Traveling through the stone citadel of the Apuseni Mountains we are enveloped by the mythic atmosphere of the world's beginnings, for here we are traversing places that are just as pristine and wild as they were on the first day of creation. We are in the Land of the Moti - the kingdom of heights and freedom.

The traditions and customs of the Moti have a rare savor. The Maidens' Market at Mount Gaina, an ancient fair, has already captured all Romanians; year after year, on the Sunday nearest the feast of St Elijah, thousands of people from all over the land perform the sacred ritual of ascending the slope to the grove situated at 1467 meters altitude, at the summit of the mountain. Whoever comes to this fair will never forget the sounds of the alpenhorn greeting the sunrise, the sprightly or slow rhythms of the matchless traditional dances, and the legends of the golden hen.

The culture of woodcarving has been preserved intact here, at the heart of the mountains. The houses and churches of the Moti are just as beautiful in their simplicity as those of Maramures folk. In some houses in the Apuseni Mountains, the locals display miniature collections of traditional art, which in their way, tell the history of the wood. The Museum of Ethnography and Popular Art at Lupsa recreates, at another level, the same search for traditional values.

If you come to the Apuseni Mountains, you must traverse the Aries Valley - the river of gold - and see the Turda, Galbena and Somesul Cald gorges, and admire the Ponor Forts, with the Living Flame Glacier, and the Ruginoasa Pit. This is a karst realm: the numerous gorges (Rameti, Aiud, Ampoita, Galda, Valisoara) give the Apuseni a distinctive aspect. The Padis Plateau, with its thirteen Chasms, is indisputably, a magnet for day-tripers. Here can be found strange formations, such as Snails Hill, a portion of seabed that has preserved millions of fossilized shells, or Detunata Goala, a rock formed by the solidification of volcanic lava. 400 caves hollow out the depths of the Apuseni: the Scarisoara Glacier, the Cave of the Bears, the Radeasa Citadel, the Meziad Cave, Huda lui Papara and others.