The Legend of Omul Mountain

The legend tells us about Emanuil, son of a mighty king and of his extraordinary queen. This queen, Emanuil’s mother, was a strange person: she had the healing gift and with only one touch she could relieve the pain and sufferance of people. People from all over the place came to her to be cured of any physical or spiritual distress they might have.
The Queen's Exile and Death
Unfortunately this much beloved queen had enemies, mean people who wanted her cast out of the castle and after a while they really managed to persuade the king to banish her from the palace.The queen was very sad and although she was in exile she continued to cure ill people. After a while she died of sorrow. Emanuil was the most affected although he was not allowed to see much of his mother during the past years. He ran away from the court and no one knew where he had disappeared. The king was dark and surly as his own son and heir vanished like that and could not see any reason for Emanuil to do that.
The truth was that Emanuil was in deep sorrow after his dear mother and retreated to the mountains, to a mysterious eremite, an old friend of the queen. Emanuil cried and explained to the hermit how blue and lost he felt and begged him for advice and guidance to become a good person. After calming him down the wise hermit advised the lad to go back to the humans and serve them: if he wanted to be good he had to learn to be humble and to do good deeds without asking for anything else instead. The young man decided to go and do it exactly.
The first person he met on his way was an old lady who was carrying a heavy bunch of fire wood. Manuil offered to help her with the burden. He wanted to take farewell when they reached the woman’s cottage but she wanted at all costs to offer him a good meal, shelter for the night and pay him for the work done. The day after, before his leaving she made him a strange gift (probably the old woman was a sort of a witch): all the good or harm he would do to people to turn back to him.

Further on Emanuil found a man who has fallen from a rock and was badly injured. He took the man home and took care of him but in the end the man died, leaving behind a beautiful young daughter, Rada. The prince promised to the father to take care of the girl. After the man passed away Emanuil and Rada went up to the mountains where he left her to the hermit to be raises and tutored by the wise man, so she could become a good wife for the prince when she grew up.
The prince went back to the people where he continued to help the poor and needy. After a while he realized he wanted to do something more, to do something to improve himself, to become a literate and a wise man. He decided to study medicine and that is why the prince became apprentice to a chemist. With the money earned he paid his studies and became a good doctor. One day the hermit paid Emanuil an unexpected visit – he came to let the prince know that Rada found herself a fiancé in the valley and wanted to marry him. The young doctor lost his temper: he shouted at the hermit and pushed him so brutally that the old man lost his balance, fell, hit a rock and died.
Emanuil was inconsolable – he could not forgive himself for what he did and retreated far away on a mountain. He continued to cure people for free but became such a surly and unhappy man. No one knew his name and no one dared to ask so they called him simply “Omul” (the Man). He remained there for many years until one good day Rada and one of his old servants from the court appeared in the solitude of his cave. They prayed him to come back as his father was dead.
Rada explained Emanuil she was not married and that story was only a test of the hermit… the prince was left speechless but when people from all over who were helped or cured by him arrived to thank the prince, a smile appeared on his face after many years and he came back to the castle and made Rada his queen. They lived happily together and had many children. The mountain where the hermit and then Emanuil lived once was still called “Omul”.
True facts: Omul mountain is the highest peak of Bucegi chain. Its height is about 2505 meters and on top of it there is a weather station and a tourist chalet, which make Omul the highest spot of Romania to be permanently inhabited.

Rodna Mountains

The main crest of the mountains, an impressive mountain ridge of about 45 km long, runs from west to east. It stretches from Şetref Pass to Prislop Pass in Maramureş and Rotunda Pass in Bistriţa-Năsăud, with numerous pyramid-shaped peaks of over 2,000 m. Although the bigger part of the Rodnas is in Bistriţa-Năsăud, Maramureş is the most visited by tourists. There are many streams, lakes and mineral water springs in the Rodna Mountains. The fauna includes several protected or endangered species like the lynx (Lynx lynx), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), marmot (Marmota marmota), capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), lesser spotted eagle (Aquila pomarina), raven (Corvus corax), eagle owl (Bubo bubo), and little owl (Athene noctua).

Borşa

Borşa is a town in the Vişeu Valley, between the Rodna and the Maramureş Mountains. The town is about 80 km via the national road DN 18 from Sighetu Marmaţiei, the last commune in the valley before Prislop Pass that leads on to Moldavia. Borşa is situated at an altitude of nearly 700 m, and it is the most important starting point for treks to the Rodna Mountains. Moreover, it is located between two important protected areas: the Maramureş Mountains Nature Park and the Rodna Mountains National Park. About six km north of Borşa there is the mining settlement of Baia Borşa (Borşa Mine), which until not so long ago used to be an important centre of copper, silver and lead mining. It is part of the town of Borşa.

Some km east of Borşa, in the middle of alpine landscapes, there is one of the most important mountain resorts in northern Romania, Borşa Resort. It is situated at an altitude of more than 850 m.Due to the high altitude, evergreen forests and clean air, many come here to be treated for various pulmonary diseases, such as bronchitis. As in many places in Romania, treatments are often based on natural remedies and mineral waters, but here they also include mofettes, i.e. volcanic vents in the earth from which carbon dioxide and other gases escape. Mineral waters with iron, calcium and magnesium are recommended for the treatment of digestive disorders, and kidney and urinary problems. The region is well suited for sports enthusiasts, and hikers can start here their trips to the Rodna Mountains.

Moisei
Moisei is situated in the Vişeu Valley, only some km downriver from Borşa towards Vişeu de Sus at the junction of national roads DN 17C and DN 18. The fame of the village is mainly due to the Moisei or Izvorul Negru Monastery, with a tiny old wooden church. On a low hill at the eastern end of the village, there is the Memorial of the Martyrs, a monumental group of statues realized by the sculptor Vida Geza.
The foothills of the mountains are used for pasturage and for growing hay for the animals.

The Rodna Mountains National Park

The Rodna Mountains National Park is the biggest protected area in northern Romania, and the main object of nature tourism in Maramureş. The park, which covers the whole Rodna massif, extends to the territory of two counties, Maramureş and Bistriţa-Năsăud. Famous in the region are the chamois, repopulated between 1962-1967, and the marmots, colonized in 1973. Because of its diverse and valuable fauna and flora, in 1979 the area was declared a biosphere reserve within the framework of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme. There are also numerous traces of the passing of glaciers: alpine peaks and abrupt wild valleys that form spectacular glacial hollows. On the northern slope there are three such hollows: Zănoaga Mică, Zănoaga Mare and Zănoaga Iezerului, separated by the ridges of Turnu Roşu and Piciorul Moşului. Zănoaga Iezerului is the biggest hollow with the oval-shaped Lake Iezer. On the southern side there is the Buhăescu-Rebra hollow, with Buhăescu Mare waterfall and Tăurile Buhăescului, four little glacial lakes. At the western border of the reserve is a laboratory used for scientific research.

Tăurile Buhăescului, also called Iezerele Buhăescului, are four small ponds situated in the glacial circus of Buhăescu, the biggest one in the Rodna Mountains. Another protected area in the Rodna Mountains National Park is the Mixed Reserve of the Cave and Blue Spring of Iza, situated in the northwestern part of the massif. The Natural Reserve of Piatra Rea is in the northeastern part of the Rodnas, between the brooks of Cimpoiaşu and Fântâna. The Cascada Izvorul Cailor is the most spectacular waterfall in the Rodna Mountains and the highest one in Romania. Prislop Pass is one of the highest passes in Romania (1,416 m), situated on the DN 18 that leads from Borşa east towards Moldavia. The pass divides the Rodna Mountains from the Maramureş Mountains. Every year, on the second Sunday of August, an important folk festival is held in Prislop: Hora de la Prislop. Folk music and dance groups, as well as spectators gather here from Maramureş, Bucovina and Bistriţa. Another important pass in Maramureş is that between the Rodna and the Tibleş Mountains: Şetref Pass, on DN 17C.