Via Transilvanica, a winding 1,400-kilometer road that starts on the Danube and ends near the forests that border Ukraine was officially opened on Saturday.
The road that can only be crossed on foot or on a bicycle goes from the Danube town of Drobeta Turnu-Severin in southwest Romania, crosses the Carpathians and finishes near the `15th century Putna Monastery in Suceava, northeast Romania.
It was the initiative of the Tășuleasa Association, the brainchild of brothers Alin and Tiberiu Ușeriu who started working on it in 2018, thinking that it would take 10 years to complete.
Environment Minister Tanczos Barna called it “a most daring and beautiful initiative.”
But just 4 ½ years later “we are gathered in Alba Iulia (central Romania) to celebrate the inauguration of the entire Via Transilvanica route: all 1,400 kilometers of it,” Alin Ușeriu told a crowd of thousands.
TV celebrity Andreea Esca, actor Marcel Iureș, Fthr. Doboș, Ion Barbu, an artist and marathon runner, Toma Coconea and Prince Nicolae and his wife Alina-Maria de Roumanie came to Alba Iulia for the launch.
The route is marked with 1,400 granite landmarks, one every kilometer. Many were paid for with individual donations made by hundreds of people.
A guide for walkers and cyclists is available on the Via Transilvanica website in four languages.
