Before we went on our summer holiday Jenna visited me in Romania. She took a flight to Targu Mures in Transylvania and we went to explore a very nice mountain area with prominent rock formations and beautiful gorges. The most famous is the Turda Canyon but this time we had time only for one longer walk and we chose to climb the huge rock called Szekler Stone (Szekler is a Hungarian ethnic group living in Transylvania) just next to the house where we stayed.
We only had to step out of our door to start the hike.
First we climbed a steep gully up to the peak of the Γ’β¬ΕΎstoneΓ’β¬Β. On our way up we spotted plenty of bolted routes, too bad we didn’t have our gear with us. Strangely enough, nobody was climbing!
After a short ridge walk we descended on equally steep terrain.
From above we spotted a castle on the other side of the valley so we set it as our next destination.
We had to climb up a very steep hill again but the view was wonderful from there so we didn’t complain. Jenna even tried her rock climbing skills on the walls of the castle ruins!
A few days later we checked out the mud volcanos near Buzau (Eastern part of Romania). These unique mud formations are shaped by the gases coming up from below the surface.
As the water here is salty there is no vegetation (only a few unique plants can survive here) which lends the Γ’β¬ΕΎlunarΓ’β¬Β look to the landscape. It was really fun walking over it, a bit like walking over glacier terrain, finding the way among the Γ’β¬ΕΎcrevassesΓ’β¬Β.
The mud-volcanoes are weird! Did the escaping gases smell sulphurous? (No cheeky jokes Ian! π )
Sorry, no smells whatsoever. I even dipped my finger in the muddy water and to my surprise it was totally cold! π―
The Hungary flag in my comments means that I’m at work going out to the web through a Hungarian network but still in Romania! So as you can see I’m working hard! π
Cold mud volcano. That is weird. Very brave to stick your finger in π― π―
The finger has actually fallen off and I gave it to the stray dog in our street who dropped dead!
I still have 9 fingers left.
It’s probably methane gas…
Dalma, how come the flag in your comment is now Romanian?
And now it’s Hungarian again! π So it happens that with my work computer I’m on Hungarian network so I have a Hungarian IP address but at home (not in Buzau county but in Bucharest which is my temporary home for 6 more months) I’m on Romanian network with a Romanian IP address. And the flag is given automatically based on the IP address, am I right, Pete? :geek:
Are you still in Buzau county?
Dalma, next time you’re in the area you should stay at my wife’s B&B and spend some more time to visit the Magura sculpture camp and the Ciolanu and Ratesti monasteries.
Give us the B&B details and we might all consider a trip!
Vila Speranta was named after Mariana’s grandmother’s name (speranta means hope in English). It is located at 15 minutes driving from the city of Buzau. You can find out more by visiting the Facebook page Vila Speranta or the B&B website Vila Speranta. Hope you’ll enjoy!