Top of the World
On the right bank of the Danube, on a rugged rock overlooking the waters of the majestic river, stands Golubac Fortress, a 14th-century medieval fortification. Located at the center of powerful medieval states, Golubac Fortress served an important defensive function. Over the centuries it was ruled by Serbs, Hungarians, and Turks, who remained within its ramparts for the longest time. For centuries the Danube was the dividing line between the Ottoman and Hungarian empires first, and between Turkish and Habsburg later. Muslims on one side, Christians on the other. Today, 588 kilometers of its 2850 still run through it into Serbia, and there are no less than five (six, if you also count Bač, a bit further away) massive fortresses on it. Among them one still "watches over" a border, that with Romania, near the point where the river becomes so wide that it looks like a sea. At the height of the town of Golubac in fact as many as 7km divide the Serbian bank from the Romanian one, narrowing then rather abruptly to the south under the watchful gaze of the fortress of the same name (Tvrđava Golubački grad), an obligatory point of passage to access the Iron Gates, or Djerdap canyon. The fortress walls are adapted to the extreme configuration of the terrain and drop steeply from top to bottom. At the top of the ridge is a keep, called a "hat tower" because of its unusual shape. Two rows of stone walls descending from the keep connect eight square towers that served for defense and guarding. The view from the Golubac fortress stretches for miles, making it an ideal place for a romantic dip in the colors of the sunset reflected in the Danube.
