During my rides on the A1 highway to various destinations, my attention was always distracted by two natural beauties that can be observed from a distance, one of them being The Red Ravine, which I have visited already a couple of times, but also Măgura Uroiului, which is the subject of today's post.
The latest is actually less 'in your face' because the single thing that catches your attention is a very tall and solitary stone wall in the middle of a valley.
But that was enough for me to quickly look at the map and check if it's a tourist attraction or if it has a name. However, while the place can be easily reached by car at any time of the year, somewhere in July it's worth visiting the most, just because some volunteers organise a Dacian camp where people are dressed accordingly and present all kinds of themed shows and activities people had centuries ago.
That was also the preferred time when I would have loved to finally stop by and discover it, but as a person who never owned a car until recently and had to constantly wait for visits from either friends or family to have trips around, I missed all the chances until 2026.
So once the thing with the car finally changed, it turned out not to be the only change because the organisers of the festival did not post any news since December, so I was almost convinced that the festival was not going to take place anymore. However, I still wanted to visit the place, which you'll soon learn why it's so special, so I made my way towards it on a spontaneous trip taken over a weekend on the way to a completely different destination.
Along with the stone wall that already catches a lot of attention, there is another detail that makes everything so much more entertaining to check out, which can only be observed once you approach Măgura Uroiului, and that is the nicely carved stone placed at the foothills of the mountains.
This stone is not only that is suggestive for the DacFest that is held yearly on these lands, but it also marks the observation point that was used by Dacians many years ago, as well as keeping the legends alive regarding the hidden treasures dug deep into the little mountain that can be observed in the distance.
And speaking of the solitary mountain that does a great job of making people curious, keep in mind that it hasn’t always been there, as in fact it resulted from volcanic activity which was quite intense millions of years ago.
Sadly, we couldn't find any informative panel nearby to discover the story that I personally find so interesting, so we had to gather all the information from the internet and compare what we've read with what we had in front of us. But even so, I think it's a place that should be more promoted because even if it's not a fortress or a castle with which people are most familiar when it comes to historical sites, it still shelters a lot of interesting stories which might be even more valuable than some of these you would find out there.
For example, even if Măgura Uroiului is not too popular amongst tourists, it does play an important role when it comes to archaeologists that often make their way towards these lands after constantly finding all kinds of objects dating back to the Bronze Age, Dacian, and medieval periods.
Some of the things discovered were a prehistoric settlement and several Roman structures, a silver or bronze metal applique, the wall of an ancient structure, Roman monuments, the remains of a Roman road and a Roman cremation necropolis, a Celtic bracelet, seven miniature figurines depicting long-extinct animal species, as well as a Roman tomb.
So, along with the archaeologists, who are far from discovering everything that is hidden around this place, I think it's just another reminder of how little we know about the past of a country and that there is no better way to learn about everything than visiting genuine places like this one.
Măgura Uroiului measures a height of 300 meters, and you can even reach the top of it if you are not afraid of unmarked paths. The whole place is located on the right side of the Mures River, just 3 km away from Simeria city (Hunedoara County), and is easily accessible if you set your GPS towards it. The last 1-2 km are on an unpaved path, which is well maintained, and it requires no effort, no matter the kind of car you are driving.
Gabriela Travels is a Curator for Worldmappin and Hive Gaming communities, but also the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (350+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game and book reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 850+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.
~ @GabrielaTravels ~
[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 45.86313 lat 23.04261 long A place that catches everyone's attention from the distance d3scr))
