Via Transilvanica, the long-distance trail crossing the country, has laid the first milestone of the upcoming Terra Borza Teutonica, a section in central Romania's Braşov county.
The milestone was laid in Viscri, the village known for its UNESCO-listed fortified church and as a holiday destination for King Charles III, who owns a property there.
The 1,400-km-long Via Transilvanica crosses ten counties: Suceava, Bistrița-Năsăud, Mureș, Harghita, Sibiu, Brașov, Alba, Hunedoara, Caraș-Severin and Mehedinți and is divided into seven cultural-historical regions: Bucovina, The Highlands (Ținutul de Sus), Terra Siculorum, Terra Saxonum, Terra Dacica, Terra Banatica, and Terra Romana.
The planned extension would reach some 170 km. The county of Braşov has been represented with only 26 km so far, Tășuleasa Social Association, the project's initiators, explained.
The new section will cross the area of 14 administrative units, namely Buneşti, Jibert, Şoarş, Ticuş, Mândra, Şercaia, Şinca, Şinca Nouă, Poiana Mărului, Zărneşti, Moieciu, Bran, Râşnov and Braşov.
Update: The works recently started in Viscri are part of the long-term development plan for the trail, Tășuleasa Social Association said.
The association aims to expand the project to cover all of Romania's historical regions. It is a bid to revitalize local communities, as it is already happening on the existing trail, which attracted more than 30,000 hikers in 2024 alone, it said.
"We have worked a lot on this 20-year strategy, and since we are not hesitating, we have laid the first milestone for the new section in Brașov, specifically in Viscri. In recent years, Romania has revealed itself in a way that we did not even think possible in 2018, when we started working on Via Transilvanica. If we could bring the trail to the scale it has today in seven years, what can we achieve together in 20 years?" Alin Ușeriu, president of the Tășuleasa Social Association, commented.
Via Transilvanica, a project developed by Tășuleasa Social, showcases 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It starts in Bucovina, at Putna, crosses Transylvania, and ends at Drobeta Turnu Severin, near the Danube shore.
The trail was inaugurated in 2022 after four years of work with the involvement of local communities and over 10,000 volunteers.
It is dotted with signposts and andesite milestones, individually carved by national and international artists.
The long-distance trail, which has been widely featured in international publications, won in 2023 the Public Choice Award of the European Heritage Awards and was among the winners of the Citizens' Engagement and Awareness-raising category of the same awards.
(Photo: Adragosphoto/ Dreamstime)
simona@romania-insider.com
