It's really important to get back in time and appreciate more of what we had when everything was normal and we didn't even know about the existence of this thing that seems to break the world apart. A virus, a damn virus that controls the world. But I still believe everything happens for a reason and we really deserve this after all the disasters created by humans.
It's been a while since I wrote a travel article and that's not caused that I don't have content due to the current situation, because (Thanks God!) I've travelled a lot in the last summer and I'm not even close on running out of things to write about or create videos about, it's just that we all have a fight with the moods that are trying us nowadays.
More or less.
And I noticed that my feed is pretty much dominated about articles about the current situation, and I kind of want to change that through my articles, to make people who follow me take a break from the disaster that's happening outside right now.
While the world seems like breaking apart, I want to get back to when everything was good and I (perhaps) didn't appreciate it as I was supposed to.
And the post from today is not less special and interesting but actually something really unique in the world that makes me scream loud once again that I'm so proud to live in Romania.
This place is called Detunatele and it's a protected area of high national interest (geologically and botanically) located in the Apuseni Mountains, Alba County.
The place is composed of two different peaks created from basalt columns which are known as Detunata Goală & Detunata Flocoasă. Each one of the natural formations covers a surface of around 20 hectars and they have been part of a huge gathering in the summer of 2013 where millions of people asked for the place to be more developed and promoted. Unfortunately, not too much happened since then, being arranged only a few panels that show you the way to the top of one of the formations (not both) and not being created a clear track that brings you at the bottom of them - because this is what people really hope to see.
Detunata Goală - Source: proalpin.ro
Detunata Flocoasă - Source: peterlengyel
Despite the thing that the place is considered one of the most important touristic attractions of the county, reaching the beautiful basalt columns represent a true challenge.
Just as I mentioned before, the single track with a marker brings you on the top of one of the natural formations and not at the foothills of it.
The way to the top is not a long route, but most likely one with lots of challenges that require lots of effort from you.
At the beginning, you are going to go into the forest and hike a few hundreds of meters just away from any rock formations but the closer you get to the peak, the more the effort is being increased.
There is a huge slope composed of many rocks of different formations which will prove that you are on the right way to the top of Detunata Goală, because the stones that are creating your way to the peak are nothing else but basalt.
Even though the place is pretty much filled with basalt columns and formations, there are also other minerals that can be found, such as peridot, pyroxene and feldspar.
Comparing the basalt columns from Detunatele with those found at The Basalt Columns from Racos, we will notice that the rock here have a squared shape, which means only 4 corners instead of 6 how the columns from Racos are. Because they have a hexagonal shape and the explanation is the different amount of time required to cool the lava.
The place was first discovered back in 1852 by Austria's Emperor Franz Joseph, and the legend says that back in time there used to be giants and fairies living in Transylvania, and they weren't the best friends, but actually enemies. That's how the giants used to kill all the fairies met, until one day when the son of one of the giants fell in love with a fairy and they started having a love story by stealth.
Unfortunately, this didn't last too long until the giants found out and they started a huge battle killing both the sun and fairies. Just like the situation of nowadays, the Earth is the only one who makes the rules and has the power to punish everybody, so it ended up by opening itself and swallow both of the communities in its flames, each one of the columns representing a body.
The unique natural reservation of basalt columns didn't randomly earn the name of Detunate while these means being struck by lightning and it definitely makes a sense now knowing their story and how they appeared.
If we talk about Detunata Flocoasă then we must know that it's located on an altitude of 1265m and its name comes from the way it's located, being half covered by the forest and nature which are carefully embracing the columns.
The contrary is offered by Detunata Goală where there is no fauna around it and the landscape is pretty much completed by the grace of the huge natural pipe organs that we can admire into the Apuseni Mountains.
This one is located on an altitude of just 1048m and the natural reservations are just 1,5km away from each other.
A few more popular places in the world with natural column formations are in the Fingal’s Cave from Staffa Island (Scotland) and in Giant’s Causeway from the North of Ireland.
But no matter how many places with basalt columns you'll visit, they are never going to be the same due to their shape that it's given by how fast the lava is being cooled.
The single thing they have in common is the noise they create once they fall, which is very powerful and similar to a thunder during a stormy night.
Unfortunately, as much beautiful the stories about this place are, as well as the legends, we only managed to reach the peak of Detunata Goală being impossible to find the way to the foothills of it or even to find Detunata Flocoasă.
The adrenaline was already to the maximum because even though in the pictures it can't be noticed the abyss below our feet, we did appreciate the altitude that made us feel like being able to touch the sky and let ourselves be embraced by nature and its beautiful song.
There was also the view that gave us the ambition to not give up until we find what we came to see, so we decided to go down from where we started the trail and search for a few more alternatives including GPS too. But not before we admire the peaks of the mountains that can be noticed in the distance: The Big Mountain, Gaina Mountain, The Volcano Mountain and Rosia Poieni on the right. (the big yellow pit)
We spend a few more hours hiking and trying various routes but unfortunately, none of our attempts didn't manage to take us to the base of the huge natural pipe organs. The main sign people need to follow is a red circle, but then we found a few more pink circles which made us believe they might be the way to Detunata Flocoasă.
In reality, the pink markers are very often met on the tree trunks and stones and they take you to other touristic attractions like Rosia Poieni or mountains peaks.
The adventure didn't discourage us, but actually made us take it as a sign and keep in mind to return someday and properly discover the beautiful natural formations.
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The natural geologic reservation that has been born more than 10 million years ago, represents a touristic attraction of great interest due to the basalt columns that can be found only in very few places in the world, and they can be found in the village named Bucium, Alba.
The village is part of the Metaliferi Mountains from where the track starts to Detunatele and you need to follow the national road DN74 from Alba Iulia, crossing Zlatna -> Cerbu Village -> Bucium, which is just 7km away from the previous village.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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