Alba, a Land of Experience and Heritage

In the center of Romania, in Alba county, we find special tourist attractions and products

Daniel Onea, 04.04.2024, 13:22

In the center of Romania, in Alba county, we find special tourist attractions and products. Alba is a county of diversity. It is a land of sights, knowledge, experiences, authentic taste, and heritage. Ioana Mirca, from the Tourism Office with Alba County Council, suggests that we start our journey in the Apuseni Mountains. Here we find the Albac and Arieseni tourist resorts, which open the way to dozens of reserves, caves and historical monuments.

“I mention here the Apuseni Nature Park, which is the most anthropic protected area in Romania, with the Scarișoara Glacier Cave, the Poarta lui Ionele Cave, the Vârciorog and Vidra waterfalls, the Snail Hill, but also the Avram Iancu Museum and Memorial House. Also in Alba county we find the vast land of the Șureanu Mountains, whose hundreds of kilometers of tourist trails take you through a wild land, still untouched by human hands. This is where Potecu’ Stânelor lies, a thematic altitude route, which connects the sheepfolds of Șureanu, in a true experience of the view, the taste, and the traditions related to sheep farming. Here is the Gradus Legionis, the route that connects the Roman Castrum in the Aușel saddle with the Dacian fortresses of Căpâlna and Cugir, the one at Căpâlna being a UNESCO monument. Also here is the Transalpina, the road that touches the clouds, or the Șureanu Ski Domain, a real tourist magnet. Whether we are talking about the Gemina Victrix, a thematic route that connects the Roman town of Apulum with the Roman fort Măgulici from Ighiu, the tourist area of the Metalifers, defined by the Roșia Montană Mining Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO site, or whether we are talking about the Saxon land of Secașe and Târnavelor, with the rural site of Câlnic, also a UNESCO monument, Alba County is a treasure.”

Moreover, wooden or stone churches, traditional villages, fortresses and castles invite knowledge, adventure and excitement. And the most visited citadel of all is located right in the county seat, Alba Iulia.

“The main attraction of the city is the Alba Carolina Citadel, tourists being fascinated by the history of the largest Vauban fortification in Romania. Its seven-pointed star aspect also means seven huge bastions that can still be seen today, as they were in the beginning. With a perimeter measuring no less than 12 km, the walls of the fortress are a kind of red giant, made up of millions of bricks and quarry stones. The pride of the entire citadel is represented by the six access gates in Alba Carolina, four of them being recognized as among the most imposing and elegant gates ever built in Europe. Moreover, the entire citadel is considered unique in European military architecture. Tourists are invited to admire and photograph unique monuments in Transylvania, which today make up the already famous Trail of Gates, one and a half kilometers long.”

The monuments and historical symbols are mostly concentrated in the heart of the fortress, continues Ioana Mirca, from the Tourism Office with Alba County Council.

“From the two architecturally splendid cathedrals that made history in Alba Iulia, the Coronation Cathedral and the Roman Catholic Cathedral, to the symbolic museums of the city, namely the Hall of Union and the National Museum of Union, from the Three Fortifications Route, an objective unique in Europe according to some specialists, to palaces, statues and monuments with a special architecture, all breathe history in Alba Iulia. But even the newer museums are not inferior as a tourist attraction. I mention here the Principia Museum, which is basically an excellent exploitation of the Roman fort Apulum, where we find a fragment of it, and which includes a Roman heating installation, but also a series of exceptional models, which reconstruct Roman military camps and battle scenes from that era. In the immediate vicinity is the Museikon, a unique thematic icon museum in Romania, being the most valuable and extensive museum of religious art in Romania. Tourists who enter the Museikon, regardless of the language they speak or the culture they come from, are the first to truly understand the importance of this place in Transylvania.”

There is also a certified cultural-tourist route that starts right from the Museikon, the Icon Road. This involves visiting some of the most important and well-known religious edifices, the Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia and the Râmeț Monastery, others less publicized, but no less significant in their role in the history of these places, as well as an excellently arranged ethnographic exhibition, says Ioana Mirca, from the Tourism Office with Alba County Council. Moreover, the ancient crafts have made the Land of the Moti a place of legend.

“One of the projects that Alba County is part of, which we hope will be of interest to your listeners, is the Traditional Romanian Gastronomy Trail, within the Attractive Romania program, with two tourist products. Potecu’ stânelor is a seasonal tourist product, related to seasonal sheep flock migration, in the Şureanu Mountains. The route was created to give visitors an authentic experience of local taste and customs. The circuit practically connects with several sheepfolds in the area of the Șureanu Mountains, where tourists can find natural milk products, as well as mutton and beef, and can participate, if they wish, in the traditional activities of the sheepfolds, such as feeding, milking, making cheese or curd. The second product, Pies on Stone Slabs in Apuseni – Stone Country, is more related to the craft activity specific to Șura Moților, where the art of making stone slabs is passed from father to son. These craftsmen can still be found today in Albac commune, and the stone they use to make the slabs comes from small local quarries. With great skill, by carving and grinding, they make slabs used for baking pies, but which can also be used to prepare meat or fish. Food cooked on the stovetop is tastier and healthier, because no fat is needed.”

The year 2024 continues the series of events with tradition in Alba County. Starting in May, there will be the International Storytelling Theater Festival, the Night of the Museums, and, at the beginning of the summer, the Festival of Dacian Fortresses, the National Rural Tourism Fair in Albac, and the Girls’ Fair on Muntele Găina. Also, autumn comes with events where we pick fruit at the Apulum Agraria Fair, listen to folk music at the Ziua de Maine folk music contest festival, celebrate the harvest and good will at the Golden Grape Festival, but also Romania as a whole on the occasion of the National Day, in December.