The land of bears

Hello you all!

Time has come to write about the most special place in Romania. At least in my opinion it's an unmatched beauty in the world. It reminds me of my childhood and early adolescence years. It reminds me of those years when my family members were younger, all having more vitality. I remember how often we hiked in the mountains, explored unknown tourist trails, challenged life: were full of optimism and simply were happy together. I think every family has a beloved summer holiday location, a place where to always return and feel very special at. For me, the place where I felt that I had a united family, and where nature meant infinity and eternity is not Cluj-Napoca, but a health resort in the Eastern-Carpathians, where we used to travel each Summer holiday with the family. Even though Cluj is my city of birth, and I spent almost 20 years living there, if I had to tell which place had the highest impact on my life, and where do I feel infinity and total freedom, I would say ‘Baile Balvanyos’ (meaning Balvanyos Bath).

Not only for Erasmus students, but also for Romanian people the name of this Summer resort sounds unfamiliar. I don’t think this is bad though, because it means that Balvanyos remained an authentic, special place, and it hasn’t been invaded by foreigners, or been influenced by humans. I hope it will always remain how it used to be 10, 20, 30 or more years before. My parents used to hike and bath at Balvanyos when they were young, so this resort definitely has a special relation with time. Actually in Balvanyos time has stopped. I’m going to try my best to describe how fantastic it is.

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On the road to Balvanyos

Balvanyos is 6-7 hour car-drive away from Cluj. It can be reached by train as well, but the train goes only till Tusnad Bai (Tusnad Bath) station, from there you’ll need to walk 1, 1/2 hours or just hitchhike till the destination. Balvanyos and its region is a place I’d recommend for wanderers, people who are having tourist veins, are not afraid of forest’s noises, or darkness, poor conditions (meaning no WiFi, sometimes lack of heat, or hot water), adventure and the presence of bears.

The road to Balvanyos is long, but worth it. By car, you will little by little arrive in the land of Szeklers (Hungarian population of Romania living not typically close to the Hungary’s border, but in the central region of Romania). First you’ll notice Hungarian city-names, then that the shop names and advertisments on the streets are written in Hungarian, and slowly the Romanian impulses fade, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by Hungarian-speakers. Famous cities and municipalities located on route Cluj-Balvanyos are Sovata (Szováta), Praid (Parajd), Szekler villages and cities. As you get closer to the Eastern-Carpathians, there are more and more spring water (drinking-water) wells near the country road. Travelling to Balvanyos with my family always meant a drinking-cure for at least a week, drinking healthy spring waters containing lot of iron and minerals. Homorodalmas and Korond are two famous villages where there’s good quality healthy spring-water. Sovata’s attraction is the Bear-Lake, Europe’s biggest and most unique salty heliothermic lake. Praid is the neighbor municipality of Sovata, built above a salt mine.

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The salt mine is visited by many tourists and also people who are hoping to get treated by their lung problems. Sovata, Praid and the Szekler villages are visited by tourists from all over the world. However Balvanyos is not as popular as these.

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After Szekler communities and Harghita mountains are left behind, you’ll slowly arrive in the region of Covasna, where you’ll be surrounded by pine forests, woods and serpentines. There are few inhabitants, few signs of life in this area, dominantly weekend-houses, guesthouses or campings can be found. It already feels like a horror-movie, but it’s not! It’s just the pure closeness of nature.

Before arriving to Balvanyos, you have to go through Tusnad, which is (in my opinion) the little brother of Balvanyos. The only difference between the two locations is, that Tusnad is more populated, it has constant inhabitants, people who are living there, while Balvanyos is just a summer resort. Tusnad is a village lying on the bank of Olt river. It has a beautiful thermal water spa, but due to volcanic activity in this region, the water has other special 'ingredients' like minerals, sulfur, iron, copper, having a benefic effect on motorycal system and organs. Tusnad’s spring waters are very healthy. Close to the village there’s a tourist trail which takes you up on a hill right to a sulfur cave.

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Entering the cave and spending 15-20 minutes in it has a benefic effect on someone’s health, blood circulation and metabolism. The cave’s name is ‘Budos Barlang’, (Stinky Cave) due to its smell of sulfur. Nevertheless, I think regardless of its smell everyone should enter it, because it’s a special color spot, unique in the world. Last, but not least there’s annually organized a music festival at Tusnad, near Olt river and the forest. It’s a festival with Hungarian music, traditional and cultural activities. The atmosphere is gorgeous: a festival held in the mountains means always a unique experience.

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A little piece of untouched paradise

What I like most about Balvanyos is that it has never been influenced by modernity. Except some lumbermen, who are cutting trees down illegally, Balvanyos still remained as wild and untouched as it was decades before. Balvanyos has never ever taken advantage of being such a special place, the conditions remained modest till nowadays. This is bad on one hand, because the car way to Balvanyos is very dangerous, the road is full a woles, there are no shops at Balvanyos, and there are streets there’s not even asphalt on. To tell the truth, I’m not bothered about all these. At least this territory of the Eastern-Carpathians remained truly wild and extreme. Many times, when people influence something, they make things collapse. Sometimes human activity has a bad impact on the environment. Balvanyos doesn’t have to be afraid of humans, because here nature dominates, and people have no word or interference in nature's things.

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Beware of the bears

But before arriving at Balvanyos, you have to leave a serpentineous road behind. The road which connects Balvanyos to Tusnad is full of treasures, mistery and special sights. For example Lake St. Anna and Mohos peat-marsh, both part of National Reservations. Lake St. Anna is the only volcanic lake of Eastern-Central Europe. Mohos is a moorland lying on a wide territory, where a frightening creature, the carnivore plant can be found (only here can this plant be found all around Eastern-Europe). The lake is optimal for swimming, sunbathing, relaxing. There’s a chapel near the lake, due to which the atmosphere is a bit more majestic and misterious. I used to bath many times in this lake with my family. Often we saw bears visiting the lake, walking around the chapel or just getting into water for a refreshment. Meeting bears in this region of the Carpathians is quite usual. Bears frequent containers and bins while searching for food. Here they are the hosts, the natives, and the tourists are the foreign ‘intruders’.

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Listening to the sound of bears is also a common thing. We haven’t ever been attacked by bears, we just saw them couple of times from inside the car or the weekend-house. However it’s better and safer not to face them, and to be careful after 7 o’ clock in the evening. The mistery of Balvanyos originates from bear horror-stories told by tourists and the few locals who live in the mountains. Usually bears hunt sheeps, pigs and cows, humans aren't their favorite dish.

At Balvanyos there’s a big sheepfold, a station where shepherds produce dairy-products. Well, that area is one of the main attractions for the hungry bears. Anyway, in general the bears I’ve seen were shy, and modest. Afraid of car lights or noises. Afraid of humans. I believe that they don’t want to harm people, except the case when they want to protect themselves: if they feel they are threatened or their cubs are in danger.

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What to do in Balvanyos

Concerning Balvanyos, it is good to know that renting an apartment at a weekend house is a cheap and comfortable option. There’s a beautiful motel in the centre of this summer-resort, where traditional Hungarian cuisine is present, and billiard and darts facilities are offered. I won’t recommend camping in tents because of the presence of the bears.

During the day, visitors of Balvanyos can hike at Balvanyos Castle (or at least what it remained of it, some ruins). The castle is on the top of a hill, where beautiful panorama can be enjoyed from. Another destination could be the spas of Balvanyos. On another hill there are spring-waters (natural pools containing mineral waters and sulfur, copper, alum and iron). There are spring waters with benefic effects on the health of eyes, teeths, foots, arteries and veins. Every kind of water bursts out from the ground, thanks to volcanic activity. These waters are generally extra-cold, but once you enter them, the feeling gets better. The waters rejuvenates and heal the body and soul.

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Last, but not least there are mofettas, little rooms underground where carbon-dioxide and other gases vapour due to final phase of volcanic activity. Compared with the waters, mofettas are warm little spaces, where you can sit or stand in, letting your veins dilate and blood circulation get stimulated. The one and only important rule in the sulfur cave and mofettas as well, is to not move or change position fast, because thus the carbon-dioxide and other gases can agitate or stir up, and the level of gases can this way reach a higher altitude, and can cause breathing problems. This is the reason why in these caves and mofettas you can’t find any living beings under the level of the gases, because there’s no Oxigen.

Balvanyos is definitely a great destination for those who desire to receive treatment to their health problems or just simply want to charge their batteries. It's also perfect for adventure lovers. Balvanyos is like no other place in the world.

Thanks for reading,

Dora

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