The Carpathians are one of the most evoking symbols of Romania covering about one third of its area. The Carpathians chain is 1,000 km long and resembles a vast amphitheatre with the Transylvanian plateau at its centre. The geography and the history of the Carpathians merge so profoundly with those of Romania that the universal frame of Romanian peopleΓÇÖs myths is the pastoral universe of the Carpathians pastures. The tourist activities practiced in the Carpathians, especially skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, and bathing in thermal waters, let you discover the beauties of mountain landscapes that present-day civilization has not distorted.
The diversity of the Carpathians landscapes is related to the variety of geological structures. Gentle slopes alternate with limestone cliffs and basalt structures. Thousands of glacial lakes and circuses, caves, some of them unique, find their places, mostly in the Western and Southern Carpathians. The strange aspect of the rocks favoured the appearance of folk legends and myths that have been transmitted, from very old times, in the form of tales and songs.
The symbol of the Carpathians vegetation is the edelweiss, which grows in the alpine pastureland. Rare vegetation species are protected in 13 national parks.
The most commonly encountered animals here are the stag, the dear, the fox, the boar, the hare, and the mountain cock. The aurochs (a kind of European buffalo), widespread once, is one of the species protected in natural reservations. Hunting is allowed in special parks, especially in the Calimani Mountains, in Tara Vrancei , south of the Bicaz Mountains, in the Retezat, and in the area of the Mures River canyons.
The Carpathians played a defensive role in the ancient history of Romania. Dacian kings and, later, Romanian princes built fortresses, castles and monasteries whose vestiges can still be seen. Many defensive castles solidly built between the 14th and 16th centuries on top of mountains or amidst large coniferous and deciduous forests are still impressive today.
Tourism started developing in thermal spas and health resorts in the second half of the 19th century and still is one of the main potentialities of the Carpathians. Mountain climate provides opportunity for yearlong tourism: August is the surest for journeys and the snow layer is thick enough for skiing 5-6 months a year.
A new form of tourism, the rural one, successfully developed lately in mountain villages that have preserved, through the centuries, the traditional house and the forefathersΓÇÖ customs and traditions.
