The Danube
Authors: Nick Thorpe
Copyright © 2013 Nick Thorpe
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thorpe, Nick.
The Danube : a journey upriver from the Black Sea to the Black Forest / Nick Thorpe.
pages cm
ISBN 978–0–300–18165–4 (cl : alk. paper)
1. Danube River Valley—Description and travel. 2. Danube River Valley—History, Local. 3. Danube River Valley—Social life and customs. 4. Thorpe, Nick—Travel—Danube River Valley. I. Title.
DJK76.4.T47 2013
914.96045—dc23
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is for Andrea
Contents
List of Illustrations and Maps
Introduction
. The Lips of the Danube
10 Smoke, Ash and a Tale or Two
Illustrations and Maps
Plates
1.
Mile Zero, the lighthouse at Sulina
2.
Sulina with Adrian Oprisan
3.
In the heart of the Danube delta
4.
Simion outside his home in Sulina
5.
Statue of the Glykon, Constanța
6.
Statue of Pontus, Constanța
7.
The Kneeling Oak, Karaorman
8.
Alexander's grandmother, Karaorman
9.
The Black Sea from the mouth of the Danube near Sfantu Georghe
10.
Recep Lupu's wife and mother-in-law, Babadag
11.
Gypsy girl, Babadag
12.
Mitya Alexi, Ghindărești
13.
Nikita Ivan, Ghindărești
14.
Momi Kolev and a camel
15.
Dark skies over Nikopol
16.
Danube Iron Gates from the water
17.
Danube dawn at Eselnita
18.
The water tower, Vukovar
19.
Wetlands at Kopački Rit
20.
Depiction of the Red Army crossing the Danube in 1945
21.
Snails after the floodwaters fell, Kopački Rit
22.
Danube floods in Budapest, 2013
23.
The Danube bend in Hungary from the
Tatabánya
24.
At the helm of the
Tatabánya
25.
Hermann Spannraft at the wheel of the cable ferry
26.
Josef Fischer, Rossatz, Austria
27.
The Atsaeva family, Grein, Austria
28.
The cable-ferry at Ottensheim
29.
The Inn and the Danube meet at Passau
30.
The tailor of Ulm
31.
The youth of Ulm
32.
Statue of Mother Baar showing the young Danube the way to the Black Sea
Maps
1 Mile or Kilometre Zero, from which the length of the Danube is measured: the lighthouse at Sulina.
2 Leaving Sulina with Adrian Oprisan, towards Crisan and Karaorman.
3 In the heart of the Danube delta, on the way to harvest reeds near Crisan – from Adrian Oprisan's boat.
4 Aunty Nicolina was not at home, but Uncle Simion was. ‘I never could stand fish.’ Outside their house in Sulina.
5 The Glykon in the National History and Archaeology Museum at Constanța: the head of a lamb, the ears of a man, body of a serpent, and the tail of a lion – like the Danube.
6 Pontus, the god of the Black Sea, rising out of the seaweed, clasping the rudder of a ship. From the Museum at Constanța.
