The County of Bistrita Nasaud – a holiday destination

Were heading towards the county of Bistrita Nasaud in the final installment of our prize-winning contest brought to you in our regular Travelers Guide series.

Daniel Onea, 14.07.2016, 15:02

This is a contest targeting one of Romania’s northern counties, which has a tremendous tourist potential, very special places, as well as precious cultural, historical and natural assets. Bistrita Nasaud is a county with a breathtaking scenery and extremely hardworking people. Going very briefly over that, here is Bistrita Nasaud County Council president Emil Radu Moldovan.

Emil Radu Moldovan: ”It is a medium-sized county, with around 330,000 inhabitants, 62 territorial-administrative units, a county seat municipal city, three towns and 58 communes. We have breathtaking places: two national parks, the Rodna Mountains National Park and the Calimani Mountains National Park, boasting the highest percentage of ozone in Europe, a fact which has been scientifically proven around the Colibita lake, then there’s the legendary Dracula castle and the area proper where Bram Stoker had traveled before writing the novel which was turned into a film by Francis Ford Coppola. If we travel further on the Somes River Valley we find the Singeorz Bai resort, which has healing mineral waters providing natural treatment for a great many internal diseases, that is stomach, gall bladder, spleen as well as a whole category of other stomach-related diseases. If we climb up, we reach the Rodna Mountains National Park”.

Bistrita Nasaud County Council president Emil Radu Moldovan also told us his county has set up friendship and twinning relationships with a string of administrative units from other countries.

Emil Radu Moldovan: ”I should like to begin with our neighbors from Hungary, we have old partnerships with three counties in Germany. Also, we’re in the final stage of setting up the collaboration process with the city of Rivoli in Italy. We’re also in an advanced stage as regards foreign diplomacy in the wake of the visit the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China paid in 2012. They are very particular about who they have a twinning relation with. They analyze things very carefully. The procedure is complicated and they need the official consent of the Chinese Government. I traveled to the Hunan province, together with a couple of colleagues, where we signed the twinning protocol. We were very well received. I had the chance to see how much they developed in terms of tourism and how the economy of the province looked like.”

The town developed significantly in the previous centuries. Proof of that is a spate of period buildings, some of which have been preserved to this day. The Gothic Church with its 75-meter tall tower dominates the city even today. The construction of the church began in 1470 and lasted for about 100 years. Close by, you can see the Sugalete compound, which is made of thirteen 15th century buildings, built in the Renaissance style. Thanks to their architecture, they remind everyone of the thriving Bisritsa of the previous centuries. Furthermore, you will find yourselves in a city with a rich cultural activity. With more on that, here is the manager of Bistrita Nasaud’s County Culture Center Gavril Tarmure.

Gavril Tarmure: “We have a very consistent musical season, we have an exhibition program of the city’s most important art gallery, we have literary events, we stage large-scale festivals. As part of the permanent music season and adding to the concert offer of the Concert Society Foundation we set up in Bistrita 20 years ago, the County Culture Center organizes around 60 chamber music concerts and over 15 symphonic music concerts each year.”

From Bistrita you can head towards the rural region. Here you can go backpacking to the mountains or you can go horse riding in the Beclean stud-farm. There you can find a workshop for horse carriages and sledges. As an extra option, you can have trips for several days with accommodation in the chalets of Bistrita Nasaud’s Forestry Division.

The endpoint of a route may be the Tihuta Gorges, at the Dracula Hotel Castle or the Rodna Mountains National Park. You will definitely be impressed by the scenery you’re about to see. Especially by “the sea of the mountains”. That is how Colibita is called, it is a secluded place in the mountains, on the shore of a very big lake, where people earn their keep as animal growers or farmers. The Colibita barrier lake can be found at 900 meters. It has a surface area of around 270 meters and is 13 kilometers long. Andreea Spanu is a tourism agent with Bistrita Bargaului Tourism Information Center. She will now be describing the perfect place for a peaceful holiday.

Andreea Spanu: “The area is typical for a depression region. In the midst of the depression you can find a barrier lake and that is the area’s main tourist asset. The depression is located in the eastern part of the Bistrita Nasaud county and lies at the point where Bargau Montana meet the Calimani Mountains. Actually around 2% of the Calimani Mountains nature reserve lies on the territory of our commune. The most widespread type of tourism is the relaxation one. You can go backpacking, you can go horse-riding, you can have horse-carriage or sledge rides. Natural resources, that is the quality of the air, natural waters, the flora and the fauna are special. You can also have adventure tourism: Kayak, rafting, paragliding, mounting climbing, escalade hunting. The area has a very rich offer.”

However, if you’re still into adrenaline-rush activities, you shouldn’t miss a visit to the Dracula Castle Hotel. The manager of the hotel Ana Maria Muscar told us it was meant like a reenactment of the atmosphere of Bram Stoker’s famous novel.

Ana Maria Muscar: “It is an imposing building, with very high points, with very low points, with crenels, with a lot of stone, lots of natural elements, with a very attractive interior design, a lot of red, lots of black, all sorts of dragons. We have two points of great interest in our castle. One of them is Count Dracula’s vault, while the other point, more recently built, is Count Dracula’s tunnel. It is a longer route of a couple of dozens of meters, which ends in the count’s vault. From a dim, shadows-and-light atmosphere, to grave music and to our programs — which I am not going to disclose for the time being, everything must remain a surprise – we enact a well-rounded experience for thrill-seekers. We also have theme parties celebrating the Halloween, the Witches’ Ball at the castle. These are large-scale events, we stage lots of purifying fires outside, Swedish torches, the count invites tourists to visit the hotel’s catacombs. Everything gains its momentum with Count Dracula’s Ball party which goes on till the breaks of dawn.”

During winter, the Tihuta Gorges very much resembles the landscapes depicted by Bram Stoker in his novel. Each year, thousands of people travel to the hotel in the Bargau Mountains, and all of them returned home safe and sound, Ana Maria Muscar told us in the end.