After conquering Dacia in AD 106, the emperor Trajan founded a new capital for the province in the Hațeg basin, and named it Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa, borrowing the name of the Dacian royal capital in the Orăștie mountains to the north-east. The city grew into a prosperous centre, with a forum, temples, baths, and an amphitheatre that could seat thousands, and its ruins, partly excavated, lie in fields beside the modern village of Sarmizegetusa. The site has a museum, and you can walk around the forum and the amphitheatre, imagining the gladiatorial games that once filled it.
The Hațeg basin is a beautiful landscape, a flat valley surrounded by mountains, with the Retezat to the south, one of the wildest ranges in the Carpathians, with glacial lakes and peaks over 2,500 metres. The Hațeg Country is also a UNESCO Global Geopark, known for its dinosaur fossils, including dwarf dinosaurs that lived on an island here at the end of the Cretaceous period.
The area is full of historical sites: the church of Densuș, built partly from Roman stones, one of the oldest churches in Romania; the Prislop monastery, in a peaceful valley; the ruined castles of Colț and Mălăiești; and, further north, Corvin Castle in Hunedoara, a Gothic fortress with towers and a drawbridge.
For riders, the roads around Hațeg are pleasant, with gentle curves through the valley and steeper climbs into the mountains. The road from Hațeg over the Merișor pass to Petroșani is a good ride, and from there you can reach the Transalpina and the Jiu gorge. Weather can change quickly in the mountains, and the high roads close in winter. Hațeg, eighteen kilometres away, has fuel, shops and restaurants. The villages of the basin sell sheep cheese and smoked bacon from the farm gate, and a glass of plum brandy is often offered before you can refuse. Late afternoon is the time to be in the ruins, when the Retezat turns blue behind the amphitheatre and the fields go quiet.