A Romanian Village
Romanian country side is beautiful. Being a child I spend my childhood in a village from Transylvania, Cluj County. Was wonderful. I always waited for Summer school holiday to go to my grant parents in the country side.
Clean air, good food, beautiful landscapes, warm and good people. All of these you will find in a Romanian village. Lots of place to visit or things to do.
If you like wild mushrooms here you are the best places to find a wide range of wild mushrooms, or course with the help of a local person. Also you may find lots of forest fruit: blackberries, raspberries, cranberries.
Wild mushrooms and forest fruit represent a good income for the locals in the summer and autumn season.
Today I want to present you some places around the area were I spend my holidays.
Poieni
Is the main commune. It is composed of seven villages: Bologa, Cerbeşti, Hodişu, Lunca Vişagului, Morlaca, Tranişu and Valea Drăganului.
Poieni is situated at the confluence of the Crisu Repede and Hent rivers; the confluence is known as "gura apelor" - "the mouth of the waters" - in the local toponymy) and at the foot of the Vladeasa mountains (1863 m), part of the Apuseni Carpathians. You may find accommodation in a traditional house or in the inns from the area.
Bologa
4000 years old artefacts (stone axes) were found at the place called "Drumul găunos" ("Potholed Road").
A Roman castrum called Resculum is the oldest documented settlement in the area. It was built around 106 AD, as a garrison for the “II Cohortis Hispanorum” (see Dux), whose mission was probably to defend the Roman Empire's border. As the Romans tried to tighten their hold on the region during the 2nd century A.D., they brought in colonists to the village from Greece, possibly from Patras.
The ruins of the castrum are still visible today in the place still called "Grădişte" which means "fortified settlement", although most of the area is cultivated. The ruins of a Roman bath also exist near the castrum.
Overlooking the castrum, on the opposite bank of the Henţ (Sebeş) river, on top of a steep hill lies one of the first Hungarian fortresses in Transylvania, which was mentioned for five centuries as Sebesvár, featuring on most Middle-Age maps of the region.
A stone quarry was opened in 1930 providing dacite stone for the Budapest-Bucharest road. The quarry was later on taken over by the Romanian railways, most of whose embankments are made of stone from the area. After 1989 the quarry was privatised and did not do very well comparing to neighbouring quarries, so it stopped being the main source of income for the villagers. The upcoming highway projects in Romania are expected to improve the quarry prospects.
Forestry is also active in the area, though more active in the neighbouring valley of Drăgan. Agriculture is widely practiced but the land size and quality in the hilly-mountainous area only allows for the individual needs of the land owners.(details take from Wikipedia)
Valea Draganului and Lunca Visagului
There are lots of places for accommodation, small chalets to rent or you may find accommodation in a traditional house.
Clean air, spring water, forest fruits. The landscapes are beautiful. As you go up into the mountains the landscapes are breathtaking. The Floroiu Dam is built of concrete arch, 120 meters high. It is the second largest dam in the country. The lake stretches as the eye can see, embraced by the lofty mountains with green trees. It has a total volume of 112 million cubic meters and a canopy opening of 424 m. The lake has an area of 293 ha and is stocked with fish and is an ideal location for recreational fishermen sleep. The lake has two arms 4 and 12 km.
Maybe I could not make you consider to visit Romania yet but I will try.
More beautiful places to visit in my next article.
Thank you for reading.
nicoletag
