“Great things are done when men and mountains meet”
---William Blake
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| Ben doing the lumberjack sign for our University--- Stephen F. Austin. |
We traveled through so many scenic sights on our fifth day on the trip that it was hard to keep track, which place had been more beautiful. We stopped on a mountain top to take some pictures that morning. The rain agreed to stay away and the fog was not nearly as menacing as it had been the day before.
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| Ben was always falling asleep on the bus rides. Our friend Kent took this picture. Just moments earlier Ben had his mouth open and was snoring a little. :) |
The bus took us through a curvy stretch of road that led us to Bekas Szoros canyon. The bus then dropped us off so we could do a hike through the canyon.
After our canyon excursion there were two main things on everyones mind: where is the nearest bathroom? And when can we eat lunch? We found a hotel near the canyon that served us lunch (the special was trout) and also had bathroom facilities. After that we headed to Gyilkos to (Lacu Rosu)--the "Killer" lake. The reason it is called "Killer" lake or Lacu Rosu -(Red Lake) is due to the reddish alluvia deposited in the lake by its main tributary. The lake in unfortunately in danger because of the great quantity of alluvia transported by the tributary rivers (Rosu, Licas, Oii, Huhard and Ghilcos (Killer)).
There is a local tradition that keeps two legends related to the lake origin:
Once lived in Lazarea a very beautiful girl with the name Estera. One day she went to the fair in Gheorgheni. Here she met a handsome and strong lad (he could fight with a bear). They felt in love immediately. The lad asked her to be his bride. But the wedding did not take place because the lad was taken to army. The girl waited for him. On the evenings, when he went for water to the spring, she sang so sadly that even the mountains were touched. In a Sunday afternoon she was seen by a thief. The thief had lifted her and run away as quickly as he could to Suhardul Mic, the rocks with a thousand faces, were he lived. He promised Estera gold and silver only to love him, but she did want anything. The thief lost his patience and forced her to marry him. She cried to the mountains, begging for help. The rocks responded by thunders. A big rain started, wiping all in its way. Under the rocks remained the girl and the thief. After that the water from the mountain were gathered here forming the lake (Red Lake or The Killer).
Another legend says: On the meadow between the mountains was a sheepfold. The shepherds, seeing the coming of a storm, have tried to shelter, but the Killer Mountain crushed down and buried them together with the sheep.
(I copied these facts and stories about the lake from: http://www.dreamvacations.ro/pdf/The%20Red%20Lake%20(Lacul%20Rosu).pdf.)
After our canyon excursion there were two main things on everyones mind: where is the nearest bathroom? And when can we eat lunch? We found a hotel near the canyon that served us lunch (the special was trout) and also had bathroom facilities. After that we headed to Gyilkos to (Lacu Rosu)--the "Killer" lake. The reason it is called "Killer" lake or Lacu Rosu -(Red Lake) is due to the reddish alluvia deposited in the lake by its main tributary. The lake in unfortunately in danger because of the great quantity of alluvia transported by the tributary rivers (Rosu, Licas, Oii, Huhard and Ghilcos (Killer)).
There is a local tradition that keeps two legends related to the lake origin:
Once lived in Lazarea a very beautiful girl with the name Estera. One day she went to the fair in Gheorgheni. Here she met a handsome and strong lad (he could fight with a bear). They felt in love immediately. The lad asked her to be his bride. But the wedding did not take place because the lad was taken to army. The girl waited for him. On the evenings, when he went for water to the spring, she sang so sadly that even the mountains were touched. In a Sunday afternoon she was seen by a thief. The thief had lifted her and run away as quickly as he could to Suhardul Mic, the rocks with a thousand faces, were he lived. He promised Estera gold and silver only to love him, but she did want anything. The thief lost his patience and forced her to marry him. She cried to the mountains, begging for help. The rocks responded by thunders. A big rain started, wiping all in its way. Under the rocks remained the girl and the thief. After that the water from the mountain were gathered here forming the lake (Red Lake or The Killer).
Another legend says: On the meadow between the mountains was a sheepfold. The shepherds, seeing the coming of a storm, have tried to shelter, but the Killer Mountain crushed down and buried them together with the sheep.
(I copied these facts and stories about the lake from: http://www.dreamvacations.ro/pdf/The%20Red%20Lake%20(Lacul%20Rosu).pdf.)
Our tour guides told us very these legends on our way to the lake.
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| A bird at "Killer" lake. |
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| Beautiful view. |
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| I almost stepped on this little guy while taking pictures. |
After the "Killer" lake we traveled to a village that specialized in pottery. The street was lined with shops and pottery, all shapes and sizes could be found here for a very reasonable price.
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| A man advertising for the local circus happened to come down the pottery street. |
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| An example of the type of pottery you will find in this region. |
We continued to travel on to our last stop for the evening, our hotel in the Gernyeszeg (Gornesti) region.
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| A special tree branch decorated for girls that is given to them by their possible suitors. |
There is a tradition of giving a decorated tree branch to a girl (age 15 or 16) around May Day. It is made by boys who like the girl and they set the branch outside her door that night. Some houses were decorated with as many as 10 branches at once.
When we pulled up to our hotel we were instantly greeted with dessert and palinka. This palinka was unusually strong and made everyones eyes water.
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| Enjoying the dessert and palinka. |
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| You can tell Ben is really enjoying it. |
After we got settled into our rooms it was time for dinner. While at dinner they had a band play songs for us. It was nice, but it was hard carrying on a conversation over the songs.
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| At dinner. |
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| Not just one meat, but two! One is chicken the other pork. |
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| Dessert. |
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| After dinner everyone danced. We did too after Ben put down the camera. |
After the dancing a few us came up with a funny idea. We should decorate Hajni's (she is our CETP contact/fearless guide) front door to her room. So we casually went outside and tried to find a branch or two that would be acceptable. Ben ended up ripping a few branches off using his "Texas strength" as our friend Alex liked to call it. We hurried inside and decorated the branches by tearing up napkins and plastic bags and tying them on to make it look colorful.
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| Decorating the branches. |
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| Proud of our handiwork. |
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| Waiting for her arrival. |
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| Hajni arriving at her door. |
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| Discovering us hiding. |
Hajni really enjoyed the surprise and said it made her feel just like a girl of 16 again! We were happy to have surprised her and it was also our way of thanking her for all her hard work on the trip.
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