One hike to the Bear Cave, the Water Lily Lake and a traditional festival in Moneasa
Wherever you travel, that thing becomes a part of you somehow.- Anita Desai
Good evening dear travellers
I really wanted to do a hike in an area not very far from home, because of the very busy schedule I was not really willing to make a longer trip, but as I have very close to me so many spectacular places today I will share with you the hike I did in Moneasa (Arad county), I mean I managed to combine a hike with a festival, I know it sounds strange but it was so conjuncture that I managed this.
Where is Moneasa?
First of all, I chose to tell you where exactly I was, namely in the commune of Moneasa in Arad.
The distance between Arad and Moneasa is about 110km, not very far, this distance can be covered relatively quickly on a road that winds through the old villages at the foot of the mountains Codru-Moma, Moneasa has a considerable age, the first documents about the village being around 1561.
As in other specific areas of this part of the country and Moneasa over time had several names, generally names of Hungarian origin, the population of the commune was made up of several ethnic groups (Hungarian, German, Slovak or Jewish).
Moneasa is a resort in the true sense of the word because since the 1800s is known for its thermal waters used to treat several diseases, the resort receiving the name "pearl" of the mountains.
You can reach the resort by two ways, one the easiest by car (several routes can be taken into account depending on which county you are from) and the second by train to the town of Sebis after which you can take a public transport to Moneasa (this second way is a little harder because it takes a longer time to reach the resort).
The resort being quite close to where I live there was no need to leave early in the morning, so we left around 11 o'clock, it took about an hour and a half to get there, as I have written before the roads through these areas on autumn days are spectacular.
I can say that I was a little curious how the resort still looks like because in recent years, although it has an extraodinary tourist potential due to its thermal waters, it has been left in disrepair.
At the entrance to the resort watches day and night the name of the resort written on a wall covered with marble, I forgot to tell you that Moneasa was once famous for its red marble quarry, but because of carelessness this exploitation has closed, unfortunately I did not get to visit the quarry but I will pass through Moneasa and I will present the red marble quarry.
The purpose of our visit to Moneasa was to visit two very beautiful sights that we discovered by mistake when we were looking for something else.
Looking for a place as close as possible to the access to these objectives I see a lot of commotion in the center of the resort, I didn't know exactly what it is about, especially since we are not in the tourist season anymore, so it doesn't explain the presence of so many people there.
I park the car, and at one of the stalls selling fridge magnets, handicrafts, clay pots, and many interesting things, I ask the saleswoman how the resort is so full.
The vendor, with a dry smile, tells me that this is a festival that should have been three weeks ago.
You could see the anger on her face, we found out the reason, this festival was supposed to be three weeks ago when it was still the summer season but due to bad weather conditions this festival was postponed until the second of October when we have already passed into the cold season and tourists are no longer so interested in these festivals, as a result the revenues of these merchants are very low now.
Although we weren't that hungry when we arrived we decided to hike to the Water Lily Lake and Bear Cave first and then visit the food stalls at the festival.
We easily discovered the direction we needed to follow to these targets with the help of the information boards.
At the beginning we take it slow on an asphalt road that winds through the cool forest, and through the rays of the sun that seem to cut the tops of the trees.
We continue our hike through a fairytale landscape, the edge of the road is guarded by a river with an amazing color, also on this route we find resting places provided with beautiful wooden buildings, we take a breath for a few minutes and continue our journey through the forest, we stopped for a few minutes and at an artificial dam where we took some pictures.
Walking through the forest we came across a ruin, at first glance it looked like a castle, about which there was no information board, I forgot to tell you something here I had no phone signal and no internet access, so I could not seek information about what this ruin was in its heyday.
Only on the way back I was lucky enough to find more information boards about some of the objectives in the area, so I found out that this ruin was once the most modern public bathroom in this place, an imposing building with walls clad in red marble extracted from the stone quarry also from this area, it seems to be the most sought after place in Moneasa resort.
Just across the street from this building is the famous Lake with Water Lilies, at first glance I am amazed that the public authority has begun the redevelopment of the wells of interest in Moneasa resort, and this Lake with Water Lilies I notice that is in redevelopment, bravo.
We take some pictures here, then we take some time just to watch some fish playing in the clear water, I must tell you that here in the lake there is a spring with thermal water, after touching the water with my hand I think the water temperature was around 25-30 degrees (probably this is the explanation for the presence of this building that served as a public bath).
We continue exploring the area and follow the signs to the Bear Cave, on a road that climbs through the forest (I hope there are no bears here, if they have a cave), we finally reach the entrance to the cave, here we are greeted by an information board which says that the cave is visited only in organized groups, equipped with helmets and lighting system and in the presence of the mountain rescue, I failed to find out how much the entrance costs because it was already too late to organize a group.
This was the access to the Bear Cave.
Slightly disappointed we return back through the same beautiful landscape, especially now that the forest is turning into autumn colours, although I had my drone with me I tried to take some photos from the air to see the autumn show from above, but due to lack of signal I couldn't get the drone from the ground.
Visiting Lake Water Lily is free of charge, the only thing you need to have with you is "the will to move".
We eventually return to the resort starving, so the first thing we looked for was to find something to eat, at such shows we always try to eat something very tasty, namely "goulash", a specifically Hungarian dish made of pieces of pork combined with beef, potatoes, carrots and other secret ingredients.
A large portion of goulash.
We did not hesitate to eat something sweet.:)
Ready, with a full belly we go to see what program is at the festival, on the paved alley we see an igloo transformed into a biblical library (a very ingenious thing) where you had a bench to sit quietly and read a book, also here we see a car (the car is called "Trabant") transformed into a flowerpot, the big hotels and treatment places are also in this area.
Red Trabant.
Lots of lavender creations.
We arrive in the area of the summer theatre (that's the name of the place where the show stage is) where the folklore show was already in progress, personally I like folk music very much, due to the fact that it was already late we couldn't stay until the end of the show, after a photo session with famous folk music singers we retire to the car and start our way home.
My attention was drawn to a cellar carved out of stone with the ,,Tree of Life,, on the door.
If you happen to be in this corner of the world, I will tell you that there are other sights to see: -Bat Cave
-Marble Quarries
-Castle Dezna
-White Quarry
-The Ruins of the Iron Smelting Furnace
So that was a Sunday where we combined a nature hike and a folk music festival.
If you liked what you saw and read here please don't forget to give a LiKe, Follow, reBlog or a Comment, for all this I thank you, and until the next post I say goodbye.
P.S. The attached pictures you have just seen are taken by me with my mobile phone, and the text is also designed by me.
