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It is 3,5 km long and 100 m wide. There are 27 fountains along it, with rich sculpted decorations and mosaic floors and another 14 fountains in Unification Square (aproximatively in the middle of the boulevard), these ones being of monumental proportions.
Please, can we see something other than cityscapes? Something of what makes Romania unique? Romania has so much to offer, but traffic and office buildings and cheap apartment blocks is not it.
Yes, is true, Romania has the most unique nature in Europe: mountains covered in virgin forests where thousands of bears and wolves live (close to half of Europe's carnivores), a great variety of landscapes and natural habitats, also very big climatic, geological, botanical differences between zones.
Also I would say that ethnically and culturally is the most diverse country on the continent, where Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern influences met. You have such stricking differences between provinces (in architecture, way of life, traditions, mentality etc) that this country can be compared only with Italy, perhaps even more. Besides Romanian groups with very contrasting identities (to such degree that can be said is not one country but several), there are many other ethnic groups: the Hungarians, numbering some million and half and making a majoritary non-Romanian enclave in the geographic middle point, Roma (Gipsies) that live almost in all areas, Turks and Tatars in Dobruja (this territory was majoritary Muslim between 15th and 19th century), Germans (numbered ~750,000 in 1930) that left the richest architectural heritage (hundreds of medieval villages and the finest cities in country), Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks, Armenians etc.
Climatically, is Romania's coldest area, a group of depressions in Eastern Carpathians where temperatures below -20ºC (-4ºF) commonly registered during winter, with a record of -42ºC (-43ºF) registered in 2006. When I was there in early January I met in some places a temperature of -26ºC (-14ºF).
Next are some pictures I took from train of some villages:
Csatószeg (Cetățuia in Romanian)
CsÃkkarcfalva (Cârța in Romanian)
Marosfő (Izvoru Mureșului in Romanian)
And some videos:
Last edited by CARPATHIAN; 02-01-2013 at 07:41 PM..
Sepsiszentgyörgy (Sfântu Gheorghe in Romanian) a city of 54,312, center of the depression and capital of former seat with the same name. Presently, is the seat of Covasna County, one of the two majoritary Hungarian counties in Romania (the other being Harghita, north of Covasna).
Now leaving this cold region in Eastern Carpathians and move to Banat, a province in South-West Romania. Here the climate is sub-Mediterranean and the lush vegetation in its mountainous part resemble a jungle.
Banat was ruled by Hungarian kingdom in middle age, up to 1526 when after the conquest of Hungary by Ottomans it became a Turkish province (eyalet) with the capital at Timișoara, its biggest city. Nothing is left anyway from the Turkish period, except a 17th century bazaar in the town of Lipova, which I didn't visit. In 1716 the province was conquered by Austrians and became part of Habsburg and then Austro-Hungarian empire up to 1918, when at the wish of majoritary Romanian population, as well as of the Germans (next ethnic group), it joined the Kingdom of Romania, together with Transylvania, Partium (the province in north-west Romania, at border with Hungary) and Maramureș.
Banat is shared between Romania (most of it), Serbia and a small part is in Hungary and has a multiethnic population and culture.
Germans (Banat Swabians) made up 215,031, or 24.5% of the population of Romanian Banat in 1930. In 2002 there were 20,323 (2.0%), mostly having emigrated in Germany. Hungarians numbered 56,380 (5.6%) in 2002, Serbs 19,355 (1.9%), 23,998 (2.4%). Most non-Romanian groups in Banat have been colonized in 18h-19th centuries.
There are also majoritary Slovak, Croatian and Czech villages.
The Austrian rule over the territory have left a rich architectural Baroque and Neoclassical heritage. Timișoara is called "The little Wien" not without a reason, and there are other fine cities and towns, while the villages in the plain region (the Timiș County) resemble also small towns with 19th century houses.
My impression was that of a isolated region compared with other Romanian provinces, with people living in a slower pace and being somehow stuck in time. And I didn't visit the inland mountain areas, which are far more isolated.
Banat is the province with most natural and national parks of Romania:
Domogled - Cerna Valley National Park 601 km²
Nera Gorges - Beușnița National Park 371 km²
Semenic - Caraș Gorges National Park 366 km²
Iron Gates (Danube's Canyon) Natural Park 1156 km²
My trip in this September included passing through Cerna Valley (a magnificent national park) and staying a night in Băile Herculane, a gorgeous resort in the same valley, then passing through Iron Gates or Danube's Canyon, visiting a little of Timișoara, then Lugoj.
First, pictures from Cerna Valley. This river flows between Cerna and Mehedinți Mountains. The park contains vaste virgin forests and together with neighbour Retezat and Țarcu Mountains, the area is the last Intact Forest Landscape of temperate and Southern Europe. IFL is defined as a territory within today’s global extent of forest cover which contains forest and non-forest ecosystems minimally influenced by human economic activity, with an area of at least 500 km² and a minimal width of 10 km (measured as the diameter of a circle that is entirely inscribed within the boundaries of the territory). In Europe, beside this area in Romania, IFL can be found only in Russia and Scandinavia, but those nordic forests are not in high mountain areas like in Romania.
In Cerna Valley the landscape is characterized by Black Banat Pine that grows on crags, resembling somehow the Chinese mountain landscapes.
Băile Herculane (German: Herkulesbad; Hungarian: Herkulesfürdő) is a resort situated on Cerna Valley, at the limit of the National Park.
It was founded by Romans in 102 CE and was one of empire's most fashionable resorts, visited by emperors and aristocracy. Back in antiquity was called Ad Aquas Herculi Sacras, as was dedicated to mythical hero Hercules. Six Roman statues of the hero have been unearthed, a large copy of one of them being cast in 1847 and now is on the main street of the resort. Also almost intact Roman baths have been preserved and are still in use, being incorporated in the building of Hotel Roman (where I stayed).
After Romans left Dacia in 275 CE, the resort was forgotten. It was refounded by Austrians in 1736 who rebuilt it as one of the finest European resorts. In terms of natural landscape it beats by far more famous Karlovy Vary / Karlsbad in Czech Republic, and the Baroque-Neoclassical architecture is great too. It was visited by Austrian emperors Joseph II, Francis II and Caroline, Franz Joseph I and Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi, whose villa is preserved).
Although at an altitude of only 168 m, it has a ionized athmosphere similar to Swiss resort Davos, situated at 1,560 m, due to many springs and waterfalls as well as pine forests. There are many hot springs, some just on Cerna's bank.
Is Romania's oldest resort, but unfortunately is left in a state of decay, especially the historical part.
In pictures you can see some separate Roman baths and the exterior and interior of others, with their outside walls incorporated into the Hotel Roman (built in 1970s).
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