Sărățeni - Casa Sării and Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sărățeni - Casa Sării

   Salt has shaped this corner of Transylvania for thousands of years. Beneath the hills of the Sovata and Praid area lies a huge salt dome, and in places it reaches the surface, creating salt cliffs, salty springs and lakes. Sărățeni, a village in the Târnava Mică valley, takes its name from the salt, and Casa Sării, the salt house, is the local name for the spot marked here. The Romans valued this salt as much as Dacian gold, and the eastern frontier of their province ran along these hills, with a fort at Sărățeni among the posts that watched the valleys and, no doubt, the salt routes.

   Read the complete Sărățeni - Casa Sării write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sărățeni - Casa Sării is where the day begins. Next is Călugăreni - Cetate.

2. 2. Călugăreni - Cetate

   Călugăreni lies in the Niraj valley in Mureș county, in the heart of the region known as Székely Land, and here the signs, the conversation and the church spires announce that you are in a Hungarian-speaking part of Romania. The Székelys are a Hungarian community who, for centuries, guarded the eastern borders of the kingdom, and their villages, with carved wooden gates and whitewashed churches, are among the most distinctive in Transylvania. In Hungarian, the village is called Mikháza.

   Read the complete Călugăreni - Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Călugăreni - Cetate comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică.

3. 3. Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică

   Up the Gurghiu valley in Mureș County, the villages still wear wood: carved gates, shingled roofs, little wooden churches and stacks of firewood against every wall. Ibănești is one of the best known of them, a long village strung along the valley where traditional dress, music and crafts have hung on more stubbornly than in most of Transylvania. On a hill nearby, Cetățuia Mică, the little citadel, marks a point on the eastern frontier of Roman Dacia, where a chain of small forts and watchtowers looked toward the volcanic Gurghiu mountains and the lands beyond. These eastern posts are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listing for Dacia, added by UNESCO in 2024, though on the ground they are grassy earthworks rather than walls.

   Read the complete Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică. Next is back through Călugăreni - Cetate.

4. 4. back through Călugăreni - Cetate

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Călugăreni - Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Călugăreni - Cetate, late in the day. Next is Sărățeni - Casa Sării.

5. 5. Sărățeni - Casa Sării

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sărățeni - Casa Sării write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Sărățeni - Casa Sării. That is the ride.