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).

Seven Corners (www.sevencorners.com) is a travel insurance agency, offering a variety of travel medical policies for international travelers, both US going abroad and foreign citizens staying in the US. For US citizens traveling to Romania, this is probably one of the best insurers: reliable, with full 24 hours support, and a large network of international health care providers—including doctors, pharmacies and hospitals worldwide.

The agency has a strong reputation: a member of the U.S. Travel Insurance Association (UStiA) and a certified General Services Administration (GSA) contract provider, Seven Corners is not necessarily the cheapest insurer, but one of the most reliable. Aside worldwide travelers, its roster of clients also includes international insurance companies, agencies of the U.S. government including the State Department, global corporations and even foreign governments.

The company was established in 1993, as Specialty Risk International Inc. (SRI), and began operations with less than half of the services it currently offers. The company changed its name in 2007 to Seven Corners Inc., a better, more memorable brand. But for the customers, the most important are the benefits offered by the company. For instance, Seven Corners offers insurance policies protecting domestic and international travelers against trip cancellation and interruption; airline delays and bankruptcies; lost tickets/luggage; emergency medical evacuation/repatriation; and other incidental coverage and services.

Seven Corners is also one of the few insurers that offer medical tourism insurance for persons who seek medical, dental or cosmetic health care procedures abroad. This information is valuable for those travelers who seek health treatments in Romania. For example, Romania offers high standards of cosmetic surgery at a fraction of most EU prices; and dental surgeries in Bucharest are among the best in Europe.

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.

It’s been a while since any Romanian mentioned the name of the dictator who ruled the country with an iron fist for over 25 years. But Nicolae Ceausescu was no worse than others before him… those rulers who killed for fun – or call it national interest to get the proper excuse… They are not exclusive to Romania. In fact, the world had worse, and it’s not a big deal.

Well, in news today, we find that DNA tests have confirmed that the grave of Nicolae Ceausescu contains the remains of the Romanian dictator. The news has been confirmed by Valentin Ceausescu, the survivor son of the couple killed at Christmas, 1989.

The tests were necessary, because many Romanians had doubts that the couple were really buried in the Ghencea military cemetery in Bucharest. Another problem for the Ceausescu family is that the two were buried 20 yards apart.

Their bodies were recently exhumed, for the tests to be possible. Valentin Ceausescu, a 62-year-old nuclear physicist, said in a statement that the surviving family wanted closure after the tragic death of the two.

Valentin Ceausescu also said that he had never visited his parents’ graves because he was not sure where they were buried. Many myths were circulated after the execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, one of them being that their death was staged, and that bodies of doubles were buried instead.

Ceausescu was ousted and executed with his wife, Elena, after a summary trial during the 1989 anticommunist revolt.

Courtesy Radio Free Europe: Reports: DNA Tests Confirm Ceausescu's Remains

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

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Feature image, courtesy Travel in Romania.

It’s made in Transylvania, where the shepherds still herd their flocks in the good old fashioned way, on open mountain slopes. You’ll see a number of mountain dairies (“stâna”) – in fact, if you stop by you will get a royal treatment for sure. They’ll set the table for you, with fresh organic produce, and good wine, or liquors from the region. Nothing fancy though, just a traditional meal that tastes like home for so many Romanians.

A traditional sheepfold in the mountains - courtesy VISITING SIBIU - please click on the image to visit the site.

It’s here where they make a rare cheese that rivals with some of the finest you’ve ever tasted. Aside the traditional telemea – similar to Greek feta – urdă, caşcaval and caş, they make Brânză de burduf, the most valuable among Romanian cheeses.

Brânză de burduf, courtesy THA Blog

The basis of this extraordinary cheese is the sweet caş. Caş is made up by adding rennet to fresh milk. After this coagulates, the curd is crushed and then gathered and hung in a textile material to allow the whey to drain.

The Cheese festival in Sibiu, courtesy Sibiul.ro

Brânza de burduf made with caş and a little extra… caş is cut into small pieces, salted and then hand-mixed in a large wooden bowl. The mixture is then placed in a sheep’s stomach, or into a sheep’s skin that has been carefully cleaned and sawed on the edges, or in a tube made of pine bark.

Brânza de burduf, courtesy old Swede 65

La Fondazione describes the process more in depth:

Brânza de burduf in pine bark is produced from May to July, when the trees are rich in aromatic resin: after the bark is scraped, it is softened in hot whey and then sewed to obtain cylindrical containers 20-25 cm high and 10 cm wide, sealed with bark discs at the edges. It can be aged from 20 days to 2-3 months, its flavor becoming increasingly spicy with aging. Fir tree bark imparts a resinous flavor on the cheese and enriches its taste qualities.

They don’t celebrate Halloween in Romania, not as you’d think. There will be some bars and nightclubs organizing Halloween specials, and in Sighisoara you’ll find a number of enthusiasts wearing vampire costumes – after all, this is where good-old Dracula was born. Adventure Transylvania has already begun its “Dracula tour” on October 28 – maybe you should bookmark this site for a future adventure.

So, aside the commercial implications, Halloween doesn’t mean much in Romania. They have St. Andrew’s Day, the national saint of Romanians and Romanian Orthodox Church. Then, they have St. Andrew’s Night (Noaptea Sfântului Andrei), which is November 29th, or the “night of the vampires” as they call it…

Romanians believe that during the night, vampires and “strigoi” (the undead) are coming out to fight and dance at the crossroads or near abandoned houses. In some villages young people gather at a common location to celebrate the occasion by “guarding the garlic.” They prepare their location grazing all access windows and doors with garlic. Each young girl is required to bring three cloves of garlic along. These are put together in a pot, and are guarded by the oldest woman in the house at candlelight. The party lasts all night. At dusk, the young folk take the pot of garlic outside and dance around it. The garlic is then split between the participants, and becomes a “sacred symbol” that will guard families against illness or spells.

Black Magic by beast love - click on the image to see the original.

There are a number of other interesting beliefs and superstitions. For example, they say that people who work on St. Andrew’s Day may be unlucky. They also believe that during St. Andrew’s Night animals speak with human voices, but people should not be listening to their conversations because they’ll die.

A Romanian wedding - photo by Adora Studio - click on the image to visit the site.

Girls can find their future husbands… or at least they can “see” them. This can be done in a number of ways, depending on local traditions. In some parts of Romania, young girls go to a fountain with a candle and look inside – they will see the faces of their future husbands reflected in the water inside. To dream the future husbands, girls put 41 grains of wheat each under their pillows. If they dream that the wheat is stolen, they will get married soon.

Wolf Moon by pareeerica - click on the image for the original.

Interestingly, St. Andrew is also the patron of the wolves, and a protector to people who have been attacked by these animals. Romanians also believe that Saint Andrew (named Sfântul Apostol Andrei) was the first who preached Christianity in Scythia Minor, modern Dobrogea, to the native people of the Dacians (ancestors of the Romanians).

This is the cave where St. Andrew apparently preached – in Dobrogea, Ion Corvin, Constanța.

Feature image, (garlic) courtesy Kate Palaña

It’s Fall, and in many Romanian homes this is equivalent with preparing for the winter. Since fresh produce are hard to find in the winter, are usually more expensive and generally tasteless, Romanians conserve the tastes of the Autumn and its finest flavors. The following is the recipe of a traditional Romanian bread spread, called Zacuscă. The origins of the dish are Russian (закуска, zakuska) but the Romanian Zacuscă recipe is significantly different compared to its Slavic relative.

Courtesy Adi Hădean.

Zacuscă Ingredients

3-4 kg fresh eggplants
1,5 kg fresh tomatoes
3 kg fresh red peppers (called gogoşari – in US pimento peppers. Alternatively you could use three types of meaty peppers, like pimento, capia peppers, sweet bell peppers, etc)
1 kg onions
1 kg minced carrots
salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
1 kg sunflower oil (or virgin olive oil)

Preparing the Zacuscă Spread

Bake the eggplants and the peppers over an open flame (preferably grill) till their skins blacken. Peel them off, and wash the vegetable throughly with warm water. Mince the eggplants gently (don’t use food processors, as they transform the pulp into mush). Chop the pepper as well, in small cubes, and mix with the eggplant pulp.

Peal off the tomatoes and mince them (alternatively you could use 500 g tomato paste, but I believe that the fresh ones give a better taste).

Chop onions and place them in a large pot, add the minced carrots and the oil and let fry till golden over medium heat flame. Add the mix of eggplant and pepper to the boiling oil and onion, add tomatoes, then spice with salt and black pepper. Boil on low heat for about 2 hours, stirring repeatedly.

Courtesy Adi Hădean

If you want to save it for the winter, spoon the mixture into sterilized jars, seal them then boil the jars for about 20-30 minutes into a large water bath canner. Allow to cool in the same water.

Other recipes might include cooked beans, mushrooms, celery or other ingredients, according to taste, including spices. It’s really up to your fantasy to “improve” this. You could add zucchini, for example, or even eliminate some of the ingredients mentioned above (like carrots). Some replace eggplants with cooked beans, and so on. There’s no unbreakable rule – feel free to experiment till you find the right taste. The recipe above is my personal favorite. Zacuscă tastes warm or cold – serve as you will.

Courtesy Diva

Many people think of Romania as a Eastern-European country – as it was, once, part of the Soviet block. But Romania’s Transylvania is in Central Europe, and as such, you can expect many similarities with other Central European countries. In cities like Sibiu, Arad, Timisoara, Sighisoara the German influence is strong – and it can be observed in many elements of architecture. The influence of the Hungarian empire is evident in some of the royal palaces scattered across Transylvania like secret gems. Today, I’ll offer you a visual trip to Sighisoara – a World Heritage Site – the true cradle of Dracula (Vlad the Impaler, three-time Voivode of Wallachia).

Sighisoara, courtesy Mircea Tudorache

Although its indigenous population is rather small (about 30,000 inhabitants), the city appears lively and crowded. It is one of the most popular travel destinations in Romania – part because of its medieval splendor, part because of its legendary son, but mostly because of the popular festivals organized here every year.

Courtesy Luke Addison

Courtesy Mircea Turcan

Courtesy Rob Thurman

Aside the yearly Medieval Festival, Sighisoara offers a number of other treasures for the curious traveler:

The Clock Tower (“Turnul cu Ceas”) – Built in 1360 and standing at 60 meters tall atop the citadel hill. History museum inside, balcony with a great view on the top.

Monastery Church (“Biserica Mânăstirii”) - Lutheran church in late Gothic style, located next to the Clock Tower, built starting with 1291 by the Dominican Order

Courtesy Gaetan Gauthier

Weapon Museum – next to Vlad’s birthplace. Very small, but it contains an interesting selection of medieval weapons (swords, arrows, etc.).

Courtesy rishon-lezion.

Covered Staircase (“Scara Şcolarilor”) – an old stone staircase with a wooden roof along the whole span. This leads up to the Church on the Hill, the cemetery and the Joseph Haltrich High School (a.k.a. “School from the Hill”).

Church on the Hill (“Biserica din Deal”)- Lutheran church in late Gothic style, contains many frescoes and a crypt. Close to the cemetery on the side of the hill, which contains many German tombstones.

Courtesy rishon-lezion

Courtesy Michael Arrington

The fortified church of Biertan has been nominated World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. It is about 30 km away from Sighisoara.

Courtesy Schoko Chantallle

Although all these images show you empty streets, remember that Sighisoara usually looks like this:

Courtesy Adrian Zmau

Sighisoara is a medieval citadel, still inhabited, populated with your, vibrant and bohemian travelers, who know good music and good fun.