The Caras County

Situated in the South- Western extremity, where the Danube River meets the Romanian land for the first time, the Caras-Severin county has a surface of 8,514 sq.km being the third county of Romania from this point of view after the Suceava and Timis ones.

The climate is mildly with gentle winters and warm summers.

The relief of this county is characterized by a lot of formations.

The mountains are the Banat Mountains which are a part of the Western Carpathians, and the Tarcu-Godeanu and Cerna Mountains which are part of the Meridional Carpathians. The heights rise from the West to the East, from 1,600 m up to 2,200 m above sea. In the Timis-Cerna pass, ramifications to the Bistra Valley, which marks the boundary between the Meridional Carpathians and the Western ones, the Timis-Cerna, Belareca, Mehadia and Bistra Rivers created a system of terraces which are inhabited intensely now.

The lowest form of relief is the plain, which has a limited area in the Timis Plain.

The Cerna, Timis, Barzava, Caras Rivers and their tributaries form the main hydrographic network, and in the Southern part of the county, the Danube River created one of the most spectacular European narrow path which is 60 km long.

The natural lakes of the Caras-Severin county are small being in a tight connection with the karst and ice relief in this area. The Lake of Devil with a surface of 700 sq. m is situated nearby the cave with the same name. The Banat karst has also a lot of underground lakes created by closing up some cave galleries.

Large surface of this county with a special landscape are declared natural reservations and now they are natural parks as: Domogled-Cerna Valley, Semenic - Cheile Carasului, Cheile Nerei - Beusnita and Portile de Fier.

The capital city of this county is the municipality of Resita. Here in 1771, in summer, the first two furnaces were put into operation, opening in this way an industrial centre which, along the time, became the fame of the Romanian industry. The oldest and the most important medieval monument of Resita is the Hall-Church situated on the Ogasele Hill. The County Museum of History hosts important archaeologic exhibits of mining and metallurgy. Also in this town there is the Museum of steam railway engines. A point of interest is also the "C. Gruiescu" mineralogical Collection in the town of Ocna de Fier, the Pharmaceutics Museum in the town of Oravita, the Icons and old books Collection of the Orthodox Rector in Resita.

The Spa-town of Baile Herculane has also a multimillenary history. The numerous archaeologic discoveries prove an uninterrupted habitation since the Palaeolithic Era. During the about 165 years of Roman domination in Dacia, the Herculane Spa was known all over the Roman Empire. The stone-carved sanctuaries show that here came representatives of the Roman aristocracy, the place becoming a holidays centre of the Empire. A number of six statues were discovered; they are dedicated to Hercules whose name was given to this spa. A bronze replica of one of them, moulded in 1874, can be seen in the Herculane Spa as its landmark. In our days, this spa is visited thanks to its natural elements of cure: thermal sulphurous, chlorous, sodium, calcium, magnesic, oligomineral, hypotonic waters and to the high negative ionization of air with favourable effects on the human body.

Other zones of tourist interest situated in the Caras-Severin county are: the tourist zone of Semenic for winter sports; zones of Breazova-Crivina, Trei Ape, Secu for tourism and sports around the lakes with the same names; the Cerna valley for its rich flora and fauna in the Domogled-Valea Cernei National Park; the Anina Mountains with its tourist spas and quays of a wild beauty: the tourist zone of Portile de Fier (Iron Gates) with the Valea Mare reservation as well as the archaeologic reservations from Pojejena, Gornea, Libcova and Divici.

Caras Severin is a county with very rich ethnographic and folk traditions: costumes, textures, embroideries, sings and dances, customs ocassioned by different seasons and main moments of a people's life. Of a special interest are the daffodils and lilac feasts. The daffodils is the symbol of this county too.

A lot of hotels, resting houses, motels, chalets and camping grounds wait for their guests in all seasons.