Day 33- Moldova to Orsova - 99.1 kms

30 Jun

Today started a little later as we had breakfast at the hotel at 7.00am.The breakfast was scrambled eggs but it was more like an omelette.

The morning was beautiful and the hotel we we’re staying at was perched on the top of a rise with a lovely view of the Danube. The Danube near here widens significantly to be more like a lake.

After saying goodbye to our very kind host Corina we were off on the ride at a little after 8.15 am.... gee a late start for a change.

The ride today took us through gorge country where the Danube winds it’s way through some hilly country with sheer limestone hills.

The gradients were not great apart from 2 hills towards the end of the ride.

Most of the day the weather was in the mid 20’s although on the climbs at the end it seemed that the temperatures were higher.

We made very good time and were at the halfway point at about 50 kms in what seemed to be no time and celebrated with a drink and coffee at lovely restaurant on the side of the road that looked out over the Danube... the hosts were terrific and we enjoyed coffee ( tea as usual for Chris) and a freshly made lemonade... very refreshing.

After the break it was on further up the road where we saw plenty of the locals out enjoying the day. A big activity seems to be fishing where we saw mostly men seated on the banks of the Danube, camping and fishing.

Seems that there are very few women doing this....

The men seemed to be very relaxed often with a beer on the table at the early hours of the morning....

At the 90 km point we stopped for a drink and salad before tackling the big climbs. The cafe we stopped at seemed quite fashionable and in a quite up market area

The climbs were quite short and sharp... about 2 kms for the first and about 1.5 kms for the second. In both cases there was a lovely downhill to cool off and get our breath back

We arrived at Orsova at about 3.00 pm and found a cafe for a drink( bitter lemon) and an ice cream.... I must admit I have never had so much ice cream and bitter lemon in my life but is sure refreshes on hot days.

The apartment we are staying in at Orsova is very large and spuwith 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a family room.... such space we have never had before all for $50 Aussie a night

After having a shower we organised to go on a boat trip up the river to have a look at the gorge and some of the sights. It covered some of the territory that we had covered on our ride , but it was good to see from the river.

The trip took about an hour and the speedboat was filled with local Romanians who were interested in what we were doing.

After the boat ride we found a local cafe beside the river for dinner.... we shared a huge mixed grill with chips which we both could not finish

It was a good way to finish another day on the trip

Now for the photos....

Chris with our host ( Corine) in Moldova after breakfast...