The Living Fires of Lopătari, Buzău are among the most mysterious, and unusual, phenomena you may find in nature, on a hiking path, within your reach. That’s if you know where to look. Romania was blessed with a few such miracles, places that could become its landmark tourist attractions, yet few is known about them. Today, we’ll take a look at one of those attractions, that, at the time I left Romania, was neglected by the authorities, and was known only by locals and a few enthusiastic mountaineers. Things have changed in the past ten years, with news of a future Geo-park “Land of Buzău” emerging in the media, but the development may take years to complete.

56 km from the city of Buzău, the county seat of Buzău County in the historical region of Wallachia, you’ll find the commune Lopătari. In one of the villages of this commune, Terca, there are the Living Fires (in Romanian: Focurile Vii) – a natural phenomenon, unique in Europe, but not unique to Romania. You’ll find a similar one, considered even more spectacular by some travelers, at Andreiaşu, a commune in Vrancea County, in the historical region of Moldovia, north of Buzău; and one in Reghiu commune, Vrancea, in the village of Răiuţi – only 8.5 km north of Andreiaşu.

Although the Living Fires of Andreiaşu (image above) occupy the most extensive area (400 m²), the Living Fires of Buzău are more popular with tourists, as they are situated close to other interesting natural attractions in the county, including: the Muddy volcanoes, the amber from Colti, the Salt from Meledic, the petroleum springs, salty springs, and so on.

This is a closeup of the freely burning natural gas at Terca, Lopătari. On the fire, you can even cook a meal. Image courtesy, Wikipedia Romania.

The natural emanations of gas are lit at the surface, under the rays of the sun. The fires burn at night as well, when the scenery is at its most spectacular display. At times you can see a flame rising up to 1 m into the wind above the ground.

For travelers, the fires are a natural curiosity. For the locals however, they are a source of legends, mystical beliefs, and superstition. Many local traditions have been inspired by these “eternal flames,” some no longer practiced, others still leaving their mark on local pottery, costumes and so on.

If their story has triggered your interest, then take a trip to Terca. In the summer, make sure you have enough water with you, the weather in Romania tends to get very hot, and the area around the Living Fires was not developed for tourist purposes. To understand, this is one of the signs marking the way to the Fires:

A handmade sign marking the way to the Living Fires of Terca (probably by a villager, or mountaineer).

To reach the place, drive through the city of Buzău, on the route Mărăcineni–Sapoca-Manzalesti-Lopătari-Terca (the GPS coordinates are N 45.53578 E 26.54857). If you drive through Berca, it’s better to use a four-wheel-drive vehicle. In fact, it’s good to have a good car to drive from Lopătari to Terca anyway. Prepare for a hike as well: the car cannot take you to the Fires. You have to cross a handmade wooden bridge, that looks ancient and wobbly. Then the road takes you on uneven terrain up the hill, on a hike that, although not difficult, it could be pure torture after the rain (mud and all). Below, the terrain map of the area.

Note that accommodation in Terca or Lopătari is hard to find. Your best bet is to lodge in Buzău and take the trip to the Living Fires early in the morning. Alternatively, you could try to find a room in the village, but don’t expect comfort and luxury. For many foreigners, the life standard in the villages here is below the poverty line. If you like fancy sheets, warm water 24h, and a comfortable commode, this place is not for you. If you want to experience the simple joys of life, warm people, authentic cuisine, and life as it used to be years and years ago, it doesn’t get better than this. There are a few more “modern” villas in Lopătari as well, renting rooms – but don’t count on them. The Terca village, your destination, looks pretty much like this:

A random house in Terca, courtesy Wikipedia Romania.

Located just 3km from Sebeş city in Alba County, on the road connecting the town with the Daia village, Râpa Roşie is a stunning landscape, in a geological reserve spreading over 10 hectares of land. The amazing stone walls you can see here are between 80 and 100 m tall. The deposits are formed as a succession of red clays, grey and reddish soap-stones, friable white soap-stone in which the drainage water eroded a rich variety of shapes that make this natural monument a landscape wonder. On the surface of the slopes the soil was washed away, revealing day by day new layers of clay, soap-stone and conglomerate layers.

These red columns, towers, pyramids, although they might look like a Hollywood set, or a landscape from another planet, are, in fact one of the wonders of the earth, and luckily enough, they grace Romania, attracting some tourists to Sebeş, but not enough.

Râpa Roşie is not a popular destinations, simply because it is not promoted as it should be. One way, this is a good thing: nature keeps its beauty untamed. But for the local tourist development, and economy, this landscape should be marketed as a tourist attraction.

At the foothills of the reddish stone walls, life goes on, undisturbed. Farmers work their land, and the animals find here a welcoming habitat. In the clay of the rocks, there are thousands of bird nests. You’ll even spot the usual reptiles crawling around, bugs and insects living together in perfect harmony. And when it rains, the watter streams running down the slopes gully the walls with a sinister noise.

The traveler is overwhelmed by the sights – somehow, although almost nothing grows on the rocks, there are enough rare and endangered species at the foothills: Cotoneaster integarrima, Ephedra distachya, Centaurea atropurpurea, Dianthus serotinus, Cephalaria radiata, Asplenium nigrum.

All images courtesy Râpa Roşie nature reserve. Please visit the website: http://www.rapa-rosie.ro for more information (in Romanian).

The last narrow gauge forestry steam train in Europe is in Romania and it is known by the locals as Mocaniţa. You’ll find one of the trains in Vişeu de Sus, a town in Maramureş County, northern Romania. The country still has a vast network of narrow gauge railways and forest trains, but the Mocaniţa is the only form of mechanised transportation into the rugged Vaser River valley.

Mocăniţa "Elvetia" in Faina station, courtesy Michael Schneeberger. Please click on the image to see the original.

The  Vaser Valley railway was constructed in the period 1933-1935 and uses a gauge of 760 mm (2 ft 5 7⁄8 in). It was partially destroyed by the Germans during World War II, but rebuilt to serve the transportation needs of the people from the region.

While replaced in most of the European countries after 1945, the forestry railways in Romania survived for a long time: In 1970 the state-run forestry administration still operated more than 3.000 kms of tracks, up to 1986 still new forestry steam locos were built in Romania, and in 1989 still more than 15 forestry railway existed with together approx. 1.000 kms of tracks according to the official website of the Vaser Valley forestry railway.

Mocăniţă in Abrud, courtesy Romania Libera

You will also find mocaniţe in the Aries mountains region of Alba county, from Abrud to Câmpeni; in the historical region of the Hartibaciu valley from Sibiu to Agnita (which recently celebrated 100 years of existence); from Covasna to Comandău in Covasna County; from Crişcior to Brad in Hunedoara county; from Târgu Mureş to Band; from Dorneşti to Nisipitu, and at Moldoviţa.

If you don’t know much about geology (or even if you do), the images featured below remind more of the works of Brâncuşi… And if you try to find a definition of what they are online, you cannot really manage without guidance. These are “trovants” – or concretions – a volume of sedimentary rock in which a mineral cement fills the porosity (i.e. the spaces between the sediment grains). As you expected they are rather rare formations, and you’ll only find them in remote locations, like the Bowling Balls Beach (Mendocino County, California); Jameson Land, East Greenland; Costesti, Romania; and a few other places… but we like to focus on Romanian territory here.

In Romania, you can find these spectacular stone formations in a place called Rezervaţia Naturală Muzeul Trovanţilor – in English Trovanti Museum Natural Reserve. The reserve is situated in Costeşti, Vâlcea (not far from Horezu and the National Road 67). The reason this is not already more popular is its relative young age – the reserve was only opened in 2005, under the careful administration of the Kogayon Association. The association itself is young as well, founded only in 2003, at the initiative and with the resources of a group of students from the Faculties of Geology and Geophysics within the University of Bucharest.

For many travelers, the oddly-shaped stones that spread all over the place look signify as many photographic opportunities. Tourists are not afraid of the local legends, that say that the stones bring bad luck, and even those who do believe in evil, witches and curses still come along to experience the scenery first hand. The local peasants call them ‘Stones that grow’ for a good reason: they were not brought here from a different location. They were formed some million years ago, in the Upper Miocene. And the stones continue to grow at rainfall…

The spectacular and unique concretions known as trovants in Romania are ranging from few centimeters to two meters. Never mind that other sites on the web report up to six-eight meters, none of the trovants are that big. You’ll find the sandstone concretions enclosed in a very thick sand bed. Notably, each concretion has a peculiar shape – no two are alike. There are tens of strange and beautiful trovanti scattered over the 11000 sqm geological reserve.

Courtesy Environmental Graffiti: Natural Design Series: Stones That Literally Grow by Themselves

View Larger Map

Feature image, courtesy Travel in Romania.

It’s not as popular as Vama Veche, but it used to be, and it’s still packed with young people planning a Black Sea resort holiday on a budget. Costineşti was once “the paradise of youth and of students” – but since 2 Mai and Vama Veche became popular, this little rural Black Sea resort is no longer worth the accolades.

Yes, it still holds one of the largest open air discos in the country – Disco Ring – where the most popular Romanian artists of the moment throw memorable concerts almost every evening during the Summer season. There’s also Mega Discoteca Tineretului for even more dance and live concerts, but other than these, there’s not much to do here.

Well, you do have the usual water sports, beach fun and even an old shipwreck (Evangelia, a Greek ship beached there in the late 1960s) to challenge your imagination, but from a cultural perspective, Costineşti doesn’t have much to offer.

Mind you, this used to be a student camp during the communist era, when also Costineşti’s biggest hotel was erected, yet such activities are no longer “trendy.”

What you get is the occasional young artist, ready to pen your portrait in five minutes for a symbolic fee. You get the musician who plays a guitar tune, surrounded by a gang of lively friends. You get the typical beach parties at night, and sometimes, you can even spot a dolphin or two if your eyes are not wandering to spot Romanian topless beauties.

The resort has an official capacity of 5300 beds, but many private families in the village Schitu, which is included in the commune, offer lodging and other hospitality services. Speaking of which, you might want to try to find such an accommodation, at least for the authentic Romanian cuisine.

Back in the day, when Romania was one of the most advanced (technologically and economically) countries in Europe, Peleş Castle was the first European castle entirely lit by electrical current, having its own power plant. In fact, Peleş was the world’s first palace fully operated by electric power. It doesn’t only portray a time of plenitude: its Neo-Renaissance architecture reminds a lot of the castles we used to see in fairytale books in our childhood.

The castle was built at the order of King Carol I, who visited the region in 1866 and decided to buy some land. Later, he built here a castle that blended with the beauty of the surrounding scenery. Peleş was built between 1873 and 1914, following plans by Johannes Schultz and Karel Liman. The name of the castle is drawn from the Peleş Creek, that passes through the courtyard. The courtyard itself measures 1,300 acres (5.3 km2).

The castle is open to the public and it receives about half million visitors every year. From the 168 rooms of the building, only 35 are accessible to the public, but they are enough to give the visitors a feel of what the Romanian kings used to live like. Rooms have different themes, ornamented by style (Florentine, Turkish, Moorish, French, Imperial) and lavishly furnished.

Visitors can also admire items of what is considered one of the finest collections of art in East and Central Europe. Everything on display (statues, paintings, furniture, arms and armors, gold, silver, stained glass, ivory, fine china, tapestries and rugs) is an original item.

Oriental rugs come from the finest sources: Bukhara, Mosul, Isparta, Saruk and Smirna, porcelain from Sèvres and Meissen, leather from Córdoba but perhaps the most acclaimed are the hand painted stained glass vitralios, mostly Swiss.

Every castle’s history is interesting, and has a mystery aura added to it. Peleş however doesn’t hide its past. There are no ghosts haunting it, no demons hiding within its walls. It’s pure beauty, a breathtaking building surrounded by a breathtaking scenery.

The Royal Castle amongst other monuments, surrounded by extremely pretty landscape with gardens built on terraces, all at the edge of dense forests. The castle itself is very impressive through the riches it has accumulated: old and new canvases, old furniture, weapons, all sort of curios, everything placed with good taste. – wrote Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austro-Hungary in a letter, in 1896 when he visited Peleş. Years later the castle’s visitors share the same sentiment and even more.

For more information about Peleş, visit its official website. The visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Wednesday through Sunday. On Mondays the castle is closed and on Tuesdays the hours are till 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission fee is 15 RON. Additionally you must check in your camera or pay 30 RON to take photos or 50 RON for video.

Location: Northwest of the town of Sinaia, 60 km from Braşov and 135 km away from Bucharest, Romania’s capital.

Exotic, beautiful, untamed and still carrying an ancient bliss. This is the Danube Delta: a warm, welcoming place in the wilderness, not far from the Romanian shore of the Black Sea. An enchanted paradise. Romania is an exotic location not for some luxuriant beauty. It doesn’t even have luxurious resorts for you to spend a fortune and even tell your kids “I’ve been there.” What Romania does have is Transylvania, the Mud Volcanoes, a great deal of natural beauties, some UNESCO World Heritage Centers (Sighisoara, to name one of the many), Dracula (yes, you read that right) and the Danube Delta.

As Dracula was merely a fisherman of souls and his fly rod is beyond reach, we invite you to explore a less known location: the Danube Delta.

Of course you will need the typical fishing gear for carp, perch, pike and zander – and even cat fish, which is the biggest fish in the Danube Delta with captures that reached 400 kg – but you’ll also need a few “extras.” And this has nothing to do with your typical fishing equipment.

You’ll need a few bottles of fine vodka – to open the hearts… as many as you can carry. This is the best coin there, because… there are almost no possibilities for the locals to produce their own schnapps. The Delta leaves little to no room for domestic crops. There is water everywhere and people live from the fruits of the little lots they can actually cultivate, and of course from the gifts of the canal. And no one, literally no one, would waste the crop on schnapps. So, because it is rare, it is valuable. And this is an “insider tip” you will not find on other websites.

You’ll need an OFF spray

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to keep pesky insects away. In the Danube Delta mosquitoes found a second home. They come in packs, early in the morning and at dusk, but they are not the only intruders OFF can keep away. Various species of flies and many other biting insects will stay away. Do not visit the Delta without OFF!

Stay away if you are afraid of snakes. As a rule, where there is water, snakes have a natural habitat. There are no records of poisonous snakes, but water snakes (4 species) swim and crawl free, wherever you expect them less. If you dare to catch them, they are the main dish for exquisite cuisine.

Take your binoculars. Fishing is fin, but till that fish bites, watch the birds. Unique species, some endangered, still live here, among which the great white pelican. Endangered fish? Two species of sturgeons. So take care what you catch. Some other endangered species include the European pond turtle, the European kingfisher (a bird) and the beaver.

The Danube Delta is a “lost paradise” and words often fail to describe it. But, if you can afford the flight, there is nothing else you need to worry about. You’ll find in Romania people with warm, open hearts, who will welcome you and treat you as royalty.

It’s been a while since I last published an entry on this blog, and I fell like I let down those few readers who never failed to make a comment that made me feel that my efforts were worth-while. Today I only want to show you a few breath taking sceneries from the Romania Carpathians.

Lugoj, is a city in Timiş County, Banat, western Romania, situated on both banks of the Timiş River. The river divides the city in two quarters: the Romanian on the right and the German on the left.

The city was the home town of famous Dracula actor Bela Lugosi Commando buy , a Romanian-Hungarian native, whose real name was Blasko. Lugosi is a derivative of Lugos, the town’s Hungarian name.

Lugoj is inhabited by Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, Roma and Ukrainians and other nationalities – with a 82.9 percentage of Romanian inhabitants.

In Her Shoes dvd

Lugoj is a beautiful, quiet little city, home of the Eparchy of Lugoj, an important religious establishment for the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Orthodox.

Summer School movies

The images below were offered by our StumbleUpon friend Sebastian Rotariu

, a Lugoj native and a teacher of geography in his city.

I let you enjoy Lugoj, as seen through the lens of the camera.

More about Lugoj: Lugoj. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 03, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/350972/Lugoj

One of my favorite destinations during the summer are the Western Carpathians (Romanian: Munţii Apuseni), an area with splendid landscapes, where the nature is green and unspoiled, the forested hills change with colorful open meadows. Numerous rivers have cut spectacular canyons and created the most fascinating caves.

Because of the difficult access roads, many of the mountain villages remained unchanged. It is one of the most interesting ethnographic regions with old watermills, typical farm buildings with straw roofs, wooden ox wagons.

The highlanders are called “moti” and they live mainly from agriculture, the wood processing, and are masters in woodcarving. In spring time, farmers are leading their herds of cows and flocks of sheep in the high mountain, where they rest until the first snowfall.

You may admire on the high pastures the “hodăi”, summer houses used by local people, while being with their herds in the mountains; these villages are the highest settlements of Romania. Everyone can experience here the very warmhearted hospitality in a region where tourism is still relatively new and every guest is welcomed as a friend of the family.

Some years ago, during a trekking session in Trascăului Mountains, I’ve discovered here a strange village. Strange because most of the inhabitants are Hungarian ethnic in a large Romanian area, and strange because it looks like it probably looked two centuries ago.

Rimetea (Hungarian: Torockó, German: Eisenburg) is unique. During the antiquity and middle ages, it was the center of iron mining for the region. In the 14th century, settled here colonists from Austria and Germany, to work in the iron mines. Once a town (17th century), now it is a quiet village resting on the foot of the impressive Piatra Secuiului Mountain (1171m).

The rich past of the village can be seen in the local ethnographic museum (since 1952) and some mine galleries still remained in the mountains.

The folk costumes keep Hungarian, German, Austrian and even Flemish influences, with the famous red boots and delicate lace, or the brides’ diadems made of gold threads.

About a half of the houses are registered in an Europe Union program for keeping the patrimonial buildings and the village was awarded with “Europa Nostra” Silver Medal for the way that traditional architecture is preserved, medal awarded by the Prince of Denmark.

Secuiului Rock is climbed by many tourists, for paragliding or to see the remains of Colţesti fortress.