Striking Gold in Rosia Montana and Brad

I report here another golden day (literally) in the back-blocks of Transylvania. Our journey took us through some  blighted locations of the kind that dot the landscape = usually relics of the communist era. We saw, for example, a large, but no longer used tall chimney penetrating the landscape and some derelict production facilities.

But then we arrived at Rosia Montana - a mining community also home to unemployed miners - seen here with their families enjoying a festival.

Our focus, however, lay in the old upper village that was the target of a campaign to draw in tourists as an alternative economic base. The assets, as we shall see, were great, but only in the early stages of development.

The main attraction was a former gold mine and this really had potential as I recall the world heritage mining exhibits at Camborne in Cornwall where the industrial revolution started. The site is littered with old mining equipment. Make it work again and the public would welcome it.

The piece de resistance was the mine itself, with its narrow passages, running water (shown here), and roofs flecked with particles of gold.

And, at the centre, were these steps to an upper level - nothing much to look at BUT ... carved by miners in Roman times 2000 years ago. This one of the major sources of gold in the empire! And I was standing where people were running past during that age.

Outside, the exhibits included tomb-stones, stamping equipment, and former mine-shafts.

Then it was off to see a mining museum in nearby Brad. But the scenery en route was engaging in the later afternoon sunlight:

A typical hay stack - we saw thousands of these in out travel. As the winters are harsh, the local livestock has to be housed indoors.

More haystacks and one of the hundreds of horse-drawn wagons we saw. A lot of the farming is small scale and low income, so I suppose horses make sense as a means of transport, albeit slow.

And so to the interesting museum with its many gold exhibits:

Nice, eh?

AS

General Berthelot

Romania is full of oddities and one of the most peculiar we visited was the tiny village of General Berthelot. The story is that a military attaché to the French Embassy in Romania was so helpful at defending the  country against intruders that the king ennobled Berthelot and gave him a village with a nice home and some houses. The good gentleman lived out his days in Romania before repatriating himself after a couple of years giving the house and the village bearing his name to the Romanian Academy. And so it remains today!

A shepherd and his 'flock' of a few cattle near General Berthelot - a sight quite often seen in Romania.

The now Academy, but former residence of the good general.

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The gentleman himself

Nearby we visited the headquarters of what the Europeans call a geo-park. This one had a dinosaur theme, Ella please note. And here we have the fossil skulls of some fearsome predator.

A model of something or other in the garden.

Some art-work and a constellation of local rocks.

AS

Do You Own This?

Hi Max,

I've been intrigued in Romania to see lots of petrol stations bearing your name. Could you please let me know if you own any of them?

Ask mummy to show you where Romania is on the map and also Bucharest where I'm staying before returning home.

Hope to see you soon.

Grandpa

Alba Iulia

A couple of days ago I saw an amazing place: the citadel of a place called Alba Iulia (White Julia). When I first looked at a map it looked like a small village, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It turned out to be one of the grandest places imaginable - and especially its core which was a huge fortress dating back to perhaps the 17th century in its recent reincarnation and back to Roman times at its archaeological base. It's grand in all dimensions as my pictures show, so let's have a stroll around it. By the way, it seems that this modern version of the city was constructed by the Hungarians who then 'owned' Transylvania.

This eastern orthodox cathedral was having a long (3-4 hour) service when we arrived, with much chanting and choral singing. The elderly men and women outside were clearly in a state of immense metion. Religion seems to have a large hold on rural Romania.

One of the monumental gates to the citadel.

It was crowded with metal sculptures like the kids shown here. There was even a scene where a professor was lecturing two children and a dog!

The inside of the Catholic cathedral.

The dude who first united Romania - it only lasted a couple of weeks!

Even the man-hole covers were impressive!!

Me and George with a dame. He lectured at UNE for a while and is now at Curtin University.

The University of Alba Iulia has many of its buildings in the citadel.

This fractured bell symbolises the reunification of Romania in the 20th century.

Roman foundations.

Another fancy gate.

Military barracks.

Archaeological works on the Roman Forum.

And a quiet street to end with!

AS