Visiting
the "Steamy cave"
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When I got nearer I thought I saw a small volcano. One could think that before one's eyes laid the mountain's heart. The Steamy Cave was known by the local people for more than one century. As a prove, there were some names written on the walls and beneath them I could read 1886. Deep into the earth there was a quake which made collapse almost 2/3 of the cave's ceiling. The cave itself is now no more than a small room and the steam has often a temperature bigger than 52 C. They are coming from the thermal water source of the Hercules phalia. The entrance is more than 8 m high. In the Cerna's basin, there are more than 120 studied caves.In fact we can appreciate their number to be twice (even three times )bigger. The caves are positioned on the vertical walls of the mountain and because of this are very hard to reach. Some of them are known only by the local people, some other are unknown yet, because of the rocky special shapes of Cerna. The most important caves are those with thermal water. One of the spelaeologists' concerns is to know better this unique type of Romanian cave. Herculane is one of the areas with caves in which the inside temperature reaches 20-50 C. The Hercules' Cave is left by a underground river with hot water. It has a flow of several liters/second and it represents the most important source of saline water of the resort, the others being sulphurous. It was impossible to get into it, because there are some places where the water reaches the ceiling. The tectonic valley corridor of Cerna Valley, the peaks with their beautiful forests and the Mediterranean clime makes of Herculane one of the most beautiful resort. Herculane is placed at the west side of the Middle Carpathians; at only 160 m altitude the water and the mountain meat each other. The temperature is most pleasant , during the whole year. In January there are +10 C and in July +20 C. Going upwards Cerna, before the 7 springs, the river makes a curve; this is the place where, on a lovely rock, one can see a monument which has an interesting story. One say that the Herculane Resort was administrated by a very beautiful woman. Once she met a shepherd who lived near by. He was a tall and very handsome man and the women fall in love with him. But the Shepard had a family he loved very much and didn't want to give it up for the love of the rich woman. So this one got so unhappy because all her attempts to conquer the man failed, that she climbed a rock and killed herself by jumping into the abyss. On this rock was raised the monument we are talking about. The present made of Herculane an amazing resort, dotted with modern therapeutical means. It has a huge garden which is an attraction point not only for the patients who came here, but also for many tourists. The Resort's Director invites us to Herculane : "If in Switzerland at Davous there are 1800 negative ions in the air, at Herculane there are 2000, and at "La Cascade" 4000 !!! ". English version by Nora Parvu
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