NOTHING WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO PLAN a trip to Transylvania more than this video of the holiday trip into the wilds of the Carpathians. Check it out and start planning. The natural beauty of this region is waiting for you.
Transylvania sounds like a mythical name. But it is real. It’s not a country (though it often feels like one), Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. The Carpathian Mountains straddle it from east and south, diversity and pureness of highland nature together with rich history evoke this fairy-tale spirit. What most people don’t realise is that now in the 21st century you can find inaccessible places where people still live like hundreds of years ago. Surrounded by bear-stalked forests and cut off from civilisation in the winter, they don’t have running water and electricity. But they are the ones who keep traditions passed from our ancestors.
The basaltic rock formation of hexagonal columns. To reach its footsteps you will need to balance on a heap of broken basalt rocks. On your way through the forest, you will see a small local area of forever frozen land. The top of Detunata has a dragon nest shape.
It is a mountain range which belongs to the Western Romanian Carpathians, their name translates from Romanian as Mountains “of the sunset”. Breathtaking views guaranteed.
The place of beauty and horror together. The only evidence left of the village used to be here is the church tower in the middle of the lake. This lake is the most polluted in the country, by the chemicals used for extracting gold from the mine.
Romania has the highest bears population in Europe, over 6000 registered individuals. You don’t need to buy a special bears watching tour, it is possible to stumble upon one or even a group anywhere. Don’t worry, same as sharks don’t eat divers, bears don’t eat responsible travellers. If they don’t try to drive them wild on purpose.
Traditional houses with straw roofs scattered across hills look like a postcard. Civilization failed to reach these areas. No asphalt roads, no power line cables.
A breath of Jurassic era, you will walk almost 3 km between limestone walls up to 300 meters high. The richest and the most scenic karst area of Romania is the home for hundreds of rare plant and animal species. There are about 60 known caves in the area, up to 120 m long.
Speaking about caves, we cannot miss one of seven natural wonders of Romania – the glacier cave formed 3500 years ago. The limestone cave at 1100 meters altitude is 720 meters long and has an estimated ice volume of 50000 cubic meters inside. Ice stalactites, stalagmites and columns have bizarre forms resembling, for example, a church.
A species of a bear called Ursus spelaeus inhabited this cave almost 30000 years ago. Today you can witness 140 skeletons of bears who for some reason failed to leave the cave.
Write me, if you want to go there!