Orșova is a port city on the Danube river in southwestern Romania’s Mehedinți County. It is one of four localities in the county located in the Banat historical region. It is situated just above the Iron Gates, on the spot where the Cerna River meets the Danube.
Rock Sculpture of Decebalus :The rock sculpture of Decebalus is a colossal carving of the face of Decebalus, the last king of Dacia, who fought against the Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan to preserve the independence of his country, which corresponds to present-day Romania. The sculpture is located near the city of Orșova, in Mehedinți County.
Veterani Cave:Famous both for its legend and for its more unusual and somewhat adventurous access – made only on water, the Veterani Cave has its name after the one who was Ianovici’s aide, the commander of the Austrian army stationed at Caransebes and who fortified the cave at end of the seventeenth century.
The Veterans Cave has always been in the attention of treasure hunters around the world, who claim that the famous silver treasure of Empress Maria Theresa belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the treasures of the Serbian Tsar Obrenovici were hidden in a cave with rocks. It is said that in Cuza’s time, Obranovici, the prince of Serbia, who had quarreled with his brother, Mihai, crossed into Romania with 80 horses carrying bags of gold. All Serbian soldiers who brought this treasure, after it was hidden, were killed. It is also said that the only indication of where the treasure is, is a stone on which a snake is inlaid.
There is also talk of the treasures of the Basarab people, of which the abbot Nicodemus, himself a descendant of the family, would have taken part to build the monastery at Tismana, and the rest of the treasure would have hidden him in a cave in the Danube Gorge.
The legends of the place say that, in the cave, the Dacians had for a long time an altar where they worshiped Zamolxis and in whose honor they made sacrifices, thus explaining the bones of birds and animals discovered by archaeologists in several places dug in stone.
