain was considered a feat at the time. The current position of the plaque is not its original one; it was moved 50m higher due to the flooding of the original location when the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station was constructed in the 1960s.

Just across from Tabula Triana, the rock sculpture of Decebalus, the Dacian king and rival of Roman Emperor Trajan, was built over ten years and completed in 2004. This 40m high sculpture is the largest rock sculpture in Europe. Decebalus was the last Dacian king and he lost to Trajan and the Roman Empire in 106 AD.