When we reached Orsova we only stopped long enough to get some dinner
and take the usual siesta. This place is on the frontier; three miles
farther down you pass out of Hungary into Roumanian territory. Had we
stayed any time we should certainly have gone to see Trajan's bridge,
about eighteen miles hence. The so-called "Iron Gates" are just below
Orsova. The designation is a misnomer, for the river ceases to be pent
up between a defile, the hills recede from the shore, and the "Gates"
are merely ledges of rock peculiarly difficult for navigation. Orsova is
celebrated as the place where the regalia of Hungary were concealed by
Kossuth and his friends from 1849 to 1853. The iron chest which held the
palladium of the kingdom, the sacred crown of St Stephen, was buried in
a waste spot, covered with willows, not far from the road. There is a
somewhat Oriental look about Orsova. In the market-place there is a
profusion of bright-coloured stuffs, prayer-carpets, and Turkish
slippers. A narrow island of no great length, just below Orsova, is
still held by the Turks. There is a small mosque with minarets visible
amongst a group of the funeral cypress-tree, so characteristic of the
presence of the Turk.
Our road to Mehadia was away from the river, following instead the lead
of a lateral valley. As we drove out of Orsova we passed a lot of
Wallack huts forming a kind of suburb. These huts are built of wattles
stuccoed with mud, always having on one side of the dwelling a space
enclosed by stockades some ten feet high; this is a necessary protection
for their animals against the depredations of wolves and bears, which
abound here.
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