I always wondered what's so interesting in visiting caves because they all look quite the same, until I explored enough to understand better that every single of them has something unique which makes it different from the others and visiting caves is one of the most genuine thing an outdoor travel lover could ever try.
After we took the adventure discovering and exploring by ourselves a very wild cave from Brasov County, we thought, what better way to understand more this kind of lifestyle and how our ancestors used to live many years ago, if not by repeating the experiment, but this time in a specially arranged cave for the tourists?
We were actually just passing through Rasnov where we visited the citadel a while ago, but somehow we never really stopped to visit one of the caves from the area which are quite a few.
Anyway, the most popular one and which was actually arranged for the tourists' guilty pleasure is called Peștera Valea Cetății (EN: The Fortress Valley Cave) and I've been really happy to see it along with four other caves from Romania in a reportage made by Rolandia about the most beautiful caves of my home country.
Along with The Fortress Valley Cave we remember The Bear's Cave, Meziad Cave, Women's Cave and Scarisoara Cave which are the real proof that no matter how many caves you explore, you will always find something unique in each of them even if they are all quite common when it comes about the natural formations.
- The Bear's Cave - is famous for its speleothems which are very diverse from any other cave, being able to notice The Charmed Palaces, the Dwarf’s House, the Water Lily Lake, the Candles Chamber which are just a few examples from everything;
Source: rolandia
- Meziad Cave - which is actually pretty close to The Bear's Cave located just 40 km away from it, but which brings to the attention of the tourists the biggest colonies of bats from Europe but also an intact skeleton of a cave bear which is over 15,000 years old;
- Women's Cave - that is the first electrified cave from Romania and recognized for some places inside of it which are having special healing properties.
Source: rolandia
- Scarisoara Cave - representing the most famous attraction from the Apuseni Mountains because it has the largest underground glacier in the world. Though, another point of interest is the 30-meter steep stairway descending into the cave which creates some spectacular landscapes especially when you surround yourself with both fresh nature and snow in the middle of the summer.
Happily, I visited all the caves from this top realized by rolandia except Peștera Valea Cetății which happened a little bit later than we first explored the others.
It's true that two of the caves have been explored when I was very young and that's why I don't have any pictures or memories from there other than these which will stay in my heart forever.
Though, as some genuine explorers, I and my family have seen way more caves than these mentioned and my personal top would be completely different than the one shared especially that we got into some wild grottos that were foreign even for the locals of the area, but I'm happy to see each of them being mentioned because as I said they all have a unique thing and worth to be visited by more people.
Anyway, back to the cave which is in today's post's spotlights, Peștera Valea Cetății has been found by researchers around 70 years ago, in 1949, which makes me look at it as a quite new project considering that most of the caves we've seen have been discovered hundreds of years ago or even longer than that.
Now, if you are thinking about how the cave was discovered considering that it's impossible not to run into lots of holes into the stones of the mountains when exploring the mountains, for The Fortress Valley Cave from Râșnov the things went different because after a hydraulic explosion the main entrance to the cave was created but which was clogged due to accumulated sediments.
The unclogging process didn't take too long and the entrance to the cave was finally created that allowed to the researchers to join it and do their job, but the whole process and how the cave was discovered made it also be called "Fundata" (EN: The Clogged Cave) while the current name represents the name of the street, being located at the foothills of the Rasnov Fortess.
Anyway, the main gallery of the cave is around 950 meters long and starting with 2011 the cave was specially arranged for the tourists and became part of some circuits with the most beautiful caves from Romania.
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Today, Peștera Valea Cetății enjoys a dedicated number of accessible places for visitors, a paved road that takes you all the way up to the cave, but also railings, bridges, bumpers, stairs and bat-friendly lights used inside of the grotto.
Before 2011, the access to the cave was possible only by crawling on elbows but happily when the grotto became part of a rehabilitation project, with the help of an adequate equipment the entrance was enlarged to make it possible for the cavern to be admired in all its splendour.
Unfortunately, not too long after the entrance have been enlarged, as we are used to seeing people ruining all the hidden treasures of nature, most of the cave have been vandalized having lots of natural formations either broken or marked with different texts.
Happily, starting with 2000 the cave was declared a Protected natural area of national interest and Natural Monument that makes it be completely safe from other such incidents.
Though, as nature always surprises us, the main gallery which is over 20 meters high and 2,500 square meters, still has a few stalactites and stalagmites intact remembering the most famous one which is around 2 meters long.
The whole cave have been formed after numerous floods of water which firstly created various galleries and then enlarged them to the maximum.
When we visited Peștera Valea Cetății we could still notice that most of the stone walls were covered by calcite leaks which are contributing to the formation of stalactites and stalagmites that require at least 100 hundred years to bring 1 cm more to their height.
Though, from what we understood, the water infiltration is different from a season to another but it does reach every single part of the cave once in a while being also caused by the condensation phenomenon at the contact between the air and the stone walls.
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The thing that determined the cave to be impossible to be noticed until 1949 due to all the boulders, gravel and alluvium that slipped from the mountain and covered it entirely, is called The Whirlwind of the Devil which was bringing lots of storms in a short time to the area where the grotto was hidden, but with the help of the speleologists and all the people dedicated to exploring hidden treasures of nature, the whole situation took a new turn in 2010.
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Even though the cave is around 1 km long, there are just 300 meters available for the tourists' entertainment which takes part in two of the many galleries the grotto has to share, but where we also had the chance to discover The Great Hall that is known for its formidable acoustics and where classical concerts offered by the Brasov Philharmonic are being held inside quite often. The Great Hall is also the place where the guided tour ends which lasts around half an hour.
Source: pensiuneacristinarasnov
This aspect reminded me of another cave we visited two years ago called Peștera Bolii (Bolii Cave) which not only that it hosts concerts too, but during the weekend symphonic music can be listened for free along with the visit of the cave, with the help of the modern audio system placed inside.
Anyway, since we are talking about Peștera Valea Cetății which have been recently declared one of the most modern and wonderful caves from Eastern Europe, the grotto is also the single one from Romania that uses fiberglass trails composed from a material used in the construction of the first invisible aircraft and the led lighting that doesn't harm bats. All these things lead to a small fee people need to pay in order to visit the cavern so everything can be well maintained for a long while.
The tickets can be bought from the tiny house before entering the cave and there is no fee for taking either pictures and videos but people are recommended to not use the flash from their cameras so they won't bother or harm the bats.
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Tickets and prices:
- Adult Ticket: 15 RON / 3.04 EUR ;
- Children Ticket: 10 RON / 2.03 EUR ;
- Concert Ticket for adults: 40 RON / 8.12 EUR ;
- Concert Ticket for kids: 20 RON / 4.06 EUR .
Cave visit program:
- Winter Program (October - April): 10 AM - 6 PM ;
- Summer Program (May - September): 10 AM - 8 PM .
Peștera Valea Cetății is located on the street with the same name (Str. Valea Cetății, Râșnov Romacril 505400) on the national road DN1 situated just 1,5 km away from Râșnov and 7,5 km from Poiana Brasov and it can be easily found by driving on the national road or by visiting Râșnov Citadel which is just 1 km away from it. In order to visit the cave, the car has to be left in the arranged parking lot and walk on a paved road for around 20 minutes.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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