📆 Days 14 & 15 | 10-11 August

📍Route: Orșova

🚴‍♀️ Distance cycled: 12 km

🏰 Places visited: The Danubia Statue, The Monument of the Rootless, city of Orșova

These last two days are joined together, as they include both our time exploring Orșova and the long journey back home.

Today was all about discovering Orșova. Our day began at the riverbank, where we watched fishermen—some had stayed all night, others woke before dawn—patiently casting lines into the Danube. We admired their quiet dedication as they waited for a catch.

Next, we wandered into a small grocery store to pick up food and snacks for the road ahead. It was a nice way to get a feel for the town’s everyday life.

We then visited the “Uprooted” Monument (Monumentul Dezrădăcinării), which remembers the time when the old center of Orșova was flooded during the building of the Iron Gates hydroelectric project (1966–1971). Entire neighborhoods were lost underwater, and people were forced to move. The monument stands as a reminder of both the loss and the resilience of the community.

After that, we biked to the Danubia Statue, created by sculptor Patriciu (Patrick) Mateescu in 1996. The statue shows a woman poised to leap into the Danube and honors those who tried to swim across the river to escape communist Romania. Many never made it, either drowning or being shot. It is a moving tribute to their courage.

The afternoon passed quickly. We stopped for a coffee to rest and recharge our devices, which had all run out of battery. Then our car with the trailer arrived, and it was time to start packing. We loaded our bikes, bags, and all the gear that had carried us through the journey, taking a last look at the quiet waterfront before saying goodbye to Orșova.

Tired but filled with great satisfaction, we concluded our bike tour and began the long drive toward Miercurea-Ciuc—the place where it had all begun, and where our adventure would finally come full circle. It felt almost strange that after 14 days of biking from Miercurea-Ciuc to Orșova, we returned in only 8 hours by car.