Let's travel together #284 - Șapte culori ale Pământului (The 7 Colors of the Earth, Romania)

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During our Romania Tour from 2023 where we mostly focused on the Cluj county being aware of how many natural treasures it hides but which we never explored so deeply, we ended up discovering one more unique spot.

This was, actually, one of the best things we saw last year just because it was the closest to what we usually enjoy exploring during our travels always chasing for unique parts of nature that are yet at the beginning of becoming a tourist attraction. And thank God, we can proudly say that we already visited that spot when seeing it being promoted on TV news a few years from now on, just like it happened with other places we explored in Romania in the past.

I don't know if that makes any sense to you or if you know the feeling, but it simply gives you a mood of pride that is very hard to ever replace with something else.

We were actually on our first day of the tour when we had nothing planned but to only reach the place that was going to serve as our home for the next 4 days. So we thought that it would be better to only get there and get used to the whole mood and being in nature for a week after we had a break from our Romania Tour for two years in a row.

But just before hitting the road, my sister looked one more time on the map zooming in and out, and noticed that there was one more place that could become part of our itinerary which, happily, was just 5 km away from where we had our accommodation booked.

We had very vague details about what this will involve being little information on the internet because The 7 Colors of the Earth is only at the beginning of becoming a proper tourist attraction. But being so close to our new home, we thought that we would leave the car by the roadside while making our way to this one.

As you can see in the images, it's pretty easy to pass without noticing it because the distance talks for itself, but while the distance wasn't our enemy because we proved to ourselves many times about the things we can do in nature, the actual danger was just around the ~~corner~~ hill.

We began making our way to the one we called our first destination of the road trip a bit hesitant, not being any indicators around us but only a long valley with lots of hills making us hide from The 7 Colors of the Earth occasionally.
Unfortunately, we were only able to walk for around 5 minutes and decided to return to where we left the car because of a possible danger that appeared in front of us after going over the first hill.
I don't know what is it like in other countries, but in Romania is well known that when you meet a sheepfold on your way, the best decision you could take is to avoid it or return in case there is not a second path to follow.
In our situation, there wasn't any other plan B because there was a very large sheepfold covering the hills we had to cross, and the sheep along with the watchdogs were basically moving towards us which would make us meet sooner or later.

We took this as a first challenge during our trip and decided to move on where we had our accommodation booked thinking that we had enough time to explore this one either when the day was starting or when it was coming to an end.

What we did not know though, was that there wasn't a single sheepfold crossing those hills but maybe around five, each having a reserved period of the day when dominating the valley. So we had to give up visiting The 7 Colors of the Earth not once, but three times due to the sheepfolds or being too late there, since the night was setting up quickly and making us unable to reach the destination in time.

But just when we thought the hope died because the day when we had to move to a different place for the last part of our road trip just came, we had the great surprise to see no sheepfolds on the last morning we were spending in Mărgău village.

We waited no more and began our hike which turned out a lot longer and exhausting than we estimated, but we didn't care about it since we were aware that it was our last chance to visit The 7 Colors of the Earth.

All those moments used for quick breaks ended up as a bliss that allowed us to look around us and notice the beauty that was holding us in an embrace that we had no clue about being only focused on the destination that for a while seemed like not approaching at all.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

On the left side, we had the tiny village which seemed like not being awakened yet, while on the right we felt like reaching the top of the hill and being literally a few palms away from touching the sky. At the same time, there was the view in front of us which from time to time was hiding the beauty we were chasing from our sight, but we knew that it was just a game of nature that was going to reserve the biggest surprise at the end of the path that will reward our efforts made to reach it.

So just when our breath was already following a crazy rhythm, having no water with us to hydrate and the wind feeling a bit more powerful than before, we finally reached it. The seven beautiful, and unique colors of the Earth, placed on the territory of my beloved country, Romania.

The unmarked and random path we followed brought us on the top edge from the right which offered us a perspective over everything that otherwise we wouldn't enjoy since our efforts were already consumed. So we considered that the most efficient break we could take to enjoy the view, have a few shots, and admire a beauty that we were about to approach after resting for a bit.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

We had a little Déjà vu reminding instantly about Râpa Roșie (The Red Ravine) and Groapa Ruginoasa (The Rusty Pit) which are two similar spots we were blessed to explore still on the territory of Romania. But while those two became more popular with the passage of time, The 7 Colors of the Earth is only at the beginning, there being a very vague mark on the map with the destination, and literally no path arranged to visit it.

With this thought, the smiles on our faces became even larger realizing how blessed we are to be among the first people to discover a part of nature that brings another unique touch to a country that is home to so many beautiful places and experiences.

The sizes of The 7 Colors of the Earth are visibly more reduced in comparison with the other two places mentioned before, but that didn't make us disappointed since it was still a unique part of nature that decided to come out in a spot where it can be noticed from the distance at no cost.

But while both The Red Ravine and The Rusty Pit have geological details published on the internet, there are no such details about The 7 Colors of the Earth yet. Somehow, being so similar with the others, makes me think that we can also talk about rock formations made from clay after some landslides occurred.

The name of the place was given after the Seven Colored Earth Geopark from Mauritius that follows a similar natural architecture.

While in that case, people can properly notice more colors on the same piece of nature that is presumed to represent the results after some volcano activities in that place, things are a bit different when you try to count all the seven colors on the hills from Romania. Hence why, I think The 7 Shades of the Earth would be a more suggestive name, basically having the same color but under more shades.

Either way, no matter what the name is or will be in the future, we did have a lot of fun spending time so close to nature and hiding together from those places that are overcrowded with tourists. We also took a closer look and even touched the formations as we promised to ourselves before hitting the road on the way to The 7 Colors of the Earth that made a great team with the surroundings and the sunny sky creating a very picturesque landscape in the middle of nowhere.

This was also a quick reminder that along with the hundreds of trips and places we've seen in Romania, there will always be something new to see or discover, and the surprises nature can offer to those who are really seeking to discover its wildest and most unknown parts, are, literally, endless.

The 7 Colors of the Earth is located in Mărgău village, Cluj County, and it can be found at the entrance to the village on the hill from the right. This one is placed quite on a distance from the street so it needs a bit of attention to notice it before missing it, but along with this place, there are a few more similar spots in the surroundings presenting the same type of rock formation under the hill. The difference is that the one we visited is the biggest one out of all and the single one that was marked on the map.

Other articles from my Romania Tour 2023:

more coming soon...

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (260+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 550+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

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