Romania hides true natural treasures. The Landscapes drawn from the fairy tales spectacular mountains, dense forests and natural monuments will catch your attention in a second. Romania offers various opportunities for leisure: both in the mountains, at the sea, as well as on the hills and plains. We will follow a route that gathers some of the most beautiful Romanian fairy tales.

 

Day 1. The First Love of Beethoven

Beethoven meets Jeanette in his hometown, Bonn when they both were only 17 years old. The composer was fascinated by the beautiful blonde, blue-eyed woman with manners and elegance, and with a special magnetism that attracted the attention of the all men. The two met at a music event, attended also by Karl von Greth, a general in the Austrian army. The girl was fascinated by Beethoven. But the love between Janette and Beethoven did not last long. It seems it was less than a year, because in 1787 Jeanette marries in Cologne with Karl von Greth, who becomes the commander of a Romanian fortress, where Janette lives, dies and is buried. It is said that Jeanette was a Beethoven’s muse for several compositions. Beethoven wanted to come to her funeral, but he was already deaf, old and could not afford it. Jeanette was buried with honors and cannons. We will camp a very beautiful camping in the Flower Town.

 

Day 2. The Stubborn Wife

A story says that once lived an old man, Vasile with his wife named Babacaia. They had been beautiful and hardworking in their youth, though not very wealthy. Old Vasile was a fisherman and had a boat he had painted in the dark color of the water, to be able to trick customs officers and bring tobacco from the other bank of the Danube or to fish in the forbidden places. In time, Vasile and his boat have aged, the powers left him, and everyday life became more and more difficult. The shortages were getting bigger and the quarrels between the old man and his wife, more and more often. Once in an extremely cold winter, Vasile got sick. When the spring came, on one of the days when he felt better, pushed by the needs he decided to go fishing and took his wife with him to help him to detach the boat from the place where it was tied. The way to the river passed through the garden of a neighbor, and the quarrel began immediately. Old Vasile said the grass had just been mown, while Babacaia claimed if had been cut blade by blade. As she walked, the old woman was not ceasing to nag. And as she approached too much the rocky banks of the river, she fell into the water and was drawn into the middle of it. The old man started shouting for help, being too weak to dare himself to save her, but no one was in the neighborhood. the old woman Instead did not cease to shout, as she sank, that the grass was cut with scissors. Only two fingers of her right hand remained above the water in the scissor-crossed shape. The spirits have punished her for indignation, turning them into pebbles forever. We will camp off-camping on the bank of the old river, waiting for the idyllic sunrise.

 

Day 3. The Nymph of the Danube

Sieglinde, the nymph of the Danube put her husband, the Spirit of the Rocks and the Whirlpools, to build an iron gate, to prevent seafarers from sailing in the rocky labyrinth. If, however, they were arriving here, they could no longer escape the shipwreck, except if Sieglinde herself was leading them. Arriving at the gate, the sailors were make offerings to the nymph until the gate was announcing her arrival, opening up. But one day, the ingratitude of an ardent sailor based the luck of crossing the area only on his own prowess. This upset Sieglinde so much that she left the place, letting this dangerous passage open to anyone who ventures. In 1834, when a terrible drought almost emptied the river bed, a scholar engineer measured most of the cliffs and concluded that it is impossible to destroy them. He suggested that safe navigation in this area could be made only through a system of ways and locks, to raise and maintain water at a sufficiently high level, to cover the obstacles and allow the vessels to pass over without touching them. The Austrians, who had these lands, approved this plan, but as it requires huge spending, they have asked Turkey to bear a part of it. The request was justified, since at that time the Iron Gates, located between Serbia and Walachia, belonged to Turkey. But the Turks knew so little about the remote provinces their sovereign ruled, that they translated the term “iron gates” ad literam, and the Divan sent to Austria the following answer: No need for such efforts to tear down some iron gates, and if the rocks are too harsh to be destroyed all that remains is to make such a big fire around the gates, so that they melt. We will camp at a beautiful camping on the bank of the old river.

 

Day 4. The Waterfall of the Lovers

According to the legend, there was once a peasant family, the pain of which was the lack of a descendant. One night, the woman saw a witch appeared in a dream telling her that if she will drink the water from the spring beneath the cliff at the border between the worlds she will become pregnant, specifying that if the offspring will be a girl, she will not be allowed to fall in love, otherwise she will die. The woman drank that water, and after a while she gave birth to a particularly beautiful girl, who fell in love with a handsome boy. The girl was imprisoned by her father in the grotto above the spring between the worlds. Her cries of despair were heard by the witch who lived in the other world, in the Land of the Sorrow Retrieval. Relented by the suffering of the girl, the witch turned her hair into a waterfall in which her tears slided. The legend also says that the boy came and thrown himself into the waters of the waterfall and the girl died with him, but they were reunited in the other world, the only place where their love could be accomplished. Since then, lovers who want to seal their love and to have eternal love, come to drink water from the waterfall bearing the name of the boy. We will camp off-camping near the most beautiful waterfall in the world.

 

Day 5. The Cave Where the Martyr Mothers’ Spirits Hide

The cave of martyr mothers is inhabited by nine protective spirits of some mothers. They are mild mothers, who help and protect the Christians approaching the cave, although they are upset if somebody ventures too far into the cave. Spirits are mother-martyrs, who change every 300 years. Mothers were seen both during the daytime, as transparent shapes of women and in night-tome. A true story was reported by a journalist, who in his youth was on a trip with his colleagues and put the tent near the mouth of the cave, where they made the fireplace. The mothers' spirits approached the fire, and the young men scared and hid in the tent. There were three spirits which approached the transparent plastic window of the tent and stared insistently inside. There were three faces of women. One of the young men who did not scare too much reassured his colleagues telling them that if the spirits wanted to do harm, they would do it a long time ago. But they understood that they had to leave, maybe they bothered the spirits with something, so the next day they left. We will camp in a camping located in a fairy tale place.

 

Day 6. The Birds That Helped to Raise the Monastery

There is a place where the number of Ciuhurezi, as locals call it, is very high. It is a nocturnal bird of prey very similar to the owl. The legend says that one night a bird of this kind scared the lady Brâncoveanu, the wife of voivode Constantin Brâncoveanu, because the sounds it makes are similar to its name. But this fact has led to the idea of building here one of the most beautiful monasteries at a time when due to the Ottoman occupation the construction of the churches and monasteries was not allowed. Thus the ruler ordered that here, on one of his estates, deep in the woods the most beautiful monastery will be raised, which will be fortified, so that it can also be used as a place of refuge in case of danger. Thus, the craftsmen who built the monastery worked only the night under the cover of the Cihurezi sounds. So the knocks of the hammers, the marching of the feet, and the rumble of the saws could not be heard by the enemies because of the hooting of the birds. Thus, one of the most beautiful monasteries in Romania, which is today in the UNESCO World Heritage list, was raised in secret. In honor of the birds that helped to raise the monastery, it received the name of this bird with a scary scream. We will camp in a beautiful camping in a fir forest.

 

Day 7. The Bottomless Lake

Our story starts with Tinca, the daughter of boyar Vlădescu, She was a beautiful girl, but practicing the free love, as chronicle says. At the age of 30, Tinca loved a lot and nobody could do anything to her. Until her destiny arrived. Florea was one of the handsome lads from Vladesti, a peasant boy who had just came home after finishing his military service in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he came to the estate for a business with Tinca's father, he was noticed by the beautiful lady. So the woman didn't think twice and called Florea for a date on a night with many stars, at the Beautiful Lake. And that's how a great love, which smashed Florea’s 21-year-old heart to a pulp started. But Tinca, being tired of Florea's beauties, decided to give up those nights with stars. The boy, in no way wanted to hear about it. Three days he walked to the estate, until Tinca put her servants to whip him. The humility was the limit that Florea the son of Gheorghe could stand. Florea was pretty quick! One day he ambushed lady’s carriage, which was passing by the Beautiful Lake, jumping in the path. The woman was scared. But Florea hit her, leaving unconscious, whipped the horses and directed them straight in the lake. In a moment the carriage and the lady disappeared into the depths of the water. There were witnesses who went to the gendarmes to say what happened and how it happened. Florea was arrested. But the man said he does not know anything. And after a year, he was released from the prison, because there was no trace of a lady or of a carriage in the lake. Those who dived said the lake is without a bottom. The lake remained like that until the 1980s. Then it began to shrink, and in the last years a swamp appeared instead of the lake. But something else happened. In the middle of the marsh surrounded by a circle of willows and full of snakes, appeared an island. An island made of the mud, among the few in the country where a carnivorous flower grows. The legends say it would even be the lady Tinca incarnate. We will camp in a camping located on the springs’ valley.

 

Day 8. The Magic Triangle

There is a place where three cave monasteries were built, dug in the rock thousands of years ago forming an equilateral triangle with the side of 20 kilometers. Visiting them all at the same time, we find that there is a strong energy interconnection between them. As if the different vibrations complete each other, bringing in the heart of the one who admire them with the eyes of the mind open, an indescribable silence. The legend of one of the monasteries connects the story of the church in the grotto with a shepherd who would have slept with the sheep on the rock where the church was carved. The elders say that the Virgin Mary herself appeared to the man in the night, who would have asked him to dig into the stone beneath him to reach the place where an old icon was hidden. The same legends say that the Mother of God would have asked the shepherd to make a place of worship from that place. He did so and found an icon in the stone. It is said that the icon would have been brought here by Saint Apostle Andrew, who, making a stop near a temple dedicated to Zamolxis and not finding anyone in that cave, would exclaim “Nemo est” (nobody is here), so the place was called. Apostle Andrew went down to the cave and left the icon to the north, at the same place where is the church of the monastery now. It is also said that it would be one of the 12 painted by the Saint Apostle Luke, who then gave them the 12 Apostles going to go to preaching the gospel. It is certain thing is that the icon is one of the oldest not only in these lands, but for all the Christendom. It is renowned for its help to the women, who cannot have children, as well as for healing the serious conditions. We will camp in a camping that offers us a great view.

 

Day 9. The Clock that Stressed the Royal Parrot

The House of the Judge in one of Romania's most beautiful medieval towns has an impressive history. It was also the place where justice and executions were distributed, depending on the social status. The wealthy people were decapitated, the common thieves were hanged, and the witches were burnt on the stake. The trumpeters from the House’s Tower were informing the population about calamities or invasions. The tradition has been preserved today for tourists. The trumpeters play Ciprian Porunbescu's Operetta “Crai Nou” (“New Moon”), an operetta that premiered in this city, within walking distance of the House the Judge. The clock at the Town Hall was one with a mechanism and figurines. It had a doll that moved and at the certain hours beat the gong. The clock was on the brink of destruction when the city was occupied by the Habsburg army. On the opposite side of the House of Judge, in the Emperor's House, lived the Austrian commander, whose parrot was very stressed by the sounds of the clock. He ordered to gather all the garbage in the square where the clock is located, until its sound will be turned off. It was almost a war, because this clock was the pride of the city. Earthquakes, lightnings and fires turned over the House of the Judge, but the building survived. The House of Judgment was on the brink of demolition in the communist era. Contrary to all expectations, the Communists decided to not demolish the House because it was a relic of the bourgeois past, and it fitted perfectly as a place where the workers, peasants and intellectuals will gather and listen the new governors' exhortations. The building had to disappear to make room for a large crowd. We will camp in a wonderful camping.

 

Day10. The Fortress of the Fairies

The fortress of Ileana Cosânzeana is a mysterious fortress. A legend says that Ileana Cosânzeana kept here her fortune, guarded by a cock sleeping once in 7 years. So the only moment when the city's doors were opened to see the fortune was when the cock was asleep, and the one could enter. Another legend says the fortune was guarded by a dragon and the only the seventh son of a family could enter only if one night before he saw an ancestor who told him about this fortune. Moreover, the castle door could only be opened on the day of St. George. In the Fairies’ Valley you can see the garden of Cosânzeana and admire bushes of rosemary. Here was the place where for thousands of years the brides were chosen. In the Fairies’ Valley the girls were gathering on the Saint Elijah’s Day to find their chosen one. Putting on the most beautiful clothes and jewels, they were dancing hora in their colorful blouses and waiting for the lads to come down from the mountains with the sheep to choose their brides. If the young people liked each other and their parents agreed on the dowry, then the wedding was taking place in the autumn of the same year. Today the tradition is still alive, but only symbolically.

Day 11. The Princess of the Air

Elena Caragiani was the first female student to a flight school in Romania and her move was not welcomed at the time when the flight and the planes were reserved exclusively for men. At the end of the courses, the approach of the youngster who wanted to fly at any cost has been stranded. Refused by the authorities, despite the numerous requests sent to the Ministries of Education and Defense to obtain the civil pilot license, Elena was rejected. Romanian officials did not consider it appropriate for a woman to become equal to men in the aviation world and fly side by side with them. Spiru Haret, who was the Minister of Education at that time, was one of those who rejected Elena Caragiani's requests. The young woman did not get discouraged and went to France. She enrolled at the Mourmelon-le-Grand Civil Aviation School. She attended all the classes and passed all the exams. It is said that at the final examination, the Romanian girl flew on a double-command plane, and skill with which she handled the aircraft impressed instructor. She saw with her own eyes her dream coming true on January 22, 1915, at the age of 27 when she received the license of the International Aviator Pilot. At the time the Romanian woman obtained the license, there were only 10 female pilots in the world. Due to the fact she could not practice in Romania at the time of obtaining the license, the first Romanian female pilot remained in France. At the age of 27 she was hired as a journalist in a French daily newspaper and worked as a war reporter. In the annals of the world press, Elena Caragiani is mentioned as the first war correspondent to make reports from the plane. She returned to the country in 1916, when Romania entered the war. She asked to be allowed in the fight to defend her homeland as a warplane pilot, but she was denied. After the request for entry into the group of the combat fighters was refused, Elena Caragiani made another attempt willing to contribute to the defense of the homeland. She asked to be allowed to carry sanitary materials and medicines and to participate in the evacuation of the wounded. In two years she made dozens of flights to help rescuing Romanian troops from the front. Her gesture was the first step towards later establishing sanitary aviation in Romania. During the Second World War, Ştirbei Palace was the place for the recreation of the Romanian aviators. So Marina Ştirbei established the first military sanitary squadron with female pilots, and the place near Dărmăneşti had a landing site for the planes. We will camp in a special camping near the castles of the interwar period.

Day 12. The Virgin's Rock

Panaghia was a beautiful girl. It is said that the Ursitoare (three fairies that determine the course of child's life in Romanian mythology) visited to gift her at birth. One of them took the darkness of the most obscure and moonless night, the depth from deep seas without bottom, fire and light from the light and fire of the brightest stars, fondness and gentleness from the eyes of the angels at the right hand of God and put them all in her eyes. Other one took tenderness and whiteness of the lily, blush of the roses and put them on her face. Third one spun from the mist the thin shadow threads and put on her head an adornment of a black and rich hair. And the God broke from his heart and soul the most precious part and gave it to Panaghia as soul and heart. And, in order not to be defiled by the mortal looks, Ursitoare have taken her to the highest heights of Ceahlau Mountains, beyond the kingdom of the clouds, and put her in the cave of Gideon the Hermit, the hermit bees fed her with their honey and in the serene nights they bathed her in a fragrant flowers’ dew. And Panaghia grew up and became beautiful girl, as beautiful as the only the tales can imagine. And from the heights of the heavens the Sun saw her, and, from the highest peaks of the earth, Panaghia saw the Sun. And they both fell in love. And the Sun was stopping for hours in its way from crossing the heavens to look at her, wrapping her in its rays. And the day has extended so much and the night so much decreased, that the twilight almost shacked hand with the dawn. And the night whined to the God. And the God was angry and punished the Sun to not rise from now on but hidden after the clouds, to no longer tempt with the charm of his youth the weak souls of the mortals and to not overthrow with his passions celestial and steadfast rules of the ages made by His own hands. And the commandment of God was fulfilled, and Panaghia has never seen the Sun in its full youth and in its heavenly beauty. Sorrow and grief filled her soul and her heart. Whole days and whole nights without sleep her cheeks were wet of tears. And at a time the God had mercy on her and sent the commandment of sunrise and sunset to hurry the lightest and sweetest of their winds to the high peaks of Ceahlau Mountains and to the forests that fill, like a mist, its deep ravines. And suddenly the divine voices climbed from the valleys to Panaghia, touched her face and dried her tears. There were the whispers of the wind with the leaves; there were the breezes of the east and of the west, coming with the distant fragrance of the blooming plains. The God fulfilled her will. and when she wanted to go down to the cave of Gideon the Hermit, she felt her legs rooted in the ground and could not move. She wanted to leave, but her body was cold and petrified. She wanted to raise her hands, but her hands were stuck to the body being also covered by the cold stone. And she tried to cry, but her attempt was in vain. And when he wanted to gaze to heaven again, the eyelids fall over her eyes and an infinite darkness covered her. Panaghia had transformed into a stone rock. It is said, however, that her heart did not harden, that even now it beats for the sunshine, for the brilliance of the flowers, foe the clouds on their white wings, for the sweet and comforting winds of sunrise and sunset. We will camp in a camping under the rock of Panaghia.

Day 13. The Fairy of Wealth

The locals say that a good fairy lives in the area. She carries sheep from one mountain to another to have more milk and punishes those who try to stop her. According to the shepherds, almost every year, a few days after the measurement of the sheep, fairy comes and takes the flock of sheep and the dogs accompany her. The flock disappears immediately after midnight and appears before the dawn. The shepherds are convinced that every time the sheep are “walked” by the fairy they give more milk. Often, the fairy tries to seduce the young and righteous shepherds. Those who have been fooled were carried from one mountain to another and never got married. The shepherds describe the fairy as very beautiful and with very long hair, which almost covers her. The presence of the fairies in Valea Mare made several places bear their names. Thus, in the Suhard Mountains, under the base of the Omu Peak there is the Garden of Fairies, from where the shepherds take in the summer some onions or some other vegetables that grow there. There is also the Fairy River in the area, the spring where the mysterious creatures bathe. We will camp in a very original camping, organized in a typical Romanian household.

Day 14. The Holy Friday

The legend says that when these lands were inhabited by pagans, there was a king in the area who wanted to Christianize the people. And as he had no money to build churches, the young prince went looking for the gold to secure the necessary funds. Along with his companions, he searched all forests and rocks, but found nothing but lead. Once, walking on the top of the mountains, he saw a shiny castle, and on the castle corridors he saw a charming woman spinning. The prince immediately noticed that the thread that the woman was spinning was made of gold, showing his disappointment about failing to find gold. Hearing her grievances, the woman tells him she will make him rich under condition he never ask who is she and disappeared, showing the prince Benes mountain. The prince and his companions began to dig and found so much gold that they could hardly carry it. Every day the prince returned to the charming woman telling her about the churches he built using the gold found. Curious about the one who had enchanted him with her beauty, the prince began to ask about her through the area. Seeing that the number of churches increases every day, the demons, which did not bear the smell of incense and the sound of the bells, began to put a spoke in the wheel of the prince by closing the road with rocks. Seeing the road closed, the prince thought this was the vengeance of the fairy, because he was interested about her, though he was told it is forbidden. Disappointed the prince left the area, and the fairy, who was no other than the Holy Friday, thought that the prince left her and destroyed her shiny palace and the mines where gold was found. We will camp in a camping near the highest waterfall in Romania.

Day 15. The Forest Girl which Kidnaps Men

The Forest Girl is considered in villages as one bringing evil, bad luck. It is a girl who sometimes appears as a young woman, sometimes as a very old one, with long hair to the ground, continuously weeping through the forest. She walks at the edge of the woods, stalking the stray hikes. It was a beautiful girl who had strayed through the forest when the night fell. But she did not get to sleep; she walked and walked until she found a path leading to the village. In a while a man dressed in black appeared in her way and told her to go after him for he will show her the way. But he took her to a stone house and there he spoke something incomprehensible, and transformed the girl so she no longer resembled herself. Then he took her clothes and let her out through the woods. But she could not go back and only walked through the forests. And whoever meets her just evil things he can expect from her, for she does not leave him healthy. She sucks his whole soul, changes him or kills him. It is said that the Forest Girl had a garden in the Gutin Mountains. An old man and an old woman spoke of their sheep being sick, they give just whey. In vain was everything they did, in vain was wherever they went, even to the priest, they could do anything until somebody told them: Go to the Garden of the Forest Girl and take some flowers from there and throw them over the sheep; then boil them and sprinkle the sheep with that water and you will see that they will get well. Well, after that, they got well. It is said that there was once a boy who had a girlfriend from a neighboring village. She was beautiful, like the morning dew. And the poor lad stood away with the sheep in the hill. But his beloved girl was coming to him every night. And they stayed together night after night. He was very happy and why he should not be? But the poor lad did not know that it was not his pretty girl who was coming to him at night. And, as he loved her much, once he put his hand on her back. And he felt it was like a trough. He was really scared and went away with the sheep for that was the Forest Girl. The Forest Girl walks and only comes to men. Only they have issues with her, the women do not. The men have to carry a linden rope, for then the Forest Girl could do nothing to them. One of them had no such rope. When he was the shepherd with the sheep, the Forest Girl came one night to him; he took her and threw in the fire. The Forest Girl usually looks like a high ugly woman with a long hair. We will camp near a very beautiful lake where we will also say goodbye.

Robert Ballard, the one who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, has issued a hypothesis that the Flood described by the Bible would have been located in the current territory of the Black Sea. The discoveries made by him on the Black Sea bottom showed that many thousands of years ago the Black Sea was a lake and its shore was inhabited. In the end of the Ice Age the water level of the Mediterranean Sea has grown unprecedented due to the global warming and the melting of the glaciers. Due to the water pressure and probably as a result of an earthquake, the strip of the land separating the Mediterranean see from the “Black Sea” lake has been sprayed. The salt water of the Mediterranean Sea flooded the small lake, transforming it into the current Black See. The research of the Romanian shore revealed some imposing buildings and cities constructed with an advanced technique, which were suddenly deserted and remained abandoned under the hundreds of meters of water.

 

Day 1. The Great Flood Started in the Black Sea

A team led by Ballard landed on the shores of Turkey and managed to film a lot of artifacts specific to the period of the primitive commune at less than 20 km from the shore. For example a carved rock and two stone tools fitted with one hole each, probably for a wooden support. In addition the submarine has also managed to shoot some beams with the signs of artificial processing, very well preserved by the sea water. These findings show that many years ago the Black Sea was a lake with inhabited shore. At the end of the Ice Age the level of the Mediterranean Sea has grown unprecedented due to the global warming and the melting of the glaciers. An unseen torrent with a water force that exceeded from 2 to 300 times the force of the Niagara Falls appeared. Calculations show it took approximately 40 days to balance the water levels. Thus, the theory that the current Black Sea did not exist 10 to 15,000 years ago was born. A prosperous civilization to which strange constructions belong lived here. And it might be the Atlantis.

 

Day 2. The End of Atlantis and the Beginning of the Flood

The Bible tells us about a Great Flood, after which only Noah and his family survived. Following the thread of the Bible, we find out that afterwards the sons of Noah have gone in different directions. Except that even though there was no man on Earth, the sons of Noah met some people. Analyzing the ancient writings of different nations, we can see that every nation had a flood out of which very few men have been saved. Michael Robinson is a Professor from Ohio University, specialized in catastrophic floods happened on Earth since the ancient times. He was one of those who agreed with Robert Ballard's theory, when he stated that the Biblical Flood began in the Black Sea basin. However, unlike Ballard whose team discovered only a shipwreck of several thousand years on the Turkish shore, Michael Robinson preferred Romanian northern shore for his research. Robinson says the fantastic Atlantis would have been on the territory of Great Romania. And the fortresses found in the mountains are nothing but remnants of the ancient civilization after its sinking. Moreover, he overlaps this theory with the theory of the origin of the Flood, putting the equal sign between these two events. “Those who people called Noah and his family, where nothing but the only Atlanteans survived cataclysm. And Noah's Ark was made of cedar wood here in Romania, the place where the Great Flood of the Earth began.”

 

Day 3-4. Atlantis

Atlantis is the name of the legendary island mentioned by Plato. Atlantis sank into the water. This event would have happened about 9500 BC. Atlantis was the basis of the great civilizations of the ancient world, starting from Egypt to the Inca Empire, through the technology and advanced knowledge of the Atlanteans. After the destruction of Atlantis, the survivors would have fled to the other parts of the world, where they founded new civilizations. The similarities between the construction of the pyramids and the cult of the Sun lead us to the idea that Mayan and Egyptian hieroglyphs would have been engraved by the Atlanteans. They also would have invented the writing for these civilizations, along with astronomy, glass, compass and other attributes of civilization. An old Peruvian legend mentions the fact, that the wise Atlanteans has anticipated the disappearance of the Atlantean civilization in a great cataclysm 14000 years ago. They decided to engrave in stone, the only matter considered indestructible, fundamental elements of civilization. The stones were carefully spread all over the Earth, from South America to Egypt, India and Tibet. The scenes depicted on these engravings in stone show scenes from everyday life but also activities and characters that put question marks. The Stone Book depicts people who are carefully analyzing some objects looking at them with a magnifying glass; others look into the sky with a telescope. The story of a mysterious comet is depicted on the "Astronomer's Stone". We can assume that the Flood started after its appearance. We also can see the continents that are largely covered by water. A single boat floats on the water and 3 characters are clearly seen on its board.

 

Day 5-6-7. The Myths of a Disappeared Civilization

All religions and all myths converge to the same point: an evolved civilization existed once on the Earth and it disappeared after a cataclysm. Inca and Maya legends have almost identical narrative “dying in the depth, covered by the waves, of a Western kingdom, once strong and sovereign”. The impressive similitude of the American and Egyptian civilizations no longer surprises people. Its testimony is represented in the ruins of Palenque, Ocochigo, the palaces of Mitla, the pyramids of Xochicalco, Teotihuacan and Sihuatan, the ornaments of the Cuzco Sun Temple, the monolithic portal of the Cyclopean Temple in Tiahuanaco. Advocates of the Atlantis placed in the Black Sea, believe that the real proves are buried near the coast of Romania. The fabulous country sank into the sea called Siriath by the Egyptians. Impressive underwater ruins are attributed to the Atlanteans by some people. The ancient inhabitants who lived near the Black Sea coast, named blessed or fortunate, were considered the descendants of the Atlanteans, where the Temple of Apollo was. Many legends speak of holy lands existed in the place where the Black Sea is currently located. Some researchers say that the ancient Atlantis with its temples is located here, especially the Temple of Apollo, the god of the sun whose Hyperborean origin gets a realistic contour. People say that only one island left from the ancient Atlantis.

 

Day 8. The Prehistoric Forest

In the mid-80s, the central authorities in Bucharest decided to build the Great Danube-Bucharest Channel. After the works started, at about 5 to 6 meters depth, the excavators pulled away some vegetal remains. Under the observation of the archaeologists the excavations were carefully continued. At the depth of 15 to 25 meters they found… a prehistoric forest. Moreover, the sand that covered the wood of preserved it exceptionally well. So, released from the send, the trees looked like still alive. Even the types of the trees could be distinguished. Beyond the researchers' assumptions, the inhabitants continue to take from the stone quarries the thousand-year trunks and burn them in their stoves. There is a unique place in the world here. People do not go to the forest to cut the trees. Here people go to the quarry to dig up the thousand-year trees. The local legends show that the big trees got under the sand after the Great Flood from the Noah's time. The research showed that the forest was expanded over a large area, probably ending somewhere on the territory of the South Bulgaria. The results of the research showed the same thing all over the locations: waters covered the area in an extremely short period of time, which archaeologists estimated being only a few weeks.

 

Day 9. The Great Ice Flood

Specialists have discovered the old varieties of oak, sessile oak, beech and lime in Prehistoric Forest. Carbon dating showed that the sand covered the forest had between 10.000 and 12.000 years. How did the forest get covered by the water? No one in 1980s expected that in a few decades Ballard will come with his fantastic theory. The great flood described by the Bible was here! Due to the melting of the glaciers and the rise of the Mediterranean level above the normal, the stripe of the land between the Mediterranean and the Black Seas has collapsed. To leave 15 - 20 meters of sand, the amount of the water flowing over Romania had to have a height of 100-150 meters. What kind of water could have created such a flood? The lack of any marine creatures in the remnants of the forest shows that the area was not permanently a marine one, but accidentally flooded. And the salty sand preserved the trees extremely well.

 

Day 10. The European Tsunami

A bizarre wooden construction made in the shape of a small fortification was discovered between the remnants of the underground forest. For sure the construction was not built on its own, however no human or animal skeletons have been found. It is possible that the giant wave has caught the inhabitants, and their bodies, taken by water, were eaten by the marine animals. But where are the animals' bodies? It is also possible that the inhabitants found out about the imminence of the killer wave in advance and fled in the higher places or in the mountains. In periods of great continental transformation the animals (and later also the humans) were leaving the dangerous areas looking for other safer areas. Probably this also happened to the inhabitants of the wooden fortification. They simply migrated to a more secure area in the mountains.

The history of the European Civilization begins in Sumer (Iraq), so we learned in history books. Another story, launched by a large community of historians speaks of an Old European Civilization that has developed in the Carpatho-Pontic space, in the land of Gaia (generator the matriarchy as a form of leadership) and Pelasgus the one born of black earth. The term Old European Civilization is related to the Pelasgian civilization. Pelasgians are first mentioned in the Homer's poems about three millennia ago, as allies of Troy. Pelasgus would have been the first man in the world built from the ground, according to legends from Antiquity. In the era of Homer and Hesiod, various legends still existing in the Greek lands tell about the happy Pelasgian homeland from northern Thrace. The various Pelasgian tribes, which left the Carpathians for many hundreds years ago, spread over the less fertile lands of Greece and Asia Minor still keeping the memory of their ancestors in the north of the Danube and at the same time the memory of that country, which is characterized by exuberant fertility (the black earth) and various other natural assets, where man's morals and feelings of justice had become legendary. Marija Gimbutas eminent professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, In the preface of her book says, “Romania is the hearth of what we called Old Europe, a cultural entity between 6500-3500 BC, focused on a matriarchal, theocratic, peaceful, loving and creative artistic society, which preceded the Indo-European patriarchal societies of fighters from the Bronze and Iron ages”. According to the conclusions of the brilliant historians, the language of the Pelasgian civilization was a PROTOLATIN, or in other words a Vulgar Latin. The South-European space from the West to the East is occupied by the Latin-speaking peoples (with small enclaves), resulted not from their Romanization by the Romans, but from their common Pelasgian origin. The Romans did not succeed in Romanization of the Dacian language in 165 years, as they did not succeed in Romanization of the Egyptians in 425 years; the Greeks in 641 years; the Jews in 325 years; the Maltese in 1088 years; the British in 400 years and especially failed to create a unitary language in their own Italy, once there are 1,500 dialects. Throughout the history this “old” language will preserve the unity, being the support on which the Latin European languages are built. The linguistic differences between them were caused by geographical location and by the influences of the peoples who have come into contact later in history. Thus the languages as Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese suffered Germanic influences, and Romanian language Slavonic ones.

 

Day 1. Vinca

The history of Pelasgians is little known in the ancient texts. We have few relics left of them to know this great forgotten civilization. It seems that a lot of information about them is hidden in Greek and Egyptian mythology, information that demands to be decrypted. What is known is little and we must rely on intuition to discern historical reality. Pelasgians lived 6000-10000 years ago in northern Thrace, the area located along the Danube in the north. Seven centuries BCE, Asian poet Samos wrote that Pelasgus “is like the gods” was born “in the black land, on the high peaks”. Where was the “black land,” from the soil of which the Pelasgus was born? This epithet applied to the region undoubtedly refers to the color of the soil, which can only be the chernozem, the darkest soil, which has a high natural fertility. There are only two so-called “chernozem belts” in the world, one in the Canadian prairie, and the other starting from the Eastern Croatia, along the Danube (including northern Serbia, Bulgaria and southern Romania), continuing in the Republic of Moldova, northeastern Ukraine and the southern part of Russia to Siberia. We will meet in a beautiful camping situated on the bank of the largest flowing water in Europe.

 

Day 2. Cladova

The oldest human settlement in Europe, dating back over seven millennia, has been discovered.

It is no coincidence that the first signs of civilization appeared in that place, because the great civilizations have developed along the great rivers. The great civilizations developed alongside the great rivers as the Tigris and the Euphrates, the Nile, the Ganges, the Yangtze, the Mekong, why not the Danube. There, in the Clisura Dunării, there were the most suitable conditions for a leap of civilization. The climate was mild sub-Mediterranean, warmer than in the rest of Europe. The warm currents from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean also contributed to a favorable climate; the Middle East was relatively close. The Danube provided very good living conditions. The warming of the climate has led to the appearance of ponds and lakes, therefore fresh water, plenty of fish, birds, vegetation and animals in abundance. The alternation of seasons has also played an essential role in the leap that had taken place. People were forced to take care of shelters, clothing, and produce new types of tools. Climate warming has led them to give up furs and pass to weaving, to develop new methods and new tools. Once they had settled in one place and started storing their food supplies, they had to think about storage. This variety of situations made them to observe and experiment permanently. But at the same time, they have more free time, not being forced to hunt daily. Thus, art, religion, meditation on life and death and the forces of nature have developed. In a way the “Occident” was here, inventions were made here, the new ideas spreading to the rest of Europe appeared here. Schela Cladovei – Lepenski Vir was a sort of capital of Europe of those times while the west and north of the continent were still populated by hunters and gatherers. We will visit the place where a century ago waterfalls made the water seem like boiling and so the place was called boiling. We will visit the fortress cave, conquered one night stealthily, equipped with cannons and heavy weapons, which have influenced the war between the Habsburg Empire and Turkey for decades. We will visit the biggest statue in Europe and a monastery built by a great Romanian writer on the place where the First World War soldier was buried under the ground after the explosion of a grenade without being injured.

 

Day 3. Cârcea

Starting with the year 4400 BC Pelasgian civilization is forced to change its social structure. Attacked from the East by successive waves of nomad tribes (called Kurgan) probably from Asia, they are forced to defend themselves. In the face of danger the deep social changes have place, culminating in the passage of decision-making power into the hands of men. Forced to face a cruel, heavily armed enemy on a horseback, Pelasgians learn how to make their own weapons, to use the horse in war, to build walls, fencing, and defense ditches around the settlements. In the 3-rd millennium BC the Pelasgian people will engage in large movements population movements:

- to the south, occupying Asia Minor and the Aegean islands (this can explain how the Pelasgian alphabet arrived in Crete).

- to the southeast in Sumer (carrying with them the script that will be labeled “Sumerian”).

- to North Africa (the hooked crook of the Carpathian shepherds is present in the hands of the pharaohs illustrated on the walls of the pyramids).

- towards India, around the 1500s, mentioned in the chronicles of the Indus Valley as the Arians,  Arya meaning “stranger!”, (many spiritual connections have been discovered between European and Indian civilizations).

- to the west and north of Europe: Iberians in Spain; Gauls in France; Etruscans in Italy; Arymans in Germany; Thracians and Illyrians in the Balkans.

We will visit a museum that presents the oldest culture of Europe developed between 8000 BC and 5500 BC. This population did not know the pottery and made the various objects they used from stone, bone and horn. We will continue to another museum where we will see a special piece through its uniqueness in this part of Europe, a wooden pot, which was attributed to the oldest Neolithic. The exhibition discourse continues inside a reproduction of Neolithic dwelling (butafory) discovered in the Boian area. We will see the Fisherman of the Getae Lake - the oldest humanoid skeleton discovered in 1962, considered living in Europe 1.8 million years ago. We will camp at a piece of heaven campsite.

 

Day 4. Boian

Famous Sanskrit Epic “Ramayana”, written in the 4 century BC, consisting of 24,000 distichs presenting the epic of Prince Rama, clearly and distinctly depicts these massive population movements from the Carpathians and the Caucasus to other spaces. Worthy to note that in this epic that Prince Rama is identified as a “Scythian priest”. And the name of Scythia in the ancient times was the name of the area that comprised a part of Dacia (Dobrogea) under the name of Little Scythia and the North - Pontic steppes, under the name of Great Scythia. The term Scythia defines a historical province rather than a region inhabited by Scythians. After a divine revelation Rama becomes the spiritual leader of his people. As a result of differences between Pelasgian leaders, Rama will take his followers to India, to new territories. The movement was massive, Pelasgians conquering the Caucasus, Iran, India and Ceylon. Rama is presented not as a conqueror, eager for expansion but as “leader of the peoples, the lord of the world, the master of his soul, and the love of people, the father and mother of his subordinates; he knew how to unite all beings into a unique chain of love”. We will head to the Boian Museum; we will see the ruins of Brancovenesc palace, a citadel where we will find stories about the fallen Dacians and the Romans who constructed a bridge over the Danube. The centerpiece however is the Neolithic houses built of adobe, which shows us how the creators of the ‘hillocks” which we will still see in the field lived. Hillocks that are nothing more than the remains of successive layers of human dwellings, old destroyed village hearths rebuilt and destroyed - and rebuilt again over the centuries, until the forgetfulness and the dust fell on them. In the evening we will camp in an aviation campsite.

                            

Day 5. Gumelnița

The 2-nd millennium BC will be the millennium when the great Pelasgian empire collapses, the population being divided into tribes with different identity determined by the geographical habitat. From here, the ancient sources will call the descendants of the Pelasgian people with zonal names: Iberians in Spain; Gauls in France; Etruscans in Italy; Arymans in Germany; Thracians and Illyrians in the Balkans; Geto-Dacians in Dacia; but all on them barbarian Latin speakers. Specific mutations have made this population more intelligent, which allowed him to make discoveries and inventions (various rudimentary agricultural machinery and equipment), which led to sedentarisation, meaning people staying in one area. They also invented weaving and various types of clothes, such as sarafan and apron, which can be seen from ceramic paintings and statuettes discovered by archaeologists. Half-wild people were covering themselves with animal skins, drink water from skulls and other containers found in nature - what the rest of the haplogruples have done for a few more millennia. More than 20 millennia ago people who settled in the region of Romania-Ukraine-Balkans-Adriatic Sea were already processing the clay and made of it religious and jewelry objects, such as “ Venus of Dolní Věstonice” (Czech Republic) 27.000 years old, or like this pendant from Piatra Neamt, 20.000 years old. We will go to the Gumelnita Museum, to see the most advanced civilization in Europe at that time. This culture was at a stage of social and economic development, similar to those in the civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, considered cradles of civilization of mankind, but this culture appeared one millennium earlier. We will also visit a protourban settlement dating back 6,700 years ago with houses placed in circular arrays, and in the central space around the houses there is an imposing structure that served as a gathering place for community members and as a sanctuary for magical and religious ceremonies. We will visit another place of the Stone Age where a pot unique in the world was discovered. Pot with Lovers - on the bottom of a bowl decorated with a net of white and red rhomboids and a couple sitting on a kind of bench. The man holds the woman's shoulders, which in her has arms resting on the womb. We will go to the only ruins of a Byzantine fortress that has remained in Europe, built between 969 and 976, with a customs and a defense role was the seat of the imperial war fleet. We camp off-camping on the Danube bank.

 

Day 7-8. Hamagia

Stable living conditions, unrestrained sexuality and the abundance of food allowed Pelasgians to give up selfishness and avarice necessary for survival in a wild nomadic, lifestyle, as the rest of the tribes had. The same reasons made them to not hate and not fight each other, so no weapons or broken bones and heads were discovered in the cities of Cucuteni. From a religious point of view, Pelasgians had a woman's and fertility cult derived from matriarchal relationships and proved through a multitude of feminine clay figurines, as well as a cult of the Sun. Pelasgians have developed over the time even a form of writing the oldest one discovered so far, as seen on the tablets from Tărtăria and artifacts from the Turdaş-Vinca culture. It seems, however, that these signs were not letters and they did not constitute a structured language like the current ones (as some people say, resembling the Pelasgian language with the nowadays Albanian language) most likely these signs represented complete ideas and concepts, as in our current road signs, in which an X denotes the “stop forbidden” and is not just the letter X. We will go to an unusual museum housed in an old building which served as a fire center and a House of pioneers. Here we will discover communities that lived 8000 years ago, and who have created masterpieces, such as the masterpiece of the Neolithic sculpture “The Thinker and His Mate”. We will spend the rest of the day enjoying the water and the sun on the only motor home camping in Romania.

 

Day 9 Precucuteni

Some of the tribes that created the Precucuteni culture came to Moldova from the southwest of the Boian culture area, bringing with them some of the components of the Precucuteni and first of all the excised ceramics of the Boian culture. The new Precucuteni culture was a synthesis produced by a mixture of tribes. It seems some elements of the Hamangia culture have played a role in creating Precucuteni culture. Tribes and tribal communities of Precucuteni culture primarily engaged in primitive cultivation of plants and with the raising of domestic animals, especially cattle. The large number of the discovered animal bones shows that in some places cattle breeding played a more important role in the life of some primitive communities of the time. Hunting and gathering also filled the need for food and skins, processed with the help of the small silex and bone tools. Spinning and weaving were household occupations strictly related to textile fibres and animals. We will visit one of the most beautiful fortresses in southern Romania continuing our journey through gardens and vineyards to one of the oldest salt mines where we will camp.

 

Day 10. Cucuteni

Taking into account that Cucuteni culture preceded for hundreds of years all the human settlements in Sumer and Egypt, we can say that it is not the first civilization in Europe but in the world. The Cucuteni culture was spread over an area of 35.000 square kilometres, on the current territory of Romania (in Romanian Moldavia and Southeast of Transylvania), the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. According to the findings, Cucuteni people were the first to live in large settlements, these proto-cities consisting of buildings arranged in concentric circles. Their high quality, variously and rich painted ceramics was unique in Europe with some resemblance only to that of a Neolithic culture in China about a millennium later. The cities discovered in the Balkans are much older than those found in Mesopotamia and do not have the characteristics of social differentiation of Mesopotamian cities, meaning that in the Cucuteni towns all the dwellings were equally large and equally well-equipped. It is a sign that there was little social differentiation between the people, meaning there were no rich and poor people as in the later cities of Asia Minor. Their form of social organization was the matriarchy, characterized by free sexual relations of joint child raising and joint ownership of the agricultural land and the animals they had. In fact, it is quite possible that they did not even have the concept of ownership of nature, considering as some ancient tribes of American Indians that they belong to nature, not that nature belongs to them. Thus none of the ancient Pelasgians was worried about tomorrow, this fact massively contributing to their natural happiness, about which Greek legends would speak thousands of years later telling of the Golden Age of the ancestors of mankind when the food was free and people were talking to the gods. Common property derived from free sex resulted in the lack of major differences of wealth among them, as Herodotus said a few thousand years later about Agathyrsi using the Patriarchal mode of Greek expression, “Where women are shared, wealth is shared as well”. We visit the throne fortress of the one, who made the most beautiful Orthodox monasteries of the medieval period, and the second largest park of roses in Romania which brings together more than 800 roses. We will continue to the archaeological site where the most spectacular culture of the Stone Age in Europe was discovered. We will continue to a museum town, where we will visit the museum representing the highest form of human creativity made more than 6.000 years ago. We will camp off-camping in a place that offers us a unique view.

 

Day 11. Ripiceni

Given that 90% of the mini-cities of Cucuteni have been found carbonized under a layer of ash, it may be a sign that Pelasgians have been attacked and conquered by the Kurgan population, who set them on fire and forced them to flee or obey. Being peaceful by nature, Pelasgians have not used intelligently to make weapons so, having no defense force, they were easily defeated. This is one of the variants. Burning was in fact a common practice in the Cucutenian and other Neolithic communities living on a vast territory. Probably they were burning their old city hearths for hygienic reasons and moving to a new hearth, so archaeologists have discovered so many incinerated vestiges. Since Getae saw that the Pelasgians knew agriculture and animal husbandry, which provided them with food in abundance, they agreed on the idea of living together with these Pelasgians and to benefit from the food supplies, so that Pelasgians can provide permanent food resulting from agriculture. The Getae instead protected the food by the fortifications they built and assured the cattle breeding. Due to the fact they were higher than the Pelasgians, they could easily control the herds of cattle. Symbiosis seems to have worked since they mixed up, creating social classes in time. We will move to another archaeological site, a mega-structure of over 1.000 square meters, a temple which age is about 7,000 years old and where pilgrims from several prehistoric communities were coming. Here, in fact, the largest settlement of the mysterious Cucuteni civilization on the territory of Romania was discovered. We will go to a Museum to see a unique exhibit in Southeast Europe - a human Paleolithic shelter, partially reconstituted. We will visit a throne fortress, which during the shooting of a historical film has been subjected to real cannon shots for high authenticity. We'll camp in a dream camping under the Ousor peak.

 

Day 12.Gura Baciului

The idea of organized slavery could not exist in a nomadic people. Nomads do not need slaves, because they produce nothing, just gather, hunt and eventually steal from other nomads. Organized massed slavery is useful only in the case of the sedentarisation of a people. So the Getae have adapted and most of them became sedentary, they invented more and more sophisticated forms of domination, they became more and more powerful and rich, creating advantageous rules, which eventually led to the emergence of principals, kingdoms, and empires. All of them were based on the imposition of will by armed force, a fact perpetuated to this day. PELASGIANS AND GETAE were born somewhere as a tribe and multiplied to become a people. The birthplace of the Getae is not known for certain, but it is located in the North of the Danube (Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine). The birth of Proto-Getae is related to this space, even though we find them later all over Eurasia. We can talk about proto-Getae only with the discovery of bronze and making of the bronze weapons. Metallurgy appeared in the Danube basin and Anatolia, 6.000-7000 years ago or even more. The primary phase of Vedic Culture had place in the Carpathians, most likely initially, in the Danube River area, after that entered the Mures River, thus occupying Transylvania (1922 The Cambridge History of India, University of Cambridge, base old Vedic literature). We will go by the road that Dracula traveled 600 years ago, visiting his tomb. A particularly spectacular way passes next to the largest marsh from the crater of a volcano from Romania, where we find glacial relics, alongside carnivorous plants. We will visit a very beautiful castle and at the same time a place haunted by ghosts. We will visit the Bermuda Triangle of Romania, a place where electronic equipment does not work, mysterious appearances are frequent and a place where an ancient culture of the Stone Age has developed where a settlement with incineration remains were located beneath the corner of the dwellings was discovered. We will camp at a camping on the whirling river bank.

 

Day 13.Criș

Romania is the hearth of what we called Old Europe, a cultural entity of between 6.500 and 3.500, focused on a matriarchal, theocratic, peaceful and creative society. The stunning discoveries made in Romania and other neighboring countries after the Second World War, associated with radiocarbon dating, made it possible to understand the importance of the beginnings of “old European culture”, a culture of a farming society. It has also become evident that this ancient European civilization precedes with a few millennia the Sumerian one. These data make the hypothesis that the warrior and violent civilization of the Sumerians have been the earliest of the world impossible. Recognizing of the realities and lifestyle of Neolithic and Copper ages meant more than just sowing, harvesting, grinding and baking bread or raising houses. “Old Europeans” were the temple builders, admirably painted ceramic and objects of worship manufacturers, creators of sculptures and figurines, representing deities in a wide variety of types and participants in seasonal, funeral and other rituals. We will visit an important site of the Starcevo-Cris culture and then we will head to Pisa for Romania, two leaning towers, similar to that of Pisa. We will visit a skull-shaped fortress and we will camp at a camping named after an exotic fruit near one of the oldest monasteries in Romania.

 

Day 14.Turdaș

Historian Herodotus tells us that “Pelasgians were the first inhabitants of Greece and Italy, belonging to the European race”, specifying that most of them are located in the north of the Black Sea and the Danube, on the territory of the Dacians. Nicolae Densuşianu in “Prehistoric Dacia” said, referring to Dacia, “Roman legends tell us that the inhabitants of this country are a new genre of people “coming out “of the earth, after the destruction of the first race of men by the flood”. Geto-Dacians were presented in antiquity, including by ancient Chinese, as tall and blonde, identical with Pelasgians in terms of physical appearance. In addition we saw that, for the ancients Pelasgians were born “in the black land, on the high peaks”. The chernozem belt area starts in eastern Croatia, continues along the Danube to the Republic of Moldova, northeastern Ukraine and the southern part of Russia and ends in Siberia. Dacia or nowadays Romania is also located in this area. In the Middle Ages, the term “black” was applied to the three major regions of the former Dacia: Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldova. During the reign of King Stephen over Hungary (997-1038), Transylvania appears in a text under the name „Ungria Nigra” (“Black Hungary”). In the chronicle of Fazel-ullach-Raisid from 1303, Romanians in the Southern Carpathians are called “Kara-Ulaghi”, meaning “Black Wallachs”. The epithet “kara” (“dark, black”), applied to the Daco-Romanian countries, is also found in other documents. The Turks often called Walachia “Kara-Iflak” and Moldova “Kara-Bogdan”, and in the epic poems of the southern Slavs, Walachia is called “Zemija karablaska”. In Nicolae Densuşianu’s “Prehistoric Dacia” he wrote that Pelasgians were called belaschi or balaschi, names changed over time in blaschi, blachi, wlahi (letter b transforming into v), the name being influenced by the word “black”. Therefore, south of Dacia was named Wallachia, the “black earth”. For the others the name “Getae” comes from Gaia Tara/Terra (“Land of Gaia”), which has been simplified as “geta”. Nicolae Desunşianu considered that the name “getae” given by the Greeks, meant “owners” or “from the country”. The same is true of the name “Dacians”, the one who comes what comes from “d'aci”, the archaic form of the expression “de aici” from here. Hence the Geto-Dacians were not considered as migrated from somewhere, but they were a people born in the territory they were occupying. We will go to the largest city of the Stone Age discovered in Europe and the place where the first writings in the world were discovered, 2.000 years older than the Sumerian writings (considered the oldest writings in the world). We will camp in a camping near the third biggest dendrologic park in Europe.

 

Day 15. Stonehenge of Romania

The oldest inhabited dugout of the world is found on the current territory of Romania. The oldest harpoon, the oldest lance peak with two grooves (bayonet type, twenty millenniums old), and the oldest mining pickaxe were found on the territory of the ancient Dacians. The oldest mining activity is also discovered here, the silver mines in Romania being among the oldest in the world. The first furnace blasts in the world appeared in Dacia between the 1.000 and 6.000 BC in the area of Titan - Calan - Nădrag, Reşiţa, Anina, Baia de Aramă, Baia de Fier, Baia Sprie. The first brass metallurgic activity took place in 8.000 BC. In 6.000 BC the first bow and the first axe in the world were created. The Dacians had the most accurate calendar in history and accurate forecasts of eclipses for four thousand years. From the Dacians we have two hundred nails with an iron content of 99.97%, which do not rust for two millennia. A surgical kit and the trepanned skull of a person who lived after that were found at Sarmizegetusa Regia. Micheál Ledwith, former adviser to Pope John Paul II gave an interview to TVR Cluj. By that time Ledwith, a former member of the International Theological Commission who had access to the archives of the Vatican Library, made a shocking statement, “Even though Latin is known to be the official language of the Catholic Church, as well as the language of the Roman Empire, and Romanian is a Latin language, few people know that Romanian language, or its precursor, comes from the place the Latin language was coming, and not the other way around. In other words, not Romanian is a Latin language, but rather Latin is a Romanian language”. Ledwith also said that when Dacians met the Romans, they did not need translators, because they already spoke the language from which Latin was born. We will visit the oldest Neolithic temple in Europe. Here, almost 8,000 years ago, priestesses, servants of the Mother Goddess, were transmitted their teachings and practiced religious rituals. In its complexity, the sanctuary could not appear without a cultic precedent. It is characteristic of an old agrarian society which has afforded the construction, maintenance and defence of such a religious centre. But above all, it has afforded transmission of information to the future generations through secret initiations. We will camp at Temis or Tătânul – the Father of the all existing - the God.

 

Day 16. Goodbye Guide-Romania

We will leave the Europe's Oldest civilization, which developed in the Stone Age and which later spread throughout Europe.

The attractiveness of gold and the prestige of this noble metal dates from the most remote times. And the battle for gold, which for thousands of years measures wealth, is more and more turbulent since then until today. Ever since antiquity a faith has been impressed in the human soul; that gold, in any form, gives independence, that money, which curses and brings happiness at the same time, is the only tool that diminishes unhappiness and offers merriment to the sad and lonely life that awaits us later. In the beginning, being so rare and cherished, it was considered divine material prohibited lower classes and not used as an exchange item. The history of the textbooks shows us that the oldest gold seekers and exploiters were the Egyptians, from which the Phoenicians have learned the gold craft and thus brought to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from where Agathyrsi (a Dacian tribe) have come into contact with gold and the craftsmanship of gold. This theory is invalidated by countless gold objects found on the land of Dacia coming from immemorial times of the Paleolithic, Neolithic and La Tène cultures, and the oldest gold objects in the world discovered on the territory of Dacia.  A 6.500-year-old treasure was discovered near Varna, Bulgaria. A golden idol of 5.500 years old was discovered in Moigrad, Salaj County, Romania. All this proves undoubtedly that the people of ancient Dacia knew and practiced the exploitation of gold. Agathyrsi, being good connoisseurs of gold, had most of their traditions and customs, just like those of the Thracians, writes Herodotus in the 5th century BC. This brings us the first news about Agathyrsi. He says that the people is very luxurious and wears golden jewels. They tattooed and painted their face and entire body, and dyed their hair in blue. The Agathyrsi have created a state in current Transylvania on the Mures valleys and in the western parts of Moldova, which seems to have lasted until the end of the 3rd century BC. The state of the Thracians Agathyrsi has a series of unique characters in antiquity. We need to use the term "state" when we speaking of the Thracian Agathyrsi society because it was governed by laws written in a codex which young people taught by heart. Apparently, according to Herodotus, the Thracians Agathyrsi aimed that their people has neither hate nor envy, meaning they wanted to create a society where people cherish each other, and there is no hostility and struggle, where happiness reigns, all being brothers, strongly united among them. For this purpose, the community of women is established in their state of course, being based on the premise that women cannot bring disunity and hatred between men. We do not know the way the unions between men and women were made, but the fact that men were very luxurious, tattooed and painted, the fact that they paid so much importance for their external appearance, the fact that they wore golden adornments, proves that they wanted to win the hearts of their chosen ones through their beauty and elegance and that the choice was made by both men and women. Also, if women were shared, as Herodotus said, the goods and wealth must also have been shared. The community of women existed in Agathyrsi society, was an original social phenomenon, which had been introduced by legislation, and legislating appears only in societies in advanced stages of development. As for the religious beliefs of the Agathyrsi, they were not worshipers of the cult of Zalmoxis and his Mysteries, namely the rituals that gave immortality to the Getae-Dacians, as Thracians Agathyrsi had a very little ascetic life, had relationships with many women and wore golden adornments, being tattooed and painted to please women. While in the Zalmoxis cult there was a religious ban to wear gold objects and jewelry, in accordance with the asceticism and simplicity of the life of Zalmoxis' worshipers. The Agathyrsi were admirers of Dionysus, the god of wine of the Greeks (Roman Bacchus), and of the prolonged orgies. The Agathyrsi or Tyrsagetae "Getae with thirs" (Getae with rod) was a nickname given to the Thracians inside the Carpathians. Herodotus also tells us that exploitation of gold mines from Transylvania was so advanced under the Agathyrsi, that only after hundreds of years of work it was able to rise to such perfection. Herodotus’ categorical statement that the Maris River, meaning the Mureş River, crosses the land of the Agathyrsi, proves that this people has ruled Transylvania in ancient times (2500 BC - 300 BC) and being the lovers of gold, the operated gold mines. The Agathyrsi have disappeared from history. They were swept by the Celts, which in their turn, under the pressure of the Getae from the south, who cross the Danube, being forced to look for another homeland.

 

Day 1. The Gold Quadruple

Regarding the types of deposits in the Golden Polygon of Romania the following forms are distinguished: simple veins, fibrous veins, lenticular, breccias, stocks and impregnations. The veins with gold telluride or with gold and silver are mainly found in the deposits on the outskirts of the golden polygon, while the veins with native gold are present more frequently in the deposits inside the polygon. Native gold is presented in impregnated nests, in gangue or in sulphides. In some places there are nests and small golden veins in the form of sheets, plates, fibers or even octahedral crystals, other times in the form of small crystals with a 3-4 mm side, associated with pyrite, sphalerite and galena or with other minerals such as quartz, calcite and rodocrisite. In other deposits, the gold impregnation is presented in the form of fine particles with such small dimensions that after the washing of the ore, results a golden dust barely visible to the naked eye. The veins of the golden polygon of the Apuseni Mountains have thicknesses of 0.2 - 2.0 m, variable inclinations which can reach up to 70° - 80°, depths up to 450 m and lengths from tens of meters to 800 - 1000 m. The contents range from a minimum of 1.0g gold/t and reach a maximum of 5.0g gold/t. We will meet at a camping site located in the Golden Quadruple of Romania from where we will make trips to the former mining operations some developed more than 4000 years ago.

 

Day 2-4. The Robbery of the Gold in the Apuseni Mountains

The first among the ancient peoples who were attracted as a magnet to the Dacian gold were not the Romans, as is commonly believed, but the first tribes of Greeks which in their migration to today's territory of Greece passed through the Apuseni Mountains and robbed the local gold deposits from making their coins. Some historical-linguistic studies have suggested that the ancient Greek term for gold – khrūsos came from the name of Criș Rivers, the rivers that cross the golden lands. Other research says that the first Greek golden coins contained the same type of gold as the one extracted today in the Apuseni. On the list of the invaders greedy for the Apuseni gold followed the ancient Persians. Herodotus, the Father of the History, reported in his writings that king Darius the son of Hystaspes, the ruler of all Persians, started a war against the Dacian tribes of Agathyrsi, who lived in the Apuseni Mountains, especially on the banks of today's Mureş River, to rob their gold, because this branch of the Daco-Getae was full of golden adornments. Dacia's gold mines fame has crossed the Antiquity to the era of the Roman Empire dominance. In the ancient world, gold was the real engine that rushed the fall of a civilization or the development of the other one. The first attempts to conquer the gold mines of the Dacians have started since the time of Emperor Domitian. But the conquest was succeeded by Trajan. After Bicilis' famous betrayal, who some historical sources say was a Greek scribe being a part of King Decebalus' close circle, but not a Getae traitor ruler, thousands of carts loaded with over 160 tons of pure gold and 300 tons of silver marched to Rome! In the 166 years of Roman occupation of the Apuseni, local mining of gold in the 12 mining areas was done under the Roman rule. There are historical data which reveals the fact that, during the entire period of the Roman occupation, more than 500 tons of gold and 950 tons of silver left Dacia to economically consolidate the Roman Empire. The gold mining of the Habsburg Empire, which was much more intense than that of the Roman period, extracting 560 tons of gold, followed.

Day 2.

We will visit the 4 golden mountains, starting with the "fire and water" mines of the Agathyrsi, exploited through unprecedented techniques of 4000 years ago. We will continue with the Golden Fortress, finishing in the depths of the earth in the only underground gold mine dating back more than 2.000 years.

Day 3.

We will visit a mining area where we will see the remnants of a volcanic cone with an altitude of over 3000 meters, devastated by the explosions of ancient times, a volcano that continues to manifest its energies and which gave the name to the climatic area, a place considered one of the most beneficial zones for health. We will visit other Roman mining areas, starting with Roman Steps and ending with the latest mining operations which have been developed and exploited over the last 50-60 years. We will visit the only museum in Europe and the second in the world dedicated to gold with the gold exhibits of exceptional beauty.

Day 4.

We will visit the Goldsmith's House and meet with the only individual gold seeker that exists in Romania, afterwards we try to find the gold mine mouths older and newer ones from …Stănija.

 

Day 5. Erzsebetbanya

We will head to a mining area operated since the 15th century and an intensification of exploitation during the communist period. The settlement was called Erzsebetbanya up to 1913 in memory of the local properties of Elizabeth, the wife of John Hunyadi and Matthias Corvinus' mother. Transylvania is named Ardeal in Romania (ArDeal could also mean the “Dealul cu Aur” Golden Hill), mining until 1950, was done only by the force of the arms, until 1950 mining was done only by human force, the gold-rich ores being broke of the depths of the mountain with pickaxes and loaded into willow baskets placed on mules. The ore was shredded in the famous water stamp mills, being after that collected on the wool fabrics or the sheepskins, as in the Dacian times. The industrialized exploitation of what was left of the gold reserves of the Apuseni took place during the communist regime. Nicolae Ceausescu gave a strict order to extract as much gold as possible. And if in the interwar period only 2 tons of gold were extracted annually, Ceausescu ordered the extraction of 4 tons per year, although final expenses were tens of times higher than the market value of gold at that time. We will visit one of the longest and most wild ravines in Romania, a wooden monastery of exceptional beauty and the ruins of the gold mines. We will camp off-camping in an exceptional area.

 

Day 6. Capmic

We will cross one of the highest volcanic mountains in Romania arriving in Capmic. It is said that a golden clod was discovered in the river water. And at the place where the golden clod was found, there was a shepherd with a very small head – Cap Mic in Romanian. The one, who found the gold, thinking about the wealth there, has called others and so has populated the place which was named after the small head of the shepherd - Capmic. Native gold deposits in the second largest golden area of Romania are in the form of golden veins, and are located in the central part of the mineralized area, being related to the andesite, riolite and dacite eruptions that took place in the area. Gold veins have a minimum thickness of 0.4-1.0 m, medium thickness of 1.5 - 3.0 m and maximum of 5.0 - 10 m. They extend to depths that can reach hundreds of meters, having lengths from 200 - 300 m to 1000 - 2000 m. The gold content varies from 1.5 to 2.2 g gold/t up to 4.0 - 4.5 g gold/t. In the Matthew Gallery there is a wall “spank by the chisel” and a small gallery left from the old days, which would have been made by the dwarves. We will visit the first cyanide flotation and gold melting plant in Europe, the King's Garden with a 250-year-old larch forest, with impressive dimensions for this species (about 2 m), we will visit the secular sycamore, etc. We will go to one of the most beautiful resorts where we will also camp.

 

Day 7. Baița of Gold

From ancient times up to now 2.070 tons of gold have been extracted from the Carpathians of Romania. This fact places us fifth in the world after South Africa, Canada, the United States and Australia. Most of the gold extracted from Romania during 4000 years was used by someone else than the Romanian people. However the good news is that in the gold deposits of Transylvania there are three times more that has been exploited so far, namely about 6,000 tons.  The interesting fact is that at the base of mine closure in Romania there was a strange maneuver of the National Bank of Romania (NBR). In 2000, the NBR refused to buy gold from the Romanian mines on the grounds that it cannot have a reserve of precious metal larger than 15% of the currency reserves. Taking into consideration that these mines were not allowed to sell the extracted metal elsewhere than to the National Bank, as expected, they bankrupted. After the old Romanian companies which dealt with precious metal disappeared, eight foreign companies came in their place and requested concession of the land for exploring and exploiting of the gold deposits, where gold had "finished". We will visit another fantastic and fascinating world where we will see hundreds of types of rocks and crystals, we will visit a tower cast in 1561, but which was put on the tower only in 1925. After being mounted the bell was hit by a lightning strike and received the La from the Do Major scale, which makes it sound very nice. We will visit the ruins of two gold mines near a hazel valley with and continue our journey to the Meteora of Romania where we camp off-camping.

 

Day 7. The Curse of the Gold

The current Transylvanian gold is extracted allied with much silver, up to 20% of the composition, which gives it a light color. There is a gold object from an Egyptian tomb discovered in Abydos, over 4.000 years old. The object is made of red colored gold, combined with tellurium and antimony. Tellurium was discovered only in one mining area in our country, being separated for the first time in the world in 1782 from the golden compounds. This discovery validates the idea of the ancestors coming from the Egyptian mountains with specific customs, traditions and objects. We will follow the Roman road, built 2000 years ago to transport the Getae gold extracted from Transylvania to Rome. Here we will visit the largest arena built by the Romans outside Rome, in order to offer circus to "barbarians" - free Getae and to attract them into the Empire.  We will visit the ruins of the castle built by a Governor of Transylvania, from the cursed treasure of King Decebal, discovered by some fishermen. The legend speaks that a fisherman has been attracted by some shiny objects seen on the bottom of a river. Diving he pulled out many golden coins. Surprised by the coins, fishermen begun to search carefully the surroundings discovering a vault built in the depths and wrecked because of the roots of trees from the river bank. Penetrating inside the cave from the depths they have bought to the surface 40.000 of golden coins. The rumor about the discovery of the treasure reached the cardinal Governor of Transylvania, which ordered to capture the fishermen, to question them and to confiscate the treasure. During the investigation the fishermen were killed. The cardinal has bought numerous manors from the treasure taken from the fishermen, building also the beautiful castle that we will visit. The news about the fabulous fortunes Martinuzzi possessed, was one of the causes that lead him to death, the cardinal being robbed to find the gold. The castle built with Dacian gold was used by Empress Maria Theresa. The stories that circulate in the area assign several murders to the Empress, victims being the men Maria Theresa was making love. We will camp near the most frightening castle in the world, taking advantage from its proximity with the price of one night.

Day 8. The City of the Romanian Premieres

The entire database of research on Romania's gold resources after 1990 were in one building in Bucharest. The building was bought by a prosperous Romanian businessman. In 1992, all the data and geological profiles that were in this building disappeared. One of the persons who worked in that building says that the price of selling secret documents on Romania's gold resources was $ 10,000. We will head to the city of the Romanian premieres visiting the Tunnel of Love, the only Steam Locomotive Museum in Romania, several ravines of exceptional beauty, the oldest railway station in Romania, the first mountain railway in Romania, the first theater in Romania – mini-copy of the Opera House in Vienna, the oldest pharmacy in a mountain region, first gravity dam in Romania, the first museum of masonry, all of them in one city, the city of the imperial gold. We will camp off-camping on the bank of a lake, used 300 years ago for water supply of the mills that were grinding the gold ore.

Day 9. The Tomb Rose from the Helmets

We cannot pass the road of Romanian gold, without mentioning the Romanian treasure, being an unwitting gift to Russia. It included the treasury of the National Bank of Romania, belonging to private Romanian banks, commercial companies, private individuals, collections of art, jewelry, archives. All these were transported from Romania to Tsarist Russia during the First World War, with the purpose of being sheltered from the armies of the Central Powers, which had occupied a significant part of Romania and threatened to occupy the entire national territory. After the Russian October Revolution of 1917 and the taking over the power by the Communists led by Lenin, the newly installed Soviet power sequestered the Romanian treasury and refused to return it. We will go to the Dacian fortress, Mudava, which gave the name of the current settlement. Gold, silver and other metals were extracted in the proximity, making it one of the most important mining settlements. Functional Roman and medieval galleries have been discovered, one of the mines being just beneath the Baron rock. We will follow the road bordered by tall and sharp cliffs, which leads to a plateau on which we will see the stones resembling pillars used for anchoring ships. About half a meter high they are round and smooth as if they were polished having the traces that resemble those of the ropes. The legend says that in old times there was a basin here where all the water coming from the mountain ridges gathered. The mountain would split into two after a natural disaster and the basin was emptied. But for a long time there still have been marshes with reed, snakes and dragons. We will go to the island where the legends speak about the tomb of the God's whip, of the most powerful ruler of the Huns. Legend says he had so many soldiers, that each of his warier brought a helmet of earth on the grave of the ruler and thus a mound was formed in that place.

 

Day 10. Goodbye!

We will say goodbye hoping to have new Guide-Romania branded adventures.