Photo credit: (c) poianastampei.ro

The area has a high scientific significance because human intervention here and the Sariu Dornei mire has been absent and they got to be preserved in an excellent state, says Cristian Gafincu, official with the Suceava Forestry Department in charge with protected areas. ‘Pollen conservation in the successive strata of peat reveals to researchers the succession of species in this area,’ he says.

Tinovul Mare Poiana Stampei belongs to the scientific reserves designed to protect and preserve natural terrestrial and/or aquatic habitats that have representative elements of scientific interest in terms of fauna, geology, speleology, palaeontology, soil study or other terms. The management of the scientific reserves is tasked with the observation of a strict protection status that makes sure the habitats are kept as unspoiled as possible. That is why human activities are barred, with the exception of research, education and ecotourism activities, themselves limited and requiring the approval of a scientific board and the administration of the reserve.

The oligotrophic mires, poor in minerals and nutrients, have a soil and water that lacks in nutrient minerals, especially lime. That is why their flora has to feed mainly on airborne particles and air precipitation. Because of abundant moss, especially of the Sphagnum genus, the soil and water became strongly acid, coloured in various shades of brown. Bacteria are absent some centimetres deep into the soil because of acidity and lack of oxygen, which explains why the pollen deposited along centuries in successive strata of peat has been optimally preserved.

The Tinovul Mare Reserve lies in the multifaceted Dorna Depression, which elements belong to a volcano area and the trans-Carpathian flysch as well as to the area of crystalline and extra-Carpathian flysch.

Tinovul Poiana Stampei came into existence on the andesite alluvial deposits of the Dornisoara Stream. The Dorna Depression is part of the same large geomorphologic unit of the Bargau — Dorna — Moldova Couloir and it is of tectonic and volcanic origin. In the place where the Dorna meets the Dornisoara, mires have been formed because of a depression relief and a richness of pluvial and underground waters.

The reserve’s climate is mountainous, with averages of—6 degrees Celsius in January and June averages of below 14 degrees Celsius, with a relative air humidity of 80%. Freezing temperatures are quite frequent, and snow lasts for more than 100 days.

Photo credit: (c) poianastampei.ro

Scots pine (Pinus sylvanicus) is the dominant tree at the Poiana Stampei mire, a slow growing species that can live up to 100 years, which diameters can reach 10-22 centimetres. Also growing there are hairy birch trees and hybrids thereof, mountain ash trees, quaking aspen trees and spruce trees making up the protection area. The herbal flora is made up of acidophil species: ferns, cranberries, blueberries, bog rosemary, black crowberries, sedges, along with the moss species Sphagnum wulfianum, as well as arctic and subarctic relict specific of Finnish tundra.

Besides the usual mountainous fauna, the area also has relicts from faraway habitats, including Greenland, Scotland, the Far East, such as Macrobiatus dubrus, uncommon in Central and Southern Europe, the Formica fusca picea ants and the Tetragantha pinicola, Therium undulatum and Drasodes margaritella spiders. The oligotrophic mires preserve both relict and current species, showing the succession in time of species. Their existence is highly valuable to the studies of species and the rational exploitation of peat for its special qualities — healing, isolation, medicinal peat and soil improvement.

The status of the reserve does not allow visits for tourist purposes and visitors’ access is restricted to organised groups for educational or scientific purposes, granted by the custodian in the presence of a guide and only using a footbridge that crosses the mire.

The Suceava Forestry Department cooperates with the Suceava School Inspectorate and other interested institutions, organising events related to the annual environmental events as well as practical works for public awareness purposes.

The Suceava Forestry Department has also set up an information office at the Dorna Candreni Forestry Administration headquarters, where information and picture databases are available.

A first themed path at Tinovul Mare Poiana Stampei was inaugurated this autumn, with the participation of students from the Poiana Stampei Primary School.

Under a project called ‘Tinovul Poiana Stampei — nature and travelling in the ecotourism destination of Dornele Land,’ a new trial was established that overlaps the old footbridge that used to cross the protected area. The footbridge was repaired and improved with support from the AER Association of Romania’s Ecotourism Operators, in partnership with the Calimani National Park Administration (APNC), in an attempt to diversify the offering of activities in Dornele Land as well as to showcase the hidden world of mires and their highly interested features. Access to the themed trail is from the road to Dornisoara. Visitors are guided by billboards that provide information about the formation of the area and the animals housed here, as well as their importance. AGERPRES

Photo credit: (c) Simion MECHNO / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The Bat Cave scientific reserve includes the cave itself, as well as some six hectares of land surrounding it and overlapping a part of the Rarau — Pietrele Doamnei protected area. The reserve is included in Europe’s Natura 2000 network of protected areas.

The cave has a height difference of 86 meters and its galleries have a total length of 340 metres; the entry into the sinkhole is through a shaft some 14 meters deep. “Since this is a less friendly cave, the descent into the galleries requires speleological knowledge and specific equipment,” says speleologist Adrian Done.

He explains that this is the hibernation place for the largest population of bats in eastern Romania, specifically some 2,500 individuals from 4-5 species. In summer, during the peak mating season, there is a surge in the number of species present here that can go as high as 15 of the 31 living in Romania and 45 in Europe.

The species that inhabit the Rarau area include the whiskered bat, Brandt’s bat, Bechstein’s bat, the greater mouse-eared bat, the lesser mouse-eared bat, the brown long-eared bat or the lesser horseshoe bat. Yet the predominant species in the Bat Cave are the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) and the lesser mouse-eared bat (Myotis blythii).

The bats are compactly clustered in colonies, all facing the same direction and crammed so tightly that they form a sort of fur-and-skin rug hanging from the ceiling of the cave. The number of individuals in a colony varies from small groups of 3-12 to over 1,000. Colonies can settle one meter above the floor, but also in the highest points of the cave halls.

Most colonies are formed in the bat hall, with their number growing from 40 in February to 55 in October. The number of colonies and individuals, respectively, decreases as one advances deeper to the ther halls.

The observations made in December 1962 by researcher Niculae Valenciuc from the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi showed that the bats return to the winter roost beginning with August. Most of the chiropterans (70 — 80 percent) return in October, when the effort of adjusting to the new conditions is minimal, given that the air temperature is practically equal inside and outside and the relative humidity of the air outside is much closer to the one inside the cave, and the bats must lower their body temperature to 4-5 degrees Celsius during hibernation.

The Bat Cave differs from other caves in the country through the absence of stalactites, stalagmites or any other calcite depositions. Unlike the caves created by the flow of water, the Bat Cave in Rarau was formed by the splitting of the stone block that slipped on the less rigid underlying layer, due to lateral gravitational traction.

The ramiform cave has six halls — the Hidden Hall, the Branched Hall, the Rectangular Hall, the Bats Hall, the Lighted Hall and the Tapered Hall — connected between them through shafts almost 14 meters deep. The cave was investigated in 1954 by a team of climbers from the Central Army House, and in 1975 the “Emil Racovita” Speleology Group in Bucharest charted the cave for the first time and designed its first map.

The Bat Cave is entered in the Systematic Catalog of Romanian Caves. The first research on the cave fauna was conducted in 1962, in an attempt to answer the question ‘Where do the bats head for from the places where they live in colonies during the warm season?’ The total population was assessed in those years at more than five thousand individuals.

As Adrian Done explains, the decrease in the bat population is determined by natural selection, as a female bat has just one baby a year and two just in exceptional situations. As an interesting detail, Done said the bats have ‘birth centers’, where males are not allowed. One such center is currently in Suceava, where some two to three hundred individuals gather during the gestation period.

The bat population in the Rarau cave has been monitored every winter since 2002. The finding was that it has been relatively constant, at around 2,000 — 2,500 individuals.

Underground sites, such as caves, are important habitats for bats worldwide. In northern Europe, such shelters are mainly used by chiropterans for hibernation.

In the European Union, the bats and their reproduction and resting roosts are protected.

Speleologist Adrian Done mentions that the Rarau Bat Cave is a sinkhole of no tourist interest, as it has no spectacular formations, while its fragmentation can cause all sorts of unpleasant surprises to insufficiently prepared tourists.

As the speleologist emphasized, bats feed exclusively on insects (estimates from studies show that some bats eat more than 70 percent of their weight in insects each night) and are important for keeping the balance of the ecosystem, protecting forests, agriculture and people. AGERPRES

Photo credit: (c) Bogdan BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The monastery was built between 1466 and 1469, and the Dormition Church followed one year later. The first father superior of the monastery was Archimandrite Iosif of the Neamt Monastery, who came here accompanied by calligraphists, the first teachers of the new school of Putna, following the example of the monastery of Neamt. The school started as a school of rhetoric, logics and grammar for the future chroniclers or clerics, shortly becoming one of the most important such centres in the entire land.

Three years after completion, the church was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. In 1653, it was again destroyed, this time by the Cossack army of Timush Hmelnitschi, ruler Vasile Lupu’s son-in-law. Today’s church was rebuilt in 1653-1662 by Vasile Lupu and his successors following the original base plane.

Photo credit: (c) Bogdan BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Construction on the Putna Church started after a victory of Stephen the Great at the Chilia Bastion, while its consecration was made after Stephen’s victory against Tartars, on August 20, 1470 at Lipinti, near Nistru. Putna had been a monastic hearth long before Stephen the Great’s foundation, a fact revealed by researches of 1980 — 1982. Besides the monastic scriptorium of the monks, the master calligraphists and miniaturists of Neamt, a tapestry workhouse was opened at Putna, where gold and silver threads were used as well as expensive silk and precious stones, along with workshops for ceramic icons, and wood and stone sculpture. Initially designed as a royal necropolis, the monastery always kept Stephen the Great’s attention, with the ruler visiting it frequently and developing it continuously.

Under the rule of Iacob Putneanul (1750-1778), refurbishment works were conducted: the inner walls were consolidated, and so were the church and the belfry, the gate’s tower was remade, the tambour of the belfry above the nave was remade into a Baroque style, the roof was repaired, the flooring was replaced and a new iconostasis was added, still standing nowadays.

Photo credit: (c) Bogdan BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The church was built into a three-lobe shape, with thick walls of stone and brick, on a foundation of rock boulders of big size for those times. It was 37 m long, 11 m wide and 33 m high, at the belfry. The space was divided into an altar, a nave, a tomb room, a narthex and a closed porch. Here lies the tomb of Stephen the Great and Saint, covered by a baldachin of white marble and an inscription on a slate that says the brave ruler is the founder of the holy place alongside his wife Maria, the daughter of Radu Voivode. On Stephen the Great’s tomb, there is a silver urn placed in a ceremony of 1871. On the northern side of the tomb room, there are the tombs of Stephan’s sons — Bogdan, who died on July 27, 1479 — and Petru — who died in November 1480. In the narthex, on the southern side, there is the tomb of Lady Maria, the wife of Petru Voivode, and Stephen Voivode, the nephew of Petru Voivode. In the porch area, on the southern side, there is the tomb of Moldavia’s Metropolitan Bishop Iacob Putneanul, while on the northern side there is the tomb of Suceava Metropolitan Bishop Teoctist.

Tomb of Stephen the Great and Holy within the Putna Monastery
Photo credit: (c) Bogdan BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

All the windows in the altar, nave, tomb room and narthex are painted on the inside, ending in an arch and on the outside they have metal riles. The floor is made of marble, while the porch has stone slabs. The roof is made of brass sheets laid in a manner to imitate timber. The outside is encircled by a massive twisted band with large niches that are higher in the lower part and smaller in the upper part. The windows have stone framing. The old outer painting was destroyed in 1760 and never replaced.

The painting in the chapel is modern, of Byzantine inspiration, with many focusing elements, made by brothers Mihai and Gavriil Morosan in 1979 — 1983.

Photo credit: (c) Bogdan BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The monastery’s museum has an important collection of mediaeval art objects, especially from the times of Stephen the Great and his immediate successors, one of the richest and most valuable such collection in the entire Romania. The Putna Monastery is famous for its treasury of tapestries, woven works, manuscripts, silverware and church objects. Among the most valuable exhibits are the Gospel Book of Humor (1487), the Blagovestenie church bell (donated in 1490 by Stephen the Great himself) and airy tapestries from 1481, an ecclesiastical stole from 1504, an epitaph from 1490, a cover for the doors to the iconostasis from 1510, the tomb cover of Maria of Mangop from 1477 bearing her portrait. Among the valuable icons at Putna, there is a 15th century wonder-making icon of the Holly Mother and Son, allegedly brought to Moldavia by Maria of Mangop, Stephen the Great’s second wife.

Among the most valuable manuscripts at Putna, there is Psaltichia, a church song book made up of two distinct parts sewn together: one probably written in the time of Alexander the Good and the other in the first years of the 16th century, at the Putna Monastery.

Equally valuable is a collection of carved crosses. A three-arm hand cross from 1566, carved in cedar wood and enclosed in golden silver depicting 37 scenes, including feasts and saint portraits, is of exquisite mastery.

The exhibition of old and modern Romanian arts mounted at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris, in 1925, included many tapestries, icons, carved crosses, illustrated and locked manuscripts that created quite a stir with Paris specialists and public at large.

Putna was also a scholarly centre that hosted a higher school of Theology to train clerics for Moldavia under the leadership of Archimandrite Vartolomeu Mazareanul, as well as a school initiated by Metropolitan Bishop Iacob Putneanul (1750-1778).

About one kilometre away from the Putna Monastery lies the cell of monk Daniil, the spiritual adviser of Stephen the Great. It is a cave carved into a rock in the valley of the Vitau stream that has been declared a historical monument.

Daniil Sihastrul, Daniil the Hermit, was born in the early 15th century in a village close to the town of Radauti. He became a monk at the age of 16. After a time, feeling the need for more peace, he became Daniil the Hermit and withdrew to Putna, where he found a rock into which he carved a chapel. The narthex, nave and altar are still visible today, the same as a room, also carved in stone, he used as his cell. It is here that Stephen the Great came in 1451, after the killing of his father Bogdan II at Reuseni. Daniil predicted that he would soon become Moldavia’s ruler, which happened indeed in 1457. Also at the urge of Daniil the Hermit, Stephen the Great founded the Putna Monastery. After the consecration of the monastery, Daniil withdrew to Voronet, on the banks of the Voronet stream, under a rock called The Hawk, where he continued his monastic life. Stephen the Great visited him again after a defeat at Razboieni in 1476, asking for his advice. Daniil advised the ruler to continue the battles against the Ottomans, predicting his victory, which indeed happened. To remember the victory, the ruler founded the Voronet Monastery. After the consecration of the new monastery, Daniil moved to the cells at the monastery, where he spent his last years. He was elected father superior and died in 1496. He was buried in the church of the Voronet Monastery. On his tombstone, ordered by Stephen the Great, writes: ‘This is the tomb of our Father David, Daniil the Great Monk.’

Daniil the Hermit was considered a saint in his lifetime, as he was said to heal people, draw away daemons and sooth sufferings. He was canonised by the Romanian Christian Orthodox Church in 1992.

Dragos Voda Church, brought by Stephen the Great from Volovat, is the oldest wooden church in Europe, dating back to the 15th century
Photo credit: (c) Bogdan BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Also close to the Putna Monastery, there is the oldest wooden church in Europe, a historical monument, the foundation of Dragos Voda, the founder of Moldavia. The old church of Putna was allegedly relocated by Stephen the Great to Volovat in 1468 to become a place of worship for the monastic community of Putna during the construction of the monastery. Legend has it that Dragos Voda, descending from Maramures, established the principality of Moldavia and built a church of oak wood in 1346 at Volovat to also serve as his burial ground. AGERPRES

Photos taken by: (c) Cristian NISTOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

This is a place where any tourist overwhelmed by daily stress can regain the necessary balance to start anew.

Located in the Retezat Massif of Southern Carpathians, the Retezat National Park covers more than 38,000 hectares. The Retezat Massif rises to the skies between the Hateg and Petrosani depressions, made up of the Retezatul Mare Mountain, rich in crystalline rocks and the Retezatul Mic, to the south, with a limey composition. Both parts of the massif meet in the area of Lake Bucura, the largest glacial lake in Romania.

The Retezat National Park was established in 1935 and in 1979 it was declared a biosphere reserve. It houses more than 20 peaks with elevations in excess of 2,000 m, with Peleaga (2,509 m), Papusa (2,508 m), Retezat (2,482 m), Varful Mare (2,463 m) and Judele (2,334 m) being the best known.

In almost 80 years of its existence, the Retezat National Park has been the natural venue least affected by humans. The over 1,190 plant species living here make up one third of the plant species in existence in Romania. The park is also home to 90 endemic plant species that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. The natural balance of the park has been maintained, and chamois, deer, does, rabbits, boars, bears, wolves and lynxes can be met here.

To the tourists climbing the Retezat, the place is special for the area’s glacial lakes that can be met meet on the mountain’s treks. The lakes are 80 in all, among them Bucura Lake, the largest glacial lake in Romania. Located in a homonymous circular depression, below the Peleaga Peak, elevation 2,040, Lake Bucura covers 8.9 hectares. In order to circumvent it, you have to walk 1.39 km. The maximum depth of the lake is 15.5 m. It is being fed by five main springs.

But the deepest lake in the Retezat Park is Lake Zanoaga. Located at an elevation of 2,010 m, in the circular glacial deprepression of Judele, Lake Zanoaga is 29 m deep. The lake is three hours by foot away from Lake Bucura, providing a special sight, being visited by many tourists that set up tent on its shores or are hiking through the Retezat.

There are thousands of tourists having heard or read about the Retezat National Park and decided to vacation here. Access is from the Hateg Depression, starting off in Deva and driving on DN 66, or in Caransebes, driving on DN 68. From the Jiu Valley, the road leads to DN 66, while coming from Hateg or Petrosani there are several possibilities of entering the park. Car drivers can drive up to the Nucsoara visitor centre, where they can get all the necessary information and trailing guidance. Tourists coming by train have to get off at Ohaba de Sub Piatra, where locals provide transportation to Carnic.

Admission to the Retezat National Park costs RON 10 for a seven-day pass allowing unlimited access. Tickets can be bought at the Nucsoara visitor centre, at Gura Apei, Carnic, the Pietrele Chalet, as well as in other signalled out places inside the park. Among the most important recommendations to tourists upon purchasing the tickets is do not litter and take the garbage out of the park.

‘By our own reckoning, there are between 15,000 and 18,000 tourists visiting the Retezat National Park annually,’ says Director of the Retezat National Park Administration Zoran Acimov. ‘We have not included in the reckoning the tourists coming to ski at the resort of Rausor, which is exclusively for winter sports. Almost a quartet of the park visitors are foreigners. They come from all over the world. There are large groups from Hungary and the Czech Republic. We have had visitors from Spain, Israel and even the UK. They have all learned about the natural values of the park and the park’s exceptional landscapes. Some visitors ask us about the animals living in the Retezat National Park because they would like to meet them.’

For the tourists that are more used to working in offices and less used to exercising, themed trails have been designed of varying difficulty that can be travelled in a reasonable amount of time.

One of them is the ‘Enigmas trail’ that introduces visitors the local flora, fauna and legends of some historical sights, in a trip that takes almost four hours to complete. Opened six years ago, the trail was designed by the Retezat National Park Administration in partnership with the Retezat Travel Association and the mayor’s office of Salasu de Sus commune.

The trail starts at the Nucsoara visitor centre, it is of small difficulty, as tourists have to follow a blue band marking and guiding arrows to avoid getting lost. On their way, visitors meet six billboards designed to be understood by the public at large that comprise pictures, designs and novel information about animals and plants living in the Retezat Mountains and at their foot. The information is rounded up by data about local history and traditions.

‘In order to avoid little children complaining about hurting feet, we keep them engaged with all sorts of enigmas, guessing pictures, stories and legends. In order to find the answer to one enigma you must reach the next billboard,’ Florina Crisan, one of the people who worked on this project, said when the trail opened.

In 2013, four new trails opened for tourists to travel through picturesque areas that include the lakes in the Bucura glacial depression, elevation past 2,000m. The difficulty of the trails is low and they can be travelled in some hours’ time, as they are prepared and marked off by the mountain rescuers of Hunedoara County.

Thus, hikers who want to see as many lakes in the Bucura glacial depression as possible can follow the Lake Trail, which takes two hours to complete. The trail starts at Lake Bucura, in the rescuers’ refuge, and it has been designed as a circuit signalled out by a red dot against a white background.

Another trail starts at Rau de Mori and continues to the resort of Rausor, through the Valareasca Valley and up to the Retezat Peak, where it ends, via the Prelucele ridge. The ridge area is wonderful and the sight of the Stevia circular depression in the distance is outstanding. The trail is marked off by a red triangle against a white background.

The third trail starts in the Brazi area, climbs up to the Gura Apei reservoir, than gets down through the Lapusnicu Mare Valley to the Peleaga Glade and the Peleaga Saddle. The marking is a blue point against a white background. Tourist access in wintertime is forbidden.

The last trail starts at Pui, climbs up to Hobita, Stana de Rau to Taul Tapului and Portile Inchise.

‘The trails are relatively easy to follow, but portions of a higher difficulty can be met. Except for that, they are accessible and do not require climbing equipment. All trails are certified,’ explains head of the Hunedoara Salvamont Mountain Rescue Service Ovidiu Bodean. AGERPRES

Photo credit: (c) Constantin DUMA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

We start off for Geoagiu-Bai coming from Orastie after exiting highway A1. From the Geoagiu train stop, the route stretches to the town of Geoagiu, a tidy settlement where good-looking houses line up the road. At the edge of the town, the road goes up to Geoagiu-Bai, filled with serpentines and hairpin turns, all converging to a clearing at the entrance to the resort.

Everything shines with cleanliness and the road signs lead us, via a one-way road, to the entrance to the Dacian-Roman baths, a compound of four thermal water pools.

‘Legend has it that 2,000 years ago Dacians knew the healing powers of the thermal springs of Geoagiu-Bai. There is no clear evidence of that, but what is certainly known is the fact that Romans, after they conquered Dacia, came to Geoagiu in search for a magic spring. They found it and left it to the care of protective deities Diana and the nymphs. Then they adopted the old name of the place, Germisara,’ says Ph.D. Cristina Mitar, an archaeologist specialising in the Roman Era at the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilistaion (MCDR) of Deva.

For a long time, nothing was known of Geoagiu-Bai, and only in the 15th century was the restoration of the baths by Isabela, wife of Hungary’s King Sigismund Zapolya, mentioned as an Italian mercenary named Geovan Andrea Gromo, the commander of the prince’s guards, recorded that some pleasant baths, which the king would often use, were built there.

Later on, German pastor Conrad Iacob Hiltebrandt of Stein, visited the baths in 1656-1658, noting in his diary that the water would come down from a hill to a valley and was suitably warm. He also noted the presence of a large rectangular area where water would go up almost to the neck level and where swimming was possible.

Photo credit: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES PHOTO

Only in 1987 was the Germisara archaeological site rediscovered and searched according to the scientific standards, following the start of physical planning works at the Geoagiu-Bai resort. ‘The research led to marvellous finds. As many as 600 coins have been unearthed, some gold votive plaques, a statue of goddess Diana and four inscribed altars. With only one exception, all the items are in the collection of the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation of Deva,’ says Mitar.

Photo credit: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES PHOTO

Since we mentioned the gold votive plaques, we can add that those found at Geoagiu Bai are special. Of all the nearly 100 votive plaques so far discovered worldwide, only 14 are made of gold and half of them were found at Germisara.

‘The seven plaques made of 22-k gold reflect the claims that the three deities: Diana — the goddess of forests and wildlife; Hygeia — the goddess of medicine, and the Nymphs, the thermal water healers, would expect the dedicators to heed to: a precious material on which the deity and the dedication had to be inscribed,’ explains the MCDR specialist.

Photo credit: (c) Mihaela PANA / AGERPRES PHOTO

She also reveals that Germisara was the venue of a thermal compound that is very similar to the modern concept of a spa resort where personalities of the Dacia province would come for treatment. The benches in the bathrooms and a tunnel dug along the lake to steer the thermal water to the bath chambers are still visible today.

Photo credit: (c) Mihai Dragos GEORGESCU / AGERPRES PHOTO

Today, Geoagiu-Bai is an all-year-round health resort, with a business peak in the summertime, when the Dacian-Roman bath compound, the favourite place of tourists because of the latest changes, is open. The pools inside the compound are fed with thermal water and built to meet the demands of a highly demanding public.

There are many accommodation possibilities, including 4-star hotels and even room rentals. The locals are very friendly and most of them work in tourism, at least in summertime.

‘The resort is vital to the local community,’ says Geoagiu Mayor Ioan Valean, who argues that the economic development of the area has to be buttressed by two pillars: tourism and traditional farming.

‘The resort can accommodate 1,300 tourists per series. We provide complex and full-range services to tourists as well as the treatment they need to improve their health. The resort is located in a wonderful leisure area and we do our best to make sure our guests have a good time and will want to return,’ the mayor adds.

Photo credit: (c) Constantin DUMA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The wish of the local administration and of the companies dealing with tourist services in Geoagiu-Bai is the extension of the tourist season. Even if the resort is visited by more than 30,000 tourists in summertime, the number could increase if there were indoors thermal pools. Some hotels and boarding houses provide such service already, but there are plans to extend the project to a larger scale.

‘We are deploying all efforts to cover one or two pools in the thermal lido, which would extend the holiday season to ten months a year, which would benefit everybody — tourists, locals, business operators and the local public administration,’ adds Valean.

There would be more to be said about this part of Romania that deserves being included among our holiday destinations. Geoagiu-Bai is a family-friendly place that is also friendly to young people and the elderly. It is the place where people get back to their feet and also a venue for relaxation and fun. We should also add that Geoagiu-Bai could be a base camp for trips to the nearby Corvins’ Castle of Hunedoara, the Dacian bastions of the Orastie Mountains, the bastion of Deva and the Prislop Monastery. If your time here is short, you should put the Clocota waterfall on your short list, as it is only one quarter of an hour by foot from the resort, along with the Romanesque Chapel of Geoagiu, the Aurel Vlaicu Museum in the homonymous village, and the Mada Gorge. They are all worth it! AGERPRES

Photos taken by: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Renowned for the high quality of its ski slopes, the resort of Straja is a place full of surprises for the travellers who choose to climb the Valcan Massif following a county road that starts at Lupeni and reaches an elevation of 1,440 meters.

A metal cross founded by the Lupeni Quarry and built by Christian believer Emil Parau in 1996, watches over the area. Comparable with the Caraiman Cross, the cross of Straja is 18.6 meters high and has a span of 9 metres, situated on a small hill in the close vicinity of a wooden hermitage built in the same year.

The little wooden church is patronised by Saint Apostles Constantine and Elena, having become, along with the cross and a painted calendar, a symbol of the resort, especially because it is very beautiful. This is where church services are held throughout the year, with the most important celebration being held on Good Friday, when the ash tree cross is carried in a 10-km procession on the Road of the Holy Cross, from Lupeni to Straja.

Abundant snow and blizzards powerfully blowing in wintertime would pile up the snow, being a nuisance to those who would take care of the small wooden church and would like people can reach this place of worship at any time. That was how the idea of building a tunnel linking the main road in the resort of to the wooden church came about. Construction of the tunnel ended in 2006, and the outcome from the hands of the craftsmen was a special calendar that is unique in Romania.

‘There is very much snow at Straja and reaching the hermitage was a hard task. That is why we said let there be this tunnel up to the Straja Hermitage. And in order to endure for ever, we had it built of concrete. Then, as I was looking at a Christian Orthodox calendar it downed on me that we, the Orthodox believers, have saint feasts every day. So, I came up with the idea of having the tunnel painted in the entire Orthodox calendar, to make an Orthodox calendar in pictures,’ says Emil Parau, the financier of the hermitage and the tunnel.

It took almost two years to do the interior paintings. The Orthodox Calendar painted inside the tunnel begins on September 1, following church year customs . Months are painted on the left side of the tunnel, coming from the interior yard of the church, while the paintings on the ceiling depict scenes from the Old and the New Testament. Painted on the right side are 12 icons of the grand Orthodox feasts and the 10 commandments.

A permanent candle is lit in the tunnel and moved every day in front of the holy icon that indicates the current date in the calendar.

People appreciate this unique tunnel of saints. They enter the tunnel through a large wooden gate painted white, looking for their day of birth and then see the image of the day’s saint, as recorded in the Orthodox calendar. After a few minutes, they remember their families or friends and look up for their birthdays according to their Christian ordination.

‘I believe that in addition to the worldly things we do when we come to a resort, we should get closer to God. Here, there are painted icons and biblical scenes. The images complete what we know about religion and an icon is a gateway to God,’ says Father Valentin, the one that showed around the tunnel of the 365 saints.

‘Tourists appreciate this tunnel very much and the hermitage here at Straja. This is a place where they can find peace of mind. I can tell you that with the advent of the monastery, the number of tourists has surged. The hermitage probably helped, because people can come here to recover themselves, besides skiing or relaxing at Straja during the year. I can tell you that nearly 90 per cent of the people coming to Straja also pass through this tunnel and go to the hermitage to say a prayer,’ adds Parau.

There is also a story related to the tunnel, the hermitage and the Heroes’ Cross of Straja. In 1996, at the Montana Chalet, right on the feast of Saints Constantine and Elena, a tourist turned on the light in a room. The bulb burned, and the flame of the filament seared the shape of a cross inside the bulb. One tourist broke the bulb, but the same happened two weeks later. The light bulb can be seen at the Straja Hermitage, and a monk interpreted the occurrence as having to do with 800 troops that died in the area in WWI.

That is how the Heroes’ Cross came into existence to commemorate the Romanian troops, after which the wooden hermitage followed and then the tunnel of the 365 saints. They say that no tourist has died at Straja since October 1996, when the cross was built. AGERPRES

Photo credit: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES PHOTO

The place the monastery is located in is one with a special meaning, carrying the efforts of those who dedicated their life to the church and the imprint left by the late priest monk Arsenie Boca.

Raised in a forest clearing in the Retezat Mountains, several dozen kilometres from the town of Hateg, the monastery today is a place of pilgrimage for the Christian Orthodox believers from all over Romania. They are in search for peace of soul, they are suffering hardships, but most of the pilgrims are Romanians who merely wish to pay respects to the grave of priest Arsenie Boca, their saint who has not been declared a saint.

Photo credit: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES PHOTO

The monastery documents say it was founded by Saint Nikodim, known for having guided and reorganised Romanian monasticism in the second half of the 14th century. Years on, we find here Princess Zamfira, the daughter of Wallachian ruler Moise Voda Basarab of Bucharest. The princess heard of the healing powers of a spring near the monastery and she got well after having drunk from its water. In sign of gratitude, Zamfira restored the monastery’s church and its fresco in 1564-1580. That is why she is seen in the history of the monastery as the second founder of Prislop. She is also buried there.

Prislop Monastery, however, also saw very tough times. It was set on fire in 1762 on an order from General Burlow, who thus sought to punish the Orthodox monks who denied embracing the Greek Catholic faith. In the autumn of 1948, the Metropolitan Bishop of Ardeal Nicolae Balan decided to restore the monastery, which again became Orthodox as it had been for 350 years. Priest monk Arsenie Boca is the one chosen by Metropolitan Bishop Nicolae to bring the monastery back to life. As there were no monks, the monastery was turned into a nuns’ monastery.

Together with the first Mother Superior of Prislop Monastery, Mother Zamfira Constantinescu, priest Arsenie Boca began the work he had been sent there for. He reinforced the hill near the church by planting fir-trees and pines and four years later the wood-and-stone belfry was raised.

The church restoration works began in 1955 and spanned several years, during which time a new rood screen and the necessary furniture were made. The outer walls and the roof were repaired, the nave and altar were plastered up and the flooring was changed. Two new houses were built and electricity was installed. Five icons made by priest Arsenie Boca, deemed the third founder of the monastery, adorn the church rood screen.

Photo credit: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES PHOTO

However, the efforts made at the small church in the Retezat were not approved of and then-communist Romanian state leadership decided the monastery should disappear. As a result, the buildings in Prislop got a different destination in 1960 and were turned into an elderly home.

It will be as late as in 1976 that Prislop Monastery again becomes what it had been once, as the nuns here continue taking good care of the places and keep the objects of religious value.

Prislop Monastery has several special days over a year. Besides its two patron saints: May 8 — Saint John the Evangelist, September 14 — The Day of the Cross, also celebrated at the monastery are the days of September 13 — Saint John of Prislop, November 28 — when priest Arsenie Boca is remembered and December 26 — the Day of Saint Nikodim. The faithful come in pilgrimage to the monastery on those days in large numbers, more than ten thousand, according to the authorities.

Photo credit: (c) Simion MECHNO / AGERPRES PHOTO

As such, the natural question is that whether a new church in Prislop Monastery is necessary. A firm answer is difficult to give, taking into account both the high number of the believers who come to the monastery in pilgrimage and the plans that priest Arsenie Boca made.

This summer, Mother Superior Pavelida Munteanu was so kind as to talk to us, only as her busy schedule allowed her. According to her, a new church can be raised at Prislop, but the concept of a whole ensemble that priest Arsenie Boca had when he had devised the place arrangement must also be taken into account. The important thing, the Mother Superior said, is that people should come to the monastery with the thought of repairing their mistakes, to pray and ponder and love the beautiful things, because as the priest put it: “Beauty is God”.

“People must come here with the wish to change their lives, from evil to good. We must put ourselves in agreement with God’s will. Priest Arsenie Boca was asking us to correct our life towards what’s good. This should be the purpose of those who come here, to know the true path of meeting Our Lord Jesus Christ. To leave the evil deeds behind and correct their life as is God’s will. This is the best thing”, such is the teaching word of Mother Superior Pavelida Munteanu. AGERPRES

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The castle, an exponent of the Gothic style, is also well-preserved.

John Hunyadi (Romanian: Ioan de Hunedoara), a famous military commander against the Turks and later regent of Hungary built it in the 15th century on a rock above the Zlasti Creek. It is visible from great distances, and accessible by a road around the industrial area of the former iron and steel works of Hunedoara.

It has towers, bastions, and high tile roofs. Following many changes, it still kept its original Neboisa Tower and the gallery. The Neboisa wing was the latest open to tourists, in 2014.

Other high points of the castle tour are the Capistrano Tower, named after a famous monk hosted at the court, the Knights Hall used for receptions, the Maces Tower, the White Bastion and the Diet Hall.

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

In the courtyard, near the chapel, there’s a fountain with a legend. Three Turk prisoners of war allegedly dug it in exchange of their freedom. They found water after 15 years, almost 30 meters deep, but their holders refused to keep their word and set them free. Upset, the Turks carved on the fountain wall a text translated for tourists as ‘You have water, it’s heart you don’t have.’ Actually, experts say the 15th century inscription in Arabic characters reads ‘Written by Hasan, enslaved by the infidels, in the fortress near the church.’

As the number of tourists, including foreigners kept increasing over the past years, investments were made. Some of them involved advanced technology and modern gadgets, including wireless guide explanations. The success, especially among smaller groups of visitors, prompted the rental of tablets at the entrance. More than 300 tourists take this offer every month.

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

In 2013, the Corvin Castle had a record number of visitors — over 250,000, the castle museum manager Costin Tinca said. August was the peak, with 61,000 visitors, and the daily maximum was 3,200 on August 16.

Statistics show that 80 of visitors were Romanian, but many come from Hungary, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

‘I remember the words of an Italian tourist, an architect who had worked in restorations in Venice. When he entered the courtyard, the first thing he said was he couldn’t imagine a so well-preserved medieval castle still existed. He added it seems a picture processed in Photoshop,’ Tinca recalls.

The castle also hosts cultural events. The most famous, Opera Nights, stages famous aria for five days in July, taking advantage of the special acoustics of the courtyard.

Photo credit: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Several historical films and advertising videos used the castle as a set, featuring characters like Vlad the Impaler, Michael the Brave, Francois Villon, Luther and Henry VIII.

Repairs are in progress at the roofs damaged by rains and storms in recent years. It’s painstaking, as the tiles must be overlapped, with approximately one centimetre cut out of every single one of them, allowing a perfect fit on the circular section of roofs.

Other legends surround the castle. The Corvins’ emblem, a raven holding a golden ring in its beak, is said to originate in the allegation of John Hunyadi being the illegitimate son of Sigismund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary with Elisabeth, a fair lady of Hateg County. To save her honour, the king married her to Voicu, one of his knights, and endowed the unborn child with a ring, which would later allow them being recognized at the Royal Court. The Voicus forget the ring on a picnic towel during a trip; a raven was attracted by the glitter and tried to steal it. John, still a child, shot an arrow at the bird and got the ring back.

This story made an impression at the Court, and the raven holding the ring was adopted as the emblem of the family of Hunedoara. AGERPRES

Photo credit: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Set in an almost flatland area, on the national road linking the towns of Hateg and Caransebes, the former capital of Roman Dacia reveals itself to the traveler as soon as he steps within the boundaries of the Sarmizegetusa commune — Hunedoara County. The fortress walls are visible from the road and the tourist who stops to visit can use the parking lot right in front of the monument’s entrance gate.

Historians consider the Dacica Sarmizegetusa colony as the oldest urban settlement in Roman Dacia, being also its largest cultural and religious center. The precise date when the city was founded is unknown, but right from the beginning it had a privileged top position in the province.

“One of the first coins minted for the province has the colony-founding religious ritual represented on it. This is a bronze sestertius issued in Rome for the celebration of this event. As shows the image imprinted on the coin, the foundation of the city was performed according to the ancient rite the Romans inherited from the Etruscans (Etrusco ritu). Featured on the obverse is the effigy of Emperor Trajan, and the reverse shows a man with a plough drawn by a white ox and a white cow, furrowing the pomerium — the swath of land defining the boundaries of the future city walls — in a ritual that had been identically performed at the foundation of Rome.

“Governor Decimus Terentius Scaurianus must have been the one who, dressed as cinctus Gabinius (that is as an officiant, with a particular belting style for the toga and with his head covered with a fold of the garment), ploughed the ground on behalf of the emperor, to mark the limits of the future city, and leaving unfurrowed the spots where the gates of the colony were to be positioned.

It would have been interesting for this to have happened immediately after the Roman — Dacian war, but this administrator of Roman law has held this office sometime between 107 — 112, although the precise years of his tenure are not known. Therefore, this landmark moment in the life of the city cannot be exactly pinpointed on the timeline, and is still an unsolved enigma,” says Dr. Gica Baestean, head of the ‘Sarmizegetusa Museum’ section of the Deva city Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilization (MCDR).

Photo credit: (c) Sorin BLADA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Spanning an area of about 34 hectares inside the walls and with another 60-80 hectares outside walls, Ulpia Traiana belongs to the medium-sized cities of the Roman Empire. The population living in this area counted nearly 20,000 people. The city also had a territory assigned to farming, where lower rank settlements like Germisara (the present-day Geoagiu spa) or Aquae (Calan spa) developed too.

The tour of the historical monument begins with the amphitheater that immediately captures the tourist’s attention. The large-size building could accommodate in the stone stands about 6,000 people. This is where gladiatorial shows, drama or sport events were held, and the viewers took their seats in a very strict order. Seated on the stone benches in the first rows were the members of the city aristocracy, behind them the members of the equestrian order, followed by businessmen, and the rear rows were reserved for common people and women.

In the amphitheater area there is also a temple dedicated to medicine gods Aesculapius and Hygia. Another temple here is dedicated to Nemesis, worshipped as the goddess of balance, justice and fortune the gladiators badly needed in the combat.

Between the temples and the city walls a winding road runs west to east. It is a fragment of the imperial road the locals still use on some portions. Like all Roman roads, it was built according to the highest standards of urban engineering and its route is entirely known. It was the most important travel route, not just a connection between the south and the north of the province, but a connection between a remote area north of the Danube and the rest of the Roman Empire. The road came from Drobeta (present-day Drobeta Turnu Severin) via Tibiscum and Sarmizegetusa, then deviated northwards to Apulum, Potaissa, Napoca and ended in Porolissum (Moigrad), the northernmost point of the province.

Right near the city entrance is one of the most important buildings, the ‘domus procuratoris’, the palace of the financial procurator of Dacia Apulensis. This magistrate was a very important character in the provincial hierarchy, practically second in rank after the governor. He was a sort of finance minister, dealing with the collection of taxes and dues, but also had a major responsibility with the payments to the army. The partial archaeological digging done at the palace unearthed two thermal bathing facilities, a temple, offices, etc.

One of the walls of the buildings here is over 1 m thick. It’s hard to say what the height of this building might have been, but it must have supported a huge weight, probably put on it by several floors. During the reign of Augustus, buildings in Rome could get 20 m high. This height limit was set at the emperor’s intervention because buildings exceeding this limit would have been at risk and were unsanitary as well. Similar measures were taken by emperors Nero and Trajan. Buildings couldn’t have reached such heights in Sarmisegetusa, but there must have been multi-storey buildings here too.

The forum of the Dacica Sarmizegetusa colony is the center where the main roads intersected, the northern entrance having a public fountain on each side. The court of the forum was paved with marble blocks and from there one could head for the basilica, a building towering the architectural ensemble. From this space one could also enter the curia, where the city decurions — members of the local council — discussed the city’s major issues, under the chairmanship of two mayors.

The city’s sewage system, the stone blocks, ceramic tubes and pipework give us good reason to place the Dacian metropolis alongside the major cities of the Roman Empire, which implied the use of top state of the art urban planning and engineering.

Head of the Sarmizegetusa Museum, Dr. Gica Baestean, the man who greets you at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, well prepared with all the necessary explanations, is actually the one who organized this museum dedicated to this historical monument, attempting to provide the visitor, with the help of experimental archaeology, a picture of what this urban settlement may have looked like almost 2,000 years ago.

As the numbers of tourists visiting Ulpia Traiana is rising steeply, the Deva Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilization — the administrator of the site — developed an ambitious plan to restore the Roman amphitheater at the city entrance. The reconstruction of the amphitheater at its real-life size would require five million euros worth of funding, says MCDR Deva manager Liliana Tolas, adding that the authorities in charge want to include the project in one of the EU financing axes and apply for non-reimbursable funding.

The monument is already included in the European project “The Roman Emperors Route”, which considerably enhanced the visibility of this tourist attraction, outside country borders as well. AGERPRES

Photo credit: (c) Marius AVRAM / AGERPRES PHOTO

The Mociu meteorite, which is also the best known in Romania, fell from the sky more than 130 years ago, on February 3, 1882, with pieces resulting after its entry into the Earth’s atmosphere having scattered over 15 km. The largest piece, which weighs 35.7 kilograms, is now on display at the Museum of Mineralogy of Cluj-Napoca, while smaller pieces were sent to more than 100 museums worldwide.

It is estimated that the Mociu meteorite debris weighed more than 300 kilograms, of which several pieces weighing about 42 kilograms in total are on display at the museum in Cluj-Napoca.

But according to specialists, the Mociu meteorite should have weighed at least 30,000 kilograms before entering the atmosphere, but, as happens in almost all cases, air friction makes meteorites lose most of their mass and arrive on Earth at only about 8-10% of their original weight.

Geology Ph.D and meteorite specialist Razvan Andrei told Agerpres that the Mociu meteorite had exploded two or three times after it entered the atmosphere and that only a small part of it reached Earth. ‘When it entered the atmosphere, its mass was much higher, at least 30 tonnes. It lost 90-92% of its mass,’ said Razvan Andrei.

He added that the largest known meteorite fell at Hoba in Namibia. It weighs about 60 tonnes, it is metallic and it punched a crater that is 50 metres in diameter and 10 metres deep.

It is said that the Mociu meteorite generated some panic among the population, but no human casualties were reported.

Curator of the Museum of Mineralogy of Cluj-Napoca Luminita Zaharia told Agerpres that there are testimonies according to which the noise made by the Mociu meteorite was heard as far away as Budapest.

Photo credit: (c) Marius AVRAM / AGERPRES PHOTO

‘It was fantastic, from what I understand, especially as it happened somewhere in the evening and the meteorite left those burning paths in the atmosphere. There are testimonials, from what I read, that the noise was heard as far away as Budapest and the light was seen even farther. It must have been something of a doomsday for those people,’ says Zaharia. It is also said that the meteorite was shining very brightly in the night skies, like a big ball of purple fire that left behind a greyish—white trail after the fall.

It is also said that the noblemen of the area would send peasants to look for pieces of the meteorite in the fields, for money, and that the largest of them were found, especially because it was winter and the traces left in the snow were evident.

Razvan Andrei says the Mociu meteorite is a primitive piece from the protosolar nebula, which has remained relatively unchanged since the birth of the solar system and which can be up to five billion years older than the Sun.

He also tells about the meteorite market where such heavenly pieces can be more expensive than any precious metal, even up to 5,000 US dollars a gram.

‘The market for meteorites is a very big market. It depends on type and analysis. One gram can reach up to several thousand dollars, like 5.000. The market was very high until about 2000, prices were very high. But discoveries began in Sahara, the place where very many meteorites originate, and prices dropped. Meteorites are very rich in iron that in a climate like that in Romania can waste away, whereas in Sahara, with a very arid climate, they can be preserved much longer,’ explains Razvan Andrei.

Eight meteorites have so far been officially registered in Romania, with the last of them being the meteorite of Plescoi, Buzau County. It weighs 6.9 kg and it fell into the courtyard of a local.

Razvan Andrei told Agerpres that a new meteorite was found in Romania currently undergoing scientific certification. The meteorite had lain for decades in the courtyard of a villager from Gresia, Teleorman County.

Along with pieces of the Mociu and Plescoi meteorites, there are more than 220 other samples of meteorites having fallen all over the world on display at the Museum of Mineralogy of the Babes-Bolyai University. In fact, the museum houses the only collection of meteorites in Romania. AGERPRES