Danube river how many countries

Like all great rivers it has a charisma which evokes strong emotions, starting with jealousy over its origins. Two German towns long disputed its source, but officially it rises at an ornate well in Donaueschingen in the Black Forest of southern Germany.

When it reaches the Black Sea coast 2, kilometers later it's only kilometers further south, so its overall direction is gently south of east. It's slowed and broadened by the time it kinks sharply south just before Budapest, then trends east again near the Croatian city of Vukovar. As it squeezes between the Carpathian and Balkan mountains on the Serbian-Romanian border it narrows to meters in the Iron Gates Gorge, which ends in the largest dam system on the river.

From there it relaxes again, widening, slowing and shallowing as it trends east and then finally north before splitting into three at the delta and merging into the Black Sea on the Romanian and Ukrainian coast.

Austria: Wiener schnitzel is the traditional Austrian dish featuring boneless meat, pounded with a mallet, then fried in an egg-and-breadcrumb coating. Another longstanding custom are the heurigen — traditional taverns attached to fine wineries, which can be found in the Vienna Woods, just outside the city.

Hungary: With roots dating back to the 9th century AD, goulash — a thick soup or stew of meat, vegetables and noodles and flavored with paprika and other spices — rules in Hungary, but nearly every country along the Danube has its own national version. Wine The Danube River valley is home to many world-class wines, and viticulture in the region goes back nearly 2, years.

Here is just a sampling:. Suggested Terms. View All Results. Danube River Facts Discover the answers to the mysteries surrounding the Danube The Danube and its tributaries, lakes, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater form the DRBD, as illustrated on the map. Your window to the Danube. View the latest issue of Danube Watch online! This overview map shows a basin that is home to over 80 million people. Worshipping a god of the same name, the ancient Romans called the waterway Danubius.

The river is quite scenic, featuring the Iron Gate, where it flows through a gorge that forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania, and the picturesque Wachau wine valley near Melk, Austria.

The Wachau Valley is renowned not only for its natural beauty but also for its widely praised Riesling and Veltiner wines. Though ruggedly beautiful, the Iron Gate is naturally a very dangerous section of the Danube River to navigate.

Its powerful rapids prevented Greek sailors in the seventh century B. The Iron Gate was made safe for a Danube River cruise with technologies such as a lock and dam system and barrage walls, but it is still gloriously scenic. The waterway has inspired countless musicians and artists through the years.

It was immortalized in the famous waltz, The Blue Danube, composed by Austrian Johann Strauss on a cruise down the river. This piece is enormously popular throughout the world and is particularly cherished in Austria. The late jazz musician Joe Zawinul wrote a symphony called Stories of the Danube, first performed at Linz in In , this dream was realized with the opening of the Main-Danube Canal.

This mile-long canal created a 2,mile-long waterway which passes through 15 countries and unites hundreds of inland ports. While the Canal is an artificial waterway, it by no means detracts from the natural beauty around it.

In fact, very few passing through it on a cruise can detect that it is not an organic element of the landscape.