Trascau Mountains
Trascau Mountains | |
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The Trascau Mountains in Romania |
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In the Trascau Mountains |
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Highest peak | Dâmbău ( 1369 m ) |
location | Romania |
part of | Apuseni Mountains ( Western Carpathians ) |
Coordinates | 46 ° 20 ′ N , 23 ° 30 ′ E |
The Trascău Mountains ( Romanian Munții Trascăului ; Hungarian Torockói-hegység ) is a mountain range in western Transylvania and the easternmost part of the Apuseni Mountains in Romania .
It extends over a length of about 60 kilometers mainly in a north-south direction west of the cities of Turda , Aiud and Alba Iulia .
The mountains are limited
- in the west of other mountain ranges of the Transylvanian Western Carpathians:
- Gilau Mountains ,
- Bihor Mountains ,
- Muntele Mare ,
- Transylvanian Ore Mountains (part of which the Trascău Mountains are sometimes considered to be).
- to the east of the Transylvanian Basin with the Mureș River .
The Trascău Mountains are located in the Cluj and Alba counties . The name is derived from the town of Trascău (now Rimetea ).
geology
The Trascau Mountains consist mainly of limestone and also of sandstone , conglomerates and crystalline rocks .
description
The mountain range has an average height of around 1000 meters, but is interrupted several times in a west-east direction by streams and rivers that ultimately flow into the Mureș. At these break-in points are impressive gorges and ravines , whose formation was favored by the high proportion of limestone. The western part of the mountain range is characterized by mountain ridges, some of which are wooded, but mostly covered by meadows. The highest point is the 1369 m high Dâmbău near Zlatna .
population
Most of the settlements in the interior of the mountains are inhabited by Romanian mountain farmers - called Motzen in this region . Wooden houses with steep thatched roofs are characteristic of the Motzen settlement area. These thatched-roof houses are now almost exclusively used as farm buildings.
Numerous Hungarians live in larger towns on the edge of the mountains . The German minority, which used to be strongly represented in the cities and mining villages , was assimilated several centuries ago.
Due to the low standard of living, also by Romanian standards, the mountain settlements in particular are affected by emigration, preferably young people.
economy
The Trascău Mountains are characterized by arable farming and even more so by pasture farming. The residents produce almost exclusively for their own use or for retail. The mining that was practiced in past centuries has almost completely disappeared. There is practically no industry.
traffic
The main railway lines Alba Iulia – Târgu Mureș and Arad – Alba Iulia run on the eastern edge of the mountains . In the south there is a branch line from Alba Iulia to Zlatna . The narrow-gauge railway from Turda to Abrud was shut down in the late 1990s.
The larger towns in the mountain valleys can be reached by bus. In numerous smaller settlements only unpaved roads lead, in some smaller, higher mountain hamlets only footpaths.
tourism
The tourism is - measured against the landscape and cultural possibilities - only poorly developed. There is only a small number of accommodations, mostly near the well-known valley gorges. In contrast, the network of hiking trails is quite dense. In the past few years, pilgrimage tourism has given rise to a certain boom , particularly in the vicinity of the monasteries Râmeț and Sub Piatră .
Attractions
- Cheile Turului ( Tureni Gorge )
- Cheile Turzii ( Thorenburger Gorge )
- Cheile Râmețului ( Râmeț gorge )
- Piatra Secuiului - elongated rock massif near the municipality of Rimetea
- Cetatea Trascăului - Castle ruins near Colțeşti
- Peştera Dâlbina and Peştera Huda lui Papară - karst caves into which the brook Huda lui Papară disappears or from which it emerges again
- Râmeț monastery
Surveys
Significant elevations in the Trascau Mountains are:
- Dâmbău, 1369 m
- Ardaşcheia, 1250 m
- Vârful Ugerului, 1244 m
- Vârful Piatra Cetii, 1133 m
- Piatra Secuiului, 1128 m
- Piatra Craivei , 1078 m
Some places in the mountains and in the vicinity
- Alba Iulia ( Karlsburg )
- Turda ( Thorenburg )
- Aiud ( Strasbourg am Mieresch )
- Teiuș ( three churches )
- Zlatna ( Kleinschlatten )
- Rimetea ( iron castle )
- Colțeşti ( Sankt Georgen )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gheorghe Măhăra; Ion Popescu-Argeșel: Munții Trascău , Imprimeria de Vest, Oradea, 1993, ISBN 973-96303-1-6 . online at albamont.ro (Romanian; PDF; 690 kB)