About a nice waterfall and some very old snails

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photo: Țetcu Mircea Rareș, Wikipedia
photo: Țetcu Mircea Rareș, Wikipedia
photo: Țetcu Mircea Rareș, creative commons
photo: Țetcu Mircea Rareș, creative commons

Pisoaia Waterfall is a magnificent landscape reserve and one of the largest waterfalls in Transylvania. Located in Apuseni Mountains, 15 kilometers away from Campeni (Alba County) near Vidra commune. It is over 18 meters high and it is placed on a rocky threshold of crystalline limestone formed during the Paleozoic. It is also surrounded by a forest of beech and isolated coniferous trees. The water strips come down violently and spread in form of a fan.

The waters of the zone, rich in limestone, cover everything with deposits, and give rise to many limestone formations, some of them remarkable. Some say it is best visiting during spring or autumn when the water debit is higher. But the waterfall is spectacular in winter also when due to low temperatures, the water freezes in its fall. During winter the access may be quite difficult due to the snow and ice. However, usually it is very easy to get there, even if you are accompanied by children. You just have to follow the road signs and once you are near, the noise of the waterfall.

Another charming place to see not a long walk from the Pisoaia Waterfall, but on the opposite side of the Aries River, is the Snail Hill (Dealul cu melci). Geologically unique, this hill is a natural paleontological reservation and one of the richest fossil sites in Romania which attracts the tourists with its strange appearance. As we know, due to slow processes, such as erosion and weathering, or rapid processes, such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes, the surface of the earth changes. Therefore, what 65-70 millions years ago was the rocky bottom of a sea, nowadays it is a hill, part of a mountainous area.

This protected area is a reef full of sea snail shells of various shapes and sizes. Snails that lived here in the warm waters of Tethys Sea during the Senonian – the upper Cretaceous epoch, back when dinosaurs still ruled the Earth. The shells have been preserved encrusted inside the rock of the hill until today. Here you can observe dozens of species of gastropods.

Well, if you are looking for a place where you can detach from the world, clean your lungs with fresh air,  where the silence of nature is interrupted only by the crystalline sound of the water striking against the rocks, come and visit the Snail Hill and Pisoaia Waterfall.

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