The Mountains of Romania - Eastern Europe - Walking Guidebook

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Further Reading

View Sample Route Map

Chapter Eleven: The Apuseni Mountains

‘Transylvania had been a familiar name as long as I could remember. It was the very essence and symbol of remote, leafy, half-mythical strangeness; and, on the spot, it seemed remoter still, and more fraught with charms.’

Patrick Leigh Fermor, Between the Woods and the Water

The Apuseni are the mountainous heart of Transylvania. Just as the Eastern Carpathians (‘Carpati Orientali’) are alternatively known as Carpati Rasaritean (‘Rasarit’ meaning ‘dawn’), the name Apuseni is derived from ‘apus de soare’; these western mountains are indeed ‘the mountains of the sunset’. The region is uniquely important in Romania’s history, for the gold and silver deposits of the Metaliferi range were the primary reason for Emperor Trajan’s invasion, giving rise to the country’s Latin language and national identity. The Apuseni (pronounced ‘Apoo-sen’), unlike the Carpathians proper, is a labyrinthine tangle of mountains contained within the angle of the Eastern and Southern Carpathians. It is bounded to the south by the Zarandului range and the corridor of communication running along the Mures valley from Deva to Arad, to the north by the Crisul Repede valley, draining west from near Cluj to Oradea and the border with Hungary, to the west the Bihor and Codrul ranges slope down to the plains of Crisana. It is a region where superb scenery, much of it of limestone gorges and great forests, combines with delightful villages and valleys in which a traditional way of life persists, unchanged in centuries. This area is rich in interest for travellers in quest of folk music, art and traditional costume, as well as the mountains themselves. This is probably the best area to explore on a mountain-bike, with long, empty (and rough) roads in the forests.

Topography and geology
These are not the highest of mountains – the highest peak, Cucurbata Mare or Bihor, reaches a modest 1849m (6066ft). An attraction of the Apuseni, however, is that some superb walking can be combined with a visit to the nearby city of Cluj, one of eastern Europe’s finest city-centres. The preceding three chapters have dealt with mountains that rear above the populated inhabited valleys below. The Apuseni is quite different. The name attaches itself to a region of mountains, intersected with a number of valleys. In some Romanian guides you will scarcely see the name feature at all, but each massif separately dealt with – Trascau, Vladeasa, Bihor, Codrul and the Muntii Metaliferi. The last is a range of ancient crystalline rocks rich in mica and, as their name indicates, the ores of a number of metals, including gold. However, for the most part, the Apuseni is a limestone area, with the country’s greatest wealth of karst features and lime-loving alpine plants. In the Turda gorge is a pocket of sun-loving plants more usually found in Mediterranean regions. Most of the Apuseni is made up of rounded peaks with the usual endless in spruce forests broken up by grassy meadows. Beneath these lie labyrinths of swallow-holes, underground rivers, gorges and caverns. The gorges can fill to overflow their paths with alarming speed – indeed some of the paths involve quite deep wading when the river flow is at normal. As well as limestone there are areas of igneous geology – the basalt pillars of Detunata near Bucium and the volcanic Vladeasa in the north-east of the region.

The Moti people
The inhabitants of the Apuseni are referred to as being a distinct mini-nation, known as the ‘Moti’. One of the first things you notice is their distinct architecture, with tall steeple-shaped thatched roofs on cottages and barns alike. Visitors are told of valleys whose population has changed little since the time of Trajan’s invasion; certainly the region produced more than its fair share of Romanian patriots and rebels during the time of Austro-Hungarian rule. Here can be found villages without any recognisable streets or layout, just scattered in the valley, with peasants’ way of life little changed in centuries. The region has a tradition of folk music stronger perhaps than anywhere else in Romania; Bartok found inspiration for much of his music in the folk music performed in the valleys of the Bihor massif. The Apuseni region is also rich in local festivals, mentioned in the text below. In addition to these, the village of Savârsin in the west of the Apuseni, in the Mures valley (67km, 42 miles, west of Deva), holds two notable festivals, on 30th January and 27th November.

Itinerary across the Apuseni
Precisely because the Apuseni are not a remote mountain range or a simple ridge feature, a walk through them is not a straightforward matter of following a marked path from one mountain-hut to another. The paths and cabanas in the Apuseni do not lend themselves to this. Rather you will be walking for some of the time along gravel roads, much of whose traffic is horse-drawn carts. As an independent traveller, you may well find your planned itinerary changed by the offer of accommodation or a lift to a village you had never intended visiting. The first itinerary is a route taking you southwards, across the eastern side of the Apuseni plateau, where tributaries of the Mures river have carved spectacular gorges and wooded valleys through the east-facing escarpment. It runs from Cluj, across the Gilau massif (or Muntele Mare), then across the Trascau massif and finishes in Alba Iulia on the main railway line. The itinerary itself can be incorporated with a journey on the delightful rural Aries valley narrow-gauge railway line.

The walk across the Muntele Mare connects with a traverse of the Bihor and Vladeasa massifs, starting at the village of Gârda de Sus, 43km (27 miles) from the end of Trascau traverse at Bucium, and finishing at the station in Poieni, on the main line from Cluj to Oradea, connecting with trains further north from Oradea to the Maramures region, dealt with in the preceding chapter. Just west of the Bihor and Vladeasa massifs is the Codru-Moma; it lies west of the Crisul Negru valley, flowing through Beius. There are no cabanas; access is along the slow branch railway from Oradea via Horod junction. The best way to explore the massif is as a two-day traverse with a bivouac half-way.

The itinerary below has largely been written as being from cabana to cabana. However, to be self-sufficient when walking in the area would be an advantage. It is the perfect area in which to camp wild in the forest.

Access
Cluj can be reached by overnight train from Bucharest, thus saving the cost of a hotel. By day there is one through train from Bucharest; it takes seven hours (five trains a day from Brasov; journey time 5hrs). There are three buses a week and more frequent trains from Budapest. Neither the town’s railway station nor the main bus station are close to the centre; the bus station is reached by heading east along Strada Budai Nagy Antal. I recommend you start by taking a taxi to Cabana Faget to start the walk into the Gilau and on into the Trascau.

The Gilau massif

The Gilau massif (also known as the Muntele Mare) is a limestone, dome-shaped feature, reaching its highest point at Vârful Muntele Mare (1826m, 5991ft). From this summit the valleys of a number of rivers run in a radiating pattern, all of them eventually draining into the Mures, flowing west from the Apuseni acrosss the Banat plain. To the west the Gilau merges into the Bihor massif (see below); in the south it is separated from the Trascau (see below) by the Aries valley, with its narrow-gauge railway line from Turda 93km (58 miles) up to Abrud. In the north the massif is bounded by the valley of the Somesu Cald, dammed for much of its length. In the east the Ierii valley provides the main communication, with roads bringing skiers up to the popular cabana at Baisoara in the winter. The itinerary below takes you across the Gilau, starting from Cluj, walking across the Faget ridge and through Turda gorge. An alternative is to walk across the Trascau massif to Salciua and then head down the Aries valley for 35km (22 miles) to the turning to Cheile Turzii cabana. There are two trains per day; alight at Plaiesti.

Day One
Cluj (Faget cabana) to Cheile Turzii cabana, 28km (18 miles)

Faget Padurea cabana lies on the outskirts of Cluj, a 20-minute taxi ride from the railway station, or can be reached by walking from the centre, heading south along the Calea Turzii from the old city gate of Bastionul Croitorilor (‘Tailor’s Bastion’). If there is no room inside the cabana, you can ask for one of the little huts set outside beneath the pine trees. Alternative accommodation can be found at Faget cabana (see Appendix A).

From Faget Padure cabana head south-west (red stripe waymarks) up into the woods towards Varful Peana (832m, 2730ft), the highest point of the Faget hills. The path takes you south-east, descending out of the woods into the Micus valley, towards the hamlet of Micesti, where you cross the river on the road. The path follows the river, turning right off the road, taking you through the village of Deleni and then along the river, south-east to the village of Petrestii de Jos. Turn left to head south-east through the village, leaving it on the DJ107 road to Turda. The road swings round to the north and east after leaving Petrestii; when you reach the end of Petrestii turn right down the last village side street turning off the main one, the street dwindling to a muddy track, then a footpath, then a tricky path taking you through the superb Turda gorge.

Cheile Turzii gorge is a spectacular cleft through a 600m (2000ft) high ridge – the Culmea Petrestilor; the path crosses the river several times in the bottom of the gorge, each time on a bridge, unlike Ramet gorge. You pass the entrances to Cetateaua Mare cave on the right bank and Mic on the left – really one cave now split by the river. Beware; the limestone in the gorge wears to a very slippery surface, even when dry. At the far end of the gorge the path, now a wide gravel track, takes you up through the groves of birch and alder to Cheile Turzii cabana (see Appendix A). There is a path around the cliffs at the top of the gorge (red disc waymarks), shown on a map at the cabana.

An alternative to this is to catch a lift or a bus to Turda, from where a narrow-gauge line heads west, up the Aries valley to Abrud (three trains a day). To reach Cheile Turzii cabana from the town you leave on the main DN75 road heading west up the Aries valley to Abrud and turn right off the road at the end of the town at a roundabout (red blue cross waymarks), heading west along the north bank of the Aries river; it is 6km (3½ miles) from leaving the road to the cabana. If you are in a hurry you can catch a bus, or perhaps a lift along the DN75 road, through the village of Mihai Viteazu to a right hand turning. Alight here and walk up the road into the village of Cheia; keep right at the fork in the village and follow the rough road uphill past the quarry, over the hill to the cabana (see Appendix A)....