Vărădia - Arcidava / Pustă and Berzovia - Berzobis

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Vărădia - Arcidava / Pustă

   Down in the southwestern corner of Romania, where the Banat plain gives way to the first hills of the Carpathians, the village of Vărădia sits on the edge of a gentle valley that opens toward Serbia. Here, at a place called Pustă, lie the remains of the Roman fort of Arcidava, one of the first stations on the road the Romans built from the Danube crossing at Lederata north into Dacia. Trajan's troops passed this way during the conquest, and the fort guarded the route for the century and a half that followed. Excavations have revealed the outline of the fortifications, and the site is now part of the UNESCO frontier listing.

   Read the complete Vărădia - Arcidava / Pustă write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Vărădia - Arcidava / Pustă is where the day begins. Next is Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină.

2. 2. Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină

   A hundred wells: that is the meaning of Centum Putea, the Latin name of a Roman fort in the hills of the Banat, near the village of Surducu Mare in Caraș-Severin county. It was one of the forts that guarded the road from the Danube to the heart of Roman Dacia after the emperor Trajan conquered the region in the early second century, and it is part of the line of sites listed by UNESCO as the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia. Little survives above ground, just traces of earthworks in the fields, but the name alone conjures a picture of a well-watered camp on the road north.

   Read the complete Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Berzovia - Berzobis.

3. 3. Berzovia - Berzobis

   Only a handful of sentences survive from the Emperor Trajan's own account of his wars against the Dacians, and one of them mentions this place. Quoted by a later grammarian, it reads, in Latin, that from there we advanced to Berzobis, then to Aizi. Berzobis is the village now called Berzovia, in the Banat hills of south-western Romania, and the site of the Roman fort here, where the Fourth Legion Flavia Felix was stationed after the conquest, is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listing in Romania inscribed in 2024.

   Read the complete Berzovia - Berzobis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Berzovia - Berzobis. Next is back through Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină.

4. 4. back through Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină, late in the day. Next is Vărădia - Arcidava / Pustă.

5. 5. Vărădia - Arcidava / Pustă

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Vărădia - Arcidava / Pustă write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Vărădia - Arcidava / Pustă. That is the ride.