The Rucar-Bran corridor

Description:

Between Bran and Rucar, for a distance of just twenty-two kilometres, stretches a fairytale area of rustic settlements dotted along a low-lying corridor flanked on the one side by the Piatra Craiului Mountains, and on the other by the Bucegi Mountains. Hundreds of years ago, this was a trade route, linking Brasov and Campulung. Nowadays, it is an area of knolls, crevasses and hills still traversed by the flocks of shepherds who know the ancient techniques of making cheese in ftr bark, an area that has become a favourite destination for tourists. Traversing the villages between Bran and Rucär, we can be convinced that rural, ecological and cultural tourism can be fully functional in Romania.

Bran is known as an ancient pastoral settlement, in which the phenomenon of transhumation can still be witnessed. Each year, on the last Saturday of September, the festival of the scattering of the sheep takes place (the sheep are brought down from the mountains and returned to their owners), on which occasion the best rearer of animals is named. You can also take part in the following festivals: the Pantelimon Fair, on 9 August; the festival ofthefirst milking of the sheep, in September; the Fair of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, on 8 November; the Days of Bran, in August. If you wish to familiarise yourself with the traditions of Bran folk, then you can participate in the one day "At Home with Traditional Craftsmen" tours. You will learn the secrets of the furrier, of hand weaving, knitting, embroidery, and joinery; you will learn the way eggs are painted at Bran, how to weave wicker baskets, to make masks and dolls, to paint icons on glass and wood.

In the winter of 2004-2005, a small but modem ski slope was opened in Bran, equipped with chair lifts. The Zanoaga slope (length: 800 metres) is situated in the Poarta Valley, about four kilometres from Bran. In order to get there, you will have to forget about your car, but you will take one of the horse-drawn sleighs that go from the centre of Bran or from in front of the guesthouses.

Walk through the villages of the Bran commune - Poarta, Predelut, Simon, Sohodol - and admire the proud, Transylvanian-style houses scattered amid the hills and valleys.The centres of these settlements are dominated by old churches, built by shepherds in the eighteenth century.

Hiking enthusiasts will not be disappointed; from the village of Poarta, there are three marked trails that lead to the Omu Peak (Bucegi Mountains). In the village of simon, there is also access to the Bucegi Mountains. From Bran you can set off towards Zarnesti, the gateway to the Piatra Craiului Mountains, twenty kilometres away. Piatra Craiului, the most spectacular massif in the Romanian Carpathians, regarded as a "morphologic accident", is an isolated limestone crest, which stretches from Zärnesti to Podu Dâmbovitei for a length of twenty-five kilometres. In this massif consisting of limestone dating from the Jurassic Age, there are numerous karst formations. The massif is renowned for its approximately 160 caves (Dambovicioara, the Cave of Bears, the Cave of Devils, Stanciu) and its twenty-three gorges (Dâmbovitei, Dambovicioara, Brusturet).

Everyone wants to see Bran first and foremost... It is no less true, however, that after Bran comes a chain of discreet little villages, with less resonant names, whose atmosphere makes any stay delightful. The villages of Cheia, Magura, Drumul Carului, Pestera, Fundata, Fundatica, Sirnea, Ciocanul, Podu Dâmbovitei, and Dâmbovicioara can all compete with the most renowned mountain resorts. The specific local character has been preserved intact, in spite of the tourist boom - something which is exceptional in our day and age! And it would be a pity if it did not remain thus. The villagers here have the wise knowledge of how to balance two different things: even if they have opened their doors to tourists, accepting the laws of the agricultural tourism market, they have not neglected their own business - they continue to take their sheep to pasture, make their delicious cheeses and work the wool. Every year, at the end of August, at Fundata - an ancient pastoral settlement - the festival of Nedeia is celebrated. Nedeia is a wonderful occasion for all the inhabitants of the villages around Bran, as they gather to converse, to listen to traditional music, to dance the hora, to admire the traditional costumes and to sell their wares.