At kilometer 2,419.2 (remaining distance of the river until it flows into the Black Sea – strangely, the distance signs are measured from the end to the source and not as expected, from the source to the end), we came across another highlight of our journey:
..Danube River Gorge (Donaudurchbruch)
This impressive gorge was created entirely by the force of nature as a result of millions of years of water finding its way through the area.
We didn’t know exactly where the Danube Gorge was and it presented itself to us as a bit of a surprise - a welcome surprise!
Approaching the Monastery of Weltenburg, founded in 620 AD with its Abbey Church famous for its Baroque décor which was built between 1716 and 1751, we could see signposts proposing different ways to pass or bypass the gorge.
..Way one..
Up the 15% steep hill, and down the other side = little appeal to Rebecca and secretly, the same for me!
..Way two..
Cross the river at Weltenburg by ferry and take the cycle/footpath along the other side to Kelheim = the ferryman and his ferry were still hibernating and haven’t started the season yet!
..Way three..
Hop on a river cruiser which takes you 6 kms down the river to Kelheim, including a hot coffee, shelter from the rain and a running documentary all the way = that ticked all the boxes for us!
..And we didn't get disappointed..
The river cruiser, with a capacity for approx. 300 people was not popular on this wet and grey Monday afternoon! Approximately a dozen of passengers and two very dirty bikes boarded the ship and from those passengers, only three felt motivated and brave enough to go upstairs and step outside on to the 'sundeck' to enjoy the view without the reflection of windows. Needless to say two out of the three were us!
The views down the gorge were fantastic! This gorge is the narrowest and deepest part of the Danube river. In some places, only 80m wide and the water is up to 20m deep.
Along this narrowest part, called the Long Wall, a total of 65 iron rings have been fastened to the rock. In former centuries, the boatsmen were equipped with boat hooks and pulled themselves through the gorge, against the current, from one ring to the next.
Before the time of using the iron rings, to get the barges through the narrows, horses were pulling the boats up to the Long Wall, where the towpath was ending.
From the Monastery upstream, where the next horses were waiting, a rope was floated attached to bales of straw in front of the narrows, so that the barges could be pulled through the Danube gorge.
Further down the gorge, we sailed pass the ‘Wipfelsfurt’, a circular basin with a diameter of approximately 150m which was created about 15 million years ago, when a meteorite hit the ground and formed a crater.
There was also the ‘Bee-hive’ which is a rock face where the discolorations show the different water levels the gorge had over the years. One can clearly see how high the water went through the gorge during ‘The flood of a century’ in 1999. At that time, the water level was 5m higher than at mean water level!
Once pass the ‘Kloesterl’, a small church in a cave where in the 14th century a Franciscan hermit used to live, our arrival in Kelheim was crowned with the views of the 'Liberation Hall' high above Kelheim.
King Ludwig I of Bavaria ordered the Liberation Hall to be built in order to commemorate the victories against Napoleon during the Wars of Liberation that lasted from 1813 to 1815.
Embedded into the marbled floor of the Hall are King Ludwigs' words:
May the Germans never forget what made necessary the Struggle for Freedom and by what means they won.
And so, our Danube river cruise came to an end and our wet ride on our bikes had to be continued!
It was a short but great intermezzo of our journey! Only downside of our river cruise: those were the most expensive 6 kilometers we’ve travelled so far…
Cruising is really the only way to travel!