vineri, 21 septembrie 2007

On the road to...

...Stana de Vale a small nice resort on the Apuseni Mts. where you can find the Wonder Spring (Izvorul Minunilor). It really is a natural spring but a great or better a huge business. The Romanian readers know what I mean, for the others it's a prosperous business which started with producing juice (once competing in Romania with Coca-Cola brand) and bottling natural water from the so-called Wonder Spring and continued afterwards with chips, sweets, etc. Now their factories because now are many are real empires across the national roads. If you want to visit one you need a guide and a car! The funny part is that Tehnofrig my ex-employer made all the tanks and bottling lines for these guys.
Anyway I, Peter, Mishu and gf Alexandra (The Mishis from now on:) planned a trip to Stana de Vale (never been there) and then maybe to reach The Bears' Cave (very famous in Romania) and then home. All in one day.

From left to right (Alexandra the little one, Mishu the big shadow, me of course and Peter).

On our way there we passed through Lesu Lake (very cold this time of the year)

Spectacular waterfalls (there are plenty on this area. We found out that the highest waterfall in Romania aprox. 96 m is in the neighbourhood. We missed that as it was a 5 hours trip on foot and we were quite late at that time and didn't have a map:)



And hundreds of horses going down to the valley for the winter


The road to Stana de Vale is through the woods, rocky and spectacular and in a glade you suddenly see some hotels, some chalets and few locals selling their fruits and vegetables. There is a big mark in the middle of the street: "Wonder Spring 300 m" and here you go:


Of course it is arranged for tourists' visits but we concluded it's nothing much, as you can see. You can take natural water home for free but we skipped that since Mishu saw some frog herbs (this is translated from Romanian couldn't find the equivalent in English;) up the stream.
Actually this spring is the only attraction of the area it you don't go deep into the woods searching for the highest cliffs or the biggest waterfalls. So we moved on and made a stop nowhere on the road to take a closer look at these:

We ate like crazy this kind of berry (don't know their exact name):

And convinced this little fellow to stay for the picture ;)


Our next stop was the Bears' Cave. It is the most famous visitable cave in Romania. Its name says it all: it is supposed to have been the bears' habitat and winter refuge over the centuries. But at some point while they were inside the entrance of the cave collapsed and they could not get out anymore. Some died of hunger some because the others ate them, a tragic end for a famous natural museum. At the entrance (very modern or better very urban, by the way):
Enjoy these stollen pictures (that's why they are blurred):


The so-called Rocket:

Done with the Beras' Cave; too bad only a small part of it is visitable, the other part is a natural reservation.
We headed the for the Rusty Pit (Groapa Ruginoasa) a wonder of nature. The earth is practically going down the valley more and more swallowing the margins together with the vegetation around. Big trees are going down like puppets. Luckily none of that happened while we were visiting. Otherwise the scenery is like a dream:


The Rusty Pit



And on out way back home...blocks of concrete here we come :(

We were not afraid to stay on the edge...here is the proof for the non-believers. Phew! What some 10 seconds that were!

Aren't we a coloured happy team?

6 comentarii:

ioana spunea...

algae
blackberries

georrge spunea...

hey, how is the road from Lesu to Stana de Vale now? last time when we went together in that area it looked really bumpy.

Ancu spunea...

Ouch! George the road you're talking about it's not disasoustly but you need a sacrifice car, one not to have mercy for!

ioana spunea...

I wanna eat blackberries from the bush, too. I so envy you.

Ancu spunea...

Yes I know! It's a great feeling eating from the bushes ;)...blackberries of course!
Soo to eat chestnuts...yummy!

Ancu spunea...

that was: "Soon to eat chestnuts!"...It's too early in the morning...