We woke up an hour too early—at 5:30 AM—confused by the time difference. Here in Serbia, it’s one hour earlier than across the river in Romania. But since our phones are connected to the Romanian network, all our devices display Romanian time.
Anyway, we waited for the customs and border police. Once they were ready, the checkout process went smoothly.
After that, we crossed to the other side of the river to re-enter the EU and the Schengen Area. Things moved slowly: we had to drop anchor and wait offshore until the authorities were ready for us. We weren’t allowed to tie up to any dock or barge, and we weren’t permitted to set foot on land until explicitly invited to do so.
As of now, we’ve been anchored off the shore of Drobeta-Turnu Severin for over six hours. Luckily, the storm has passed, and the weather has cooled down—making the long wait more bearable.
Still, the mood on board is good—there’s a sense of adventure in the waiting, and we know it’s all just part of the journey.
I’ll let you know tomorrow how it went.
Update: At 6 PM, customs called to let us know we could finally come alongside the pontoon. After visiting customs and the police—and then hosting customs, police, and the health department on board—we filled out countless forms, all asking for the same information. But now, it’s official: we’ve re-entered the EU. It took an entire day just to leave Serbia and re-enter Europe.
By 8 PM, we had reached our final mooring spot—and lucky as we are, there was a man fishing there with his son. Turns out he’s a painter and graffiti artist from Barcelona who has been living in Drobeta-Turnu Severin for the past five years. So yes—the next interview will be online soon!
Buenas noches y hasta mañana.
