(a 2-day car travel mini-guide)
Intro:
The Gorj County is located in the North-West part of Oltenia region of Romania; the town residence of this county is Targu-Jiu. It may be mentioned that all the North part of Gorj county is full of beautiful touristic objectives, as for example the "
Pestera Muierii" Cave, "
Pestera Polovragi" Cave, "
Cheile Oltetului" Gorges, the "
Parang" Mountains (highest peak
Parangu-Mare, 2519m alt.), or Constantin Brancusi sculptures at Targu-Jiu ("
Poarta Sarutului", "
Masa Tacerii", "
Coloana Infinitului"), but I will resume next to a mini-guide of the North-West region, at West of Targu-Jiu, located along the 67D national road; I recently visited 4 of these objectives in a 2-day travel by car; the 4 objectives visited are circled with green color in the map below, while the rest of objectives are circled with red:
N-W part of Gorj County Objectives map:
The 4 objectives visited:
- Cheile Sohodolului Gorges;
- Tismana Monastery;
- Ponoare Natural Bridge and Cave;
- Cerna-Sat - Cheile Bobotului and Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges;
The other unvisited objectives:
- Hobita - home of Constantin Brancusi, the most known romanian sculptor (see the "Poarta Sarutului", "Masa Tacerii", "Coloana Infinitului" sculptures at Targu-Jiu);
- "Pestera Gura Plaiului" Cave;
- "Pestera Cioaca cu Brebenei" Cave;
- "Pestera Closani" Cave;
- "Lacul Valea lui Ivan" Lake;
Of course, there are other objectives around, but the ones above may be reached by car in a short visit; if you intend to follow treking/hiking routes, there are a lot of routes here from: Cerna-Sat, Tismana, Closani, Bilta, Pestisani, aso.
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Next, the 4 visited locations.
1. Cheile Sohodolului Gorges:
Briefing: At North of Runcu village, Cheile Sohodolului Gorges are maybe the most spectacular gorges from Romania formed by Sohodol river.
Images from Cheile Sohodolului Gorges:
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River passes the rock
River passes the rock
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River passes the rock
River passes the rock
River passes the rock
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Cute dogs on the way
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The ring
Little caves
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2. Tismana Monastery:
Briefing: Tismana Monastery is one of the most important monasteries of Romania, maybe the most important from the south part of Romania; Tismana served as settlement for Tudor Vladimirescu, a known romanian revolutionary.
Images from Tismana Monastery:
Entry
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Front view
Inside Tismana
Inside Tismana
Inside Tismana - Cactuses collection
Lateral entry to the caves at Tismana
Lateral view
Tismana caves
Priest buildings
3. Ponoare Natural Bridge and Cave:
Briefing: The Natural Bridge at Ponoare, known as "Podul lui Dumnezeu" is the biggest natural bridge from Romania and second from Europe; it served for high auto traffic, but nowadays is under repairing; the bridge formed when the "Pestera Podului" or "Pestera Ponoare" cave collapsed; the cave has 2 entries and a total length of 734m; at the second entry of the cave, or at the exit as some say, there is sometimes formed the Zaton lake, especially when high rains. Under the "Pestera Ponoare" cave there is another one known as "Pestera Bulba" cave (5000m length); the Zaton lake looses its water in the "Pestera Bulba" cave, when in warm season that is why it is also called the "Lacul Fantoma" (Phantom Lake).
Images from Ponoare:
Welcome to Ponoare village
View from the "Podul lui Dumnezeu" natural bridge
"Podul lui Dumnezeu" natural bridge
"Podul lui Dumnezeu" natural bridge
"Pestera Podului" or "Pestera Ponoare" cave first entry
"Pestera Podului" or "Pestera Ponoare" inside the cave
"Pestera Podului" or "Pestera Ponoare" stairs inside the cave
4. Cerna-Sat Gorges:
Briefing: The access to Cerna_sat is made via DN67D, at aprox 60km from Baia de Arama and 25km from Baile Herculane on a forest road which was asphalted in the past. At the entry on this road are located the "Cheile Bobotului" Gorges on Cerna river; after these gorges on Cerna, at about 15km you enter the Cerna-Sat village where you'll find here a nice village with various mountain routes; after the village you arrive to Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges also on Cerna river, which are short but very spectacular; then, at 3 km from Cheile Corcoaiei you'll find the "Valea lui Ivan" Lake.
Images from Cerna-Sat:
Cheile Bobotului Gorges overall view
Cheile Bobotului Gorges
Cheile Bobotului Gorges
View from the Cerna-Sat way
River passes under natural bridge on the Cerna-Sat way
View from the Cerna-Sat way
View from the Cerna-Sat way
View from the Cerna-Sat way
Chalet on the Cerna-Sat way
Cerna-Sat camping
Cerna-Sat overall view of Cerna Valley
Cerna-Sat - view to Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges entry
Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges entry
Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges entry
Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges
Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges
Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges
Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges
Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges
Cheile Corcoaiei Gorges
