Feature: Welcome to Danube's Iron Gates

The International Danube Day in Serbia on Monday offered the tourists a chance to experience the country's culture and history, as well as its cuisine apart from its breathtaking landscapes.

A boat riding on the Danube River comes through the Djerdap Gorge, or the Iran Gates, a series of gorges along its eastern border with Romania. The gorges were lined up by hills covered with Djerdap nature reserve and medieval fortresses.

On the curvy path of the Iron Gates to the Black Sea, lay the prehistoric settlements, Roman inscriptions and statues, interesting towns, several vineries and restaurants where visitors can have a glimpse and taste of the Serbian folklore.

Serbia's minister of tourism Rasim Ljajic said that Danube has a lot to offer to visitors.

"Djerdap Gorge is the biggest and the most beautiful in Europe," Ljajic said, praising its medieval fortresses, gastronomy of the whole Danube region and its wines.

"The most important part of the offer is the cultural heritage of the Danube region," he said, adding it has the potential to turn into one of the country's most attractive destinations.

The state will have to invest in infrastructure, such as gas stations for boats and ships and six or seven new ports, he said.

There are only around 60,000 tourists cruising along the Serbian part of the Danube per year, said the director of the government's tourist organization Gordana Plamenac.

Plamenac said that the number of visitors is too modest compared with Vienna or the upper stream of the Danube. It even falls far behind Hungary, but Serbia will work hard to improve the situation, she said.

According to Plamenac, Djerdap is one of the two nature reserves on the Danube's stream in Serbia. It has layers of history from neolith to modern days.

A three-hour boat ride offers sights into remainders of Neolithic settlement Lepeski Vir, the inscription of the Roman emperor Traian, 40-meter-high head of the last Dacian king Decebealus carved in rock, as well as the amazing damp that decreases the level of Danube by 20 meters to produce electricity for the Djerdap power plant.

Tourists on the boat can embark on Belgrade and have a three-day tour at nearby sites.

The National Park of Djerdap encompasses almost 100,000 hectares of land and stretches into the hills that rise above the river, where in the protected areas bears, wolves, wild cats, owls and black storks, among other animals, find their refuge.

The area is also famous for its fish and quality wines which can be tasted in several local wineries as well as restaurants that serve Serbian specialties. Endi