The Danube at Drobeta is a river that has just come out of a gorge and is not yet sure what to do with its freedom. Upstream, it squeezes through the Iron Gates, the great rock gorge between the Carpathians and the Balkans, and the water here has the heavy, slow look of something that has been pent up. Drobeta-Turnu Severin lies just below the dams, a city of about a hundred thousand, and on its riverbank are the stones of a very old story.
In the early second century AD, the Roman emperor Trajan wanted to invade Dacia, the kingdom on the north bank. His engineer, Apollodorus of Damascus, built a bridge of timber on stone piers across the Danube here, over a kilometre long, and for more than a thousand years it was the longest bridge in the world. Only the foundations of its piers can now be seen at low water, and a few ruins on the Romanian bank, but the memory is powerful. The Roman fort and baths of Drobeta stand beside the museum, and the Tabula Traiana, a carved Roman inscription, was moved when the dams were built. Farther west, a huge face of the Dacian king Decebalus has been carved in the rock above the river at Dubova, an astonishing sight from the road.
The road along the Danube gorge, past Orsova and through the Cazane defile, is among the most dramatic in Romania. It twists along the cliff, with the river and the Serbian bank across the water, and tunnels and viaducts add variety. Surfaces vary, traffic can be heavy with trucks, and in summer the roads fill with tourists. Early morning is peaceful and the light is lovely. Stay alert on the blind corners.
Drobeta-Turnu Severin has fuel, hotels and good restaurants, and Simian, just to the south, is a handy little town. Fish from the Danube, grilled or in soup, is a regional speciality, and a dry white wine from Mehedinti is the right companion. Spring and autumn are comfortable, and summer can be hot and still.