THE TRANSYLVANIAN ALPS OF ROMANIA
Piatra Craului – Fogaras Mts. – Retyezat Mts. –
Transylvanian Basin – Bucegi Mts.
The Carpathians are probably the least known of the great mountain ranges of Europe for the botanical traveller, starting on the Slovak/Polish border and passing through Ukraine, before entering Romania forming a huge curve that encompasses the plateau of Transylvania. This wall of mountains has often been the boundary between warring powers – e.g. between the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires. This was the natural border of Transylvania & Hungary for more than a thousand years. The Transylvanian Alps run east to west from the medieval city of Braşov to the Dacian stronghold of Sarmisegetuza and beyond. They have been the home of Romanians, Hungarians, Saxons and numerous smaller ethnic groups, as well as the backdrop for some of the more romantic or notorious of Europe’s princes, such as Matthias Corvinus and Vlad Ţepeş (the Impaler). The Carpathians also provide the habitat for the biggest European populations of large carnivores - Brown Bear, Wolf and Lynx - and support some 35% of all European plant species. Though lower than the Alps and poorer in endemics, their location as the link between central Europe and the Balkans makes them a prime plant-hunting area and a corridor for the dispersal of plants and animals throughout Europe.
