Trekking and caving in Transylvania

This photo blog is intended for all who are interested in hiking, trekking and caving in Transylvania. You don't have to live here. Even if you will probably never hike in Transylvania, you are welcome to read my trip reports and enjoy the photos. We do have some fantastic places here in Transylvania, high mountains, canyons, waterfalls and around 12,000 caves. So, check back frecvently, as updates happen very often.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Spherical concretions

The spherical concretions from Feleac are sedimentary rock materials
that were cemented together to form a hard structure. The surrounding
sediments slowly erode away, exposing the concretion. They were formed
when calcium carbonate and other cementing minerals precipitated from
the ground water around an organic nucleus, like a shell. Near Feleac
we can find sphere-, and cannonball-shaped concretions.

The Rock with a Hole

Likasko, The Rock with a Hole, is in Hargita county, not far away from Kalonda Pass, 3 km away from Corund. On the right side of the road from Odorheiu Secuiesc to Sovata, you can see a huge rock with a large hole in it.

The legend of this rock tells us about the quarrel of two fairies; Tartod, a very cruel and warlike fairy and Firtos, a very kind, sweet-hearted and good fairy. Tartod was jealous of Firtos, and wanted to destroy the Firtos castle. The only way to do it was to remove the base stone from the entrance of the castle. With the help of devils, Tartod managed to made a huge hole through the rock, inserted an enormous metallic bar through it, and carried it away. But just when they reached the river above Corund, they were struck by lightning; the metallic bar melted, and the rock fell down to the place where it is today.