Ports of call in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia reveal ancient fortresses and some seriously underrated food and wine in spectactular cities, Tim Johnson writes
It sounds, and seems, like a place too grand and wild to be real. A land better suited for the silver screen. A lost corner of Middle Earth, perhaps, or a perfect lair for a Bond villain. But we’re sailing right along a border – Serbia on one bank, Romania on the other.
For example: Giurgiu , the Romanian town south of Bucharest where I board the ship. We cruise along the big, looping bends of the Danube to Vidin , a small city in the northwest corner of Bulgaria. Walking right into the heart of town, it feels like a place frozen in time, a wonderland for anyone nostalgic for Cold War times.
It’s a surprise to me. After all, I’ve never seen the Bulgaria section of the liquor store, over there beside Italy and France. But at Los Dos Alamos Winery, owner Petko Mechev confirms that they grow both well-known varietals as well as typically Bulgarian ones, like pamid. One of the world’s oldest varietals, this crisp red-yielding grapeHe notes that the area is filled with small winemakers, many of whom cultivate and create just for their own consumption.
The river narrows to about 150 metres across. Before they built massive hydroelectric dams here, roiling rapids raged. Now the river has been tamed, but the passage is no less dramatic. As steam rises all around me, so do the walls and towers of the lock, built on a Herculean scale, the huge basin dropping our ship lower and lower.
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