ПРОГРАМИ
en de ru fr es sr gr al tr ro
Podcast in English
Share
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

The frozen Danube is now just a hard-to-believe memory for residents of ‎Bulgaria's Silistra

4
The frozen Danube (1985)
Photo: starasilistra.com

Four decades have passed since the longest freezing of the Danube River waters, which the residents of the Bulgarian towns along the Danube remember. In 1985, the river was covered in ice for two whole months - from January 16 to March 16. Then the ice near the town of Silistra had to be broken with explosions. 

The section of the river in the Aydemir region was chosen as a suitable place and thus saved the western part of the city from flooding. 

For this "bombardment" in Silistra, a special battery from the artillery division in the city of Shumen arrived. The explosions shattered the windows of the apartment blocks near the Danube Garden, as well as the nearby Natural Sciences and Mathematics High School. The damages were paid by the then Commission for Natural Disasters and Industrial Accidents.‎


Since 1985, it seems like we haven't seen a real winter in Northern Bulgaria, say the people of Silistra. To this day, they remember the years when the ice thickness reached 30 centimeters. Children played, and the older ones skated on modern skates on the icy section. ‎

Memories from the beginning of the 20th century in Silistra (1918-1940) also speak of the frozen Danube. Every time the great European river froze, the local rich people would jump on sledges and set off on the ice to cross to the other side and visit the so-called jurors in the opposite Romanian city of Calarasi. In good weather, they would reach as far as Bucharest.‎


Photos: Private archive, starasilistra.com

Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.
Radio Bulgaria Life    Danube Danube river frozen Danube frozen river river Silistra

Gallery

More from category

Why foreign truck drivers are becoming targets of corruption on roads in Bulgaria

Bulgaria's State Automobile Inspectorate (DAI) is the official body that deals with the control of heavy-duty traffic on the territory of the country, as part of the Executive Agency "Automobile Administration" (IAAA). Its work became the subject of..

published on 10/6/25 4:05 PM
Ivan Nikolov

For 27 years Cultural and Information Center Bosilegrad has been assisting Bulgarians in the Western Outlands

With a concert by the Slavey Quartet created by folk singer Nadka Karadzhova and a conversation about the problems of our compatriots in the Western Outlands, the Cultural and Information Center of the Bulgarian Minority in..

published on 10/3/25 5:10 PM

Balkan developments

Athens is under pressure to sell fighter jets that would be delivered to Ukraine Greece is reluctant to provide high-tech military equipment that could be used against Russia, reports BNR’s correspondent in Greece Katya Peeva...

published on 10/3/25 12:45 PM

WEATHER
Pick city: Sofía
Occasional showers
Min: 11 | Max: 12
Overcast, rain
Min: 11 | Max: 20
Overcast, rain
Min: 12 | Max: 18
Rain
Min: 11 | Max: 11
Rain
Min: 10 | Max: 10
Rain
Min: 10 | Max: 14
Rain
Min: 7 | Max: 13
Occasional showers
Min: 6 | Max: 18
Occasional showers
Min: 10 | Max: 17
Occasional showers
Min: 9 | Max: 11
Rain
Min: 10 | Max: 13
Rain
Min: 11 | Max: 11
Occasional showers
Min: 10 | Max: 13
Occasional showers
Min: 6 | Max: 10
Rain
Min: 10 | Max: 13
Occasional showers
Min: 10 | Max: 14
Rain
Min: 10 | Max: 15
Rain
Min: 11 | Max: 16
Rain
Min: 12 | Max: 18
Occasional showers
Min: 9 | Max: 16
Occasional showers
Min: 4 | Max: 10
Occasional showers
Min: 9 | Max: 10
Occasional showers
Min: 10 | Max: 15
Rain
Min: 7 | Max: 16
Occasional showers
Min: 9 | Max: 16
Rain
Min: 8 | Max: 17
Occasional showers
Min: 10 | Max: 19
BULGARIA IN PICTURES
Which world-famous Bulgarian artist designed QSL cards for Radio Bulgaria?
Yasen Gyuzelev
Theodore Ushev
Christo Javacheff - Christo
Ilia Peikov
Lika Yanko

BULGARIANS ABROAD

Български English Русский Deutsch Српски Français Ελληνικά Español Shqip Türkçe Română
MOST VIEWED

Why foreign truck drivers are becoming targets of corruption on roads in Bulgaria

Bulgaria's State Automobile Inspectorate (DAI) is the official body that deals with the control of heavy-duty traffic on the territory of the country, as..

published on 10/6/25 4:05 PM

english@bnr.bg

+359 2 9336 661

Общи условия за използване на сайта | Политика за поверителност | Политика за "бисквитки"