In the Apuseni mountains of western Romania, gold has shaped the land and its people for two thousand years. The Romans came for it after conquering Dacia, organising the mining from a centre at Ampelum, today the town of Zlatna, whose name comes from the Slavic word for gold. Trâmpoiele, on the high ground near Almașu Mare, is one of the many small sites connected to that Roman presence, where mining, settlement and watch posts dotted the hills. A little further north, the mining landscape of Roșia Montană, with its Roman galleries cut deep into the rock, was listed by UNESCO in 2021 and gives the clearest idea of how the ancient gold was won.
The Apuseni are a range of limestone and volcanic rock, with karst plateaus, caves, gorges and forests. Near Bucium, the Detunata hills show off columns of basalt, rising from the forest like organ pipes. The villages are scattered across the hills, with wooden houses and small fields, and the people, known as Moți, have a reputation for independence, resilience and skill in woodwork.
The riding is challenging and rewarding. The roads around Zlatna and Almașu Mare wind through steep valleys and over passes, with tight curves and changing surfaces, from fresh tarmac to broken asphalt and gravel. Traffic is light, but watch for logging trucks, horse carts and animals. The weather in the mountains is changeable, with frequent rain and fog, and snow can linger on the higher roads well into spring. Zlatna itself shows the scars of later mining and smelting, but nature is slowly recovering.
Zlatna, about eleven kilometres away, has fuel, shops and a few places to eat, and Alba Iulia, the historic city with its star-shaped Habsburg fortress, is about an hour's ride east. Almașu Mare and Balșa are small villages with basic shops. In the mountains, look for guesthouses serving balmoș, cornmeal with cheese, and tocăniță, a meat and vegetable stew. The local plum brandy, țuică, is everywhere, and it is strong.