Photo credit: (c) EUGENIA PASCA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The smooth slopes of the Apuseni Moutains conceal steep gorges dug deep into rocks by streams that for millennia have been seeking their way to the Cris rivers. The Lazurilor and the Cutii canyons are worthy places for everyone calling themselves nature lovers.

‘Padurea Craiului [literally,the King’s Forest] is caught like a ribbon between the Crisul Negru to the south and Crisul Repede to the north. One of the most sought after areas is related to the Crisul Repede. From Bratca to Vadu Crisului, the river crosses a series of canyons which steep walls have been modelled into stupendous caves by streams long lost in karsts. Eagles are the only masters of the skies above,’ says Florin Budea, an official of the Bihor Centre for Protected Areas and Sustainable Development (CAPDD).

Bihor County houses the largest number of caves planned for tourists in Romania gathered in a network that comprises Ursilor Cave (Bears’ Cave), Meziad Cave, Vadu Crisului Cave, Ungurului Cave (Hungarian’s Cave), the crystal cave at the Farcu mine, with 20 more being currently planned for the same purpose.

The Vantului Cave (Wind’s Cave), the longest underground labyrinth in Romania, stretches over several levels is yet to be fully known, after more than 45 km of its galleries have been mapped.

Much more visible and accessible to adventure seekers, the Ungurul Mare Cave (Big Hungarian Cave), the Vadu Crisului Cave and the Zmaului Cave (Dragon’s Cave) have preserved memories of various historical eras that left their imprints on the realm.

In the Ungurul Mare Cave objects and pieces of pottery vessels going back to the Dacian times have been found.

The Vadu Crisului Cave is one of the first planned caves in Romania. In the early 20th century, a Magyar nobleman, owner of large swathes of land, built here a pontoon for the boats that were floating on the underground lake, in the trembling light of torches. A little bit downstream, at the edge of the impressive portal of the Zmaului Cave, the ruins of a lookout tower are still visible. Two or three hundred years ago, customs officers would keep watch over the place and collect tax on the salt shipments going down to the Crisul Repede, coming from Transylvania en route to Oradea.

The Ciur Izbuc Cave is the most precious gem in this priceless string. The earliest traces of the Homo sapiens, the modern prehistoric man, have been found here that a team of Romanian and American scientists has recently said are 37,135 years old. In the Hall of Lost Steps, the traces of a male, a woman and a child walking together, probably members of the same family, were found. Their footsteps are visible even today, the same as traces of cave bears, which bones lie there in underground layers 10-12,000 years old.

Above the majestic rock walls of the canyon, there is a realm that time has almost forgotten. Large forests, isolated villages, patriarchal landscapes and people who seem adamant about living in bygone eras. Damis, Rosia, Remetea and other close villages are places where mass tourism has not reached yet. Accommodation is hard to find because boarding houses are still few, but people are welcoming and peace supreme.

The crystal cave at the Farcu mine is a stone’s throw from the centre of the commune of Rosia. Discovered in the 1980s, during mining works, this cave is the only one in Romania where anyone can discover from a very short distance the beauty of the calcite crystals that are as bright as they are brittle. The cave has been recently planned and besides enjoying maximum safety, tourists can visit an old mining gallery where on display are objects related to underground quarrying. The most daring tourists can take a look down toward the innards of the earth, to an underground pitch that goes down 80 m below the circulation level of the mine. On the outside, tourists can take a long fly on the zip line, above fir tree peaks and the concealed depths of a dale.

For decades, the Meziad Cave was considered to be the biggest cave in Romania. What is really impressive about it is not its length, but the size of its underground galleries. The underground hollows which ceiling is lost in the dark, somewhere 50 metres above soil, have frequently been compared to the interior of a cathedral.

Here the only known underground natural bridge in Romania can be crossed by foot. This highly rare underground formation is the outcome of the collapse of the ceiling of a hall that used to be under another equally large cave. From the bridge in the Meziad Cave to the level of a lower gallery tourists witness a level difference of more than 40 m. Seen from above, the tourist path that crosses the cave leaves an indelible impression on visitors.

Close to the entrance to the Meziad Cave, there is a via-ferrata climbing trail that starts right from below, climbs up a rock wall and ends just above the portal of the immense cave, a portal that is no less impressive than the interior of the cave. Also in this cave, folk rock concerts are staged.

The entire area is a heaven for speleologists. Tens, maybe hundreds of underground hollows, both known and undiscovered, entice the practitioners of this art that has no spectators. While underground worlds are most often than not accessible to tried speleologists only, the beauty of the world outside the caves comes in handy to any tourist wanting to discover it. Recently, two cycle hire centres have been opened. Tourists can use the bikes to move quicker and cleaner around. The two centres, at Rosia and Remetea, were needed because there is a lot to see and do in the area.

At the entrance to the commune of Rosia, a water mill is standing on a homonymous stream, grinding grains for almost two hundred years. Its owner, who is also a guide for the tourists visiting the mill, is also an unrivalled player of a violin-cum-bugle instrument that is specific only to this part of Bihor County.

The picturesque hamlet of Runcuri, above Rosia commune, boasts itself of a group of traditional houses that have been redesigned to provide tourists with the most comfortable accommodation conditions. Houses more than one hundred years old, even a sty, have everything a tired traveller could wish for in terms of accommodation. The beauty of these traditional structures and the environs seem cut off from a fairy tale.

The heritage of the commune of Remetea adds more value to the place where God made the Meziad Cave. An oak tree, more than 400 years old lining the path to the village, is a leftover of the past forests. A small ethnographic museum in the commune describes in its two rooms the traditional life style of Romanians and Hungarians, two communities that have for centuries shared the land and woods here. The church at Remetea, a historical monument, nears a millennial age. The frescoes uncovered below layers of lime reveal a church that originally was Byzantine, then it became Catholic; it shortly served as a place of worship for the conquering Ottomans, ending up a Protestant church.

The cultural riches of the area is rounded up by crafts specific of mountainous areas, such as wood processing, animal farming and sewing of folklore costumes. The ornaments specific of the area are made of coloured glass beads and are called zgardane.

Already a tradition, the Straita Plina (Full Bag) trade fair of traditional wares in mid-October at Rosia is the place where special treats can be tasted and purchased, including pies baked according to local recipes; goat cheese prepared using the most surprising ingredients; chilli pepper and red onion jam, as well as the unforgettable Bihor palinka.

On Easter, the people of Dragoteni will paint eggs, while on the first day of the Nativity fast Christmas carols start being sung, handed down from one generation to the next.

This is just a smidgen of the beauty of this heavenly realm of Bihor County. Anyone wanting to find out more is warmly welcomed to the Padurea Craiului Mountains. AGERPRES