Video the snowy lands in Romania defy the heat. Where are the coolest tourist attractions

Some places in Romania are preparing to face the high summer temperatures, keeping their freshness that made them famous. They are the most cool tourist attractions of Romania, accessible especially in the summer season.

The Retezat Massif has almost 80 glacial lakes, which turns it into one of the most attractive natural reserves in Europe.

Most of them were formed at altitudes of over 2,000 meters, in places where travelers can reach, on mountain trails, after several hours of walking. Above them are rising, still covered with snow, the stone ridges of the Retezat, which reach altitudes of over 2,500 meters.

Poiana Pelegii, Summer Destination of Retezat

The most accessible road in Retezat National Park, the reservation that overlaps largely over the Retezat Mountains, brings tourists to Poiana Pelegii, a starting point for some of the most spectacular mountain trails in the area.

Surrounded by mountains, forests and waterfalls, Poiana Pelegii (video) offers an impressive view and is an ideal place for camping and mountain exploration. Here, tourists can leave their cars and stay overnight with tents.

From Poiana Pelegii, the travelers go up to the glacial lakes, watched by the peaks and sharp ridges, surrounded by porks and undisturbed snowflakes.

Other routes lead to the limestone land of the small Retezat, the land of the sheep and natural monuments modeled by water, geological phenomena and the passage of time.

Poiana Pelegii is the final point of one of the few roads that allow access by car inside the national park. The forest road, about 20 kilometers, starts from the Gura Water Dam and, although it is difficult because of the pits and gravel, gives tourists a rare opportunity to get by car in this mountain area.

“The state of the roads in Retezat can be modified from day to day, depending on the weather conditions”, informs the representatives of the Administration of the Retezat National Park.

For those who want to stay overnight, Poiana Pelegii offers the possibility of camping, and nearby is the Salvamont Poiana Pelegii refuge, located at an altitude of 1,633 meters. This is one of the three Retezat shelters in which Salvamont teams provide permanence in summer, providing assistance and information to tourists.

The famous roads on the ridges of Fagaras and Parang

Transfăgărășanul and Transalpina, the most spectacular alpine roads in Romania, will be opened throughout their route from the end of this week, after long portions of their alpine area have remained covered by snow.

Transfăgărășanul (DN7C), the mountain road that connects the counties of Argeș and Sibiu, crosses the Făgăraș Mountains and ascends to over 2,000 meters altitude, offering dramatic views. The road crosses the Carpathians through the Bâlea Calierea, climbing up to 2,042 meters, near Lake Bâlea – one of its best -known attractions, along with Poenari Fortress.

It was built in four years, with huge efforts and the mobilization of many Romanian soldiers, and inaugurated in September 1974, by Nicolae Ceausescu. Currently it is considered one of the most complex road infrastructure works made before 1990, due to the difficult mountain relief.

Transalpina (DN67C), also known as the “King Road”, is the highest road in Romania, reaching the maximum altitude of 2,145 meters in the Urdele Pass. The mountain road connects the lands of Sibiu to the south of Romania, crossing the Parang Mountains.

It has been arranged since the 1930s and completely paved only in the 2000s, with a length of about 150 kilometers. The national road 67C, between Novaci (Gorj) and Sebeș (Alba), is, like Transfăgărășan, a tourist mountain road. It becomes inaccessible in winter, due to the high altitude and the associated risks, but in summer it turns into one of the most sought after road attractions.

Glaciers unusual attractions in Apuseni

The Apuseni Mountains stretch on almost 20,000 square kilometers, over the counties of Arad, Bihor, Cluj, Alba and Hunedoara. In the heart of this land are the villages of the Moors, people of the mountain and forest, considered one of the oldest populations in Romania.

The Apusenii are crossed by a dense network of roads that follow the valleys of Arieș and Criș rivers or cut the ridges where the Moors have founded isolated settlements. Two important national roads cross the region. One connects Turda to Beiuș and then to Brad, passing through picturesque villages and karst areas. The other starts from Huedin, climbs on the Arieș Valley through Câmpeni and Abrud and descends to the Crișului Alb Valley.

Both routes cross the Apuseni Natural Park, one of the most valuable natural reserves in Romania, which covers over 76,000 hectares in Cluj, Bihor and Alba. Almost two thirds of its surface are covered by forests that hide numerous monuments of nature.

Among the most special tourist attractions of the West are the caves that house glaciers.

Scărișoara Cave is home to the largest underground glacier known in Romania, with an estimated volume at about 75,000 cubic meters. The glacier has been visited since the 19th century.

In the beginning, the locals used the ice and water in the cave, long before it became a tourist attraction. Currently, for the visit of the cave, access stairs, initially made of wood, then metal, which tourists can descend into the deep avenue over 50 meters, have been arranged. Inside it, he kept a glacier about 4,000 years old.

“The ice block has a volume of 75,000 cubic meters and an average thickness of 16 meters and is found in the large room, forming the floor of this room, from where it extends in the form of ice languages ​​in the large reserve, church and the small reserve. In these three rooms, at a certain distance from the ice block, the ice block is developed. stalagmites can melt from one year to another”, Transmits the Apuseni Natural Park.

The cave is open to the public, and the visit is made at fixed times, only with a guide, after paying a tax. The interior temperature varies between a summer degree and -7 degrees Celsius in winter.

Legendary cave Fire live

Also in Apuseni, tourists can reach the cave of the living fire (Video – Marius Turk)located near Piatra Galbenii Peak, at an altitude of 1,165 meters. The Living Fire Glacier Cave, where access is restricted, houses inside it about 25,000 cubic meters, which the light of day highlights because the cave vault is partially open.

“It is a small cave, made up of two rooms, the first and largest being occupied by a huge ice block. Its ceiling is pierced by a large opening, through which logs, leaves and snow fell inside, forming an imposing mound. Through this window it enters enough light to reveal the groups. Lunch, the sun’s rays penetrate through the opening and create a fairy -sided decoration, similar to a living fire ”send the representatives of the Apuseni Natural Park.

The existence of the ice block is explained by two key elements: the ceiling window allows the cold air to accumulate, and the lack of ventilation from the inside maintains this cold air captive throughout the year. Visiting the cave is allowed to the metal gate located at the entrance, from where all these spectacular aspects can be seen, the representatives of the reservation announce.

The glacier in the cave inhabited by people

The Glacier Cave of Vârtop, also known as the wonderful cave, is about 1,170 meters altitude, near the hamlet of the Stone House, Arieșeni commune, Alba county. It is accessible to visitors without requiring special equipment to travel verticals.

“The Vârtop’s glacier is especially famous due to a remarkable discovery of 1974, when researchers of the” Emil Racoviță “Institute of Speleology in Cluj-Napoca identified in the Plage of the cave three traces fossilized by Hominid. The best preserved of them was taken for the study immediately after the discovery, while the other two were, unfortunately, cut and stolen shortly, the authors of theft remaining unknown until today ”, informs the Apuseni Natural Park.

The analyzes performed showed that the preserved trace is at least 62,000 years old, which suggests that it belonged to the Neanderthal man.