It's been a while since I last wrote a post about a lake, or a dam... or a dam and a lake. So this one is for you, Tarnița!
Back in the Romania Tour from 2023 I along with my family had, there were also these places which even though were not part of our trip plan, we couldn't pass by without stopping. And that's how initially we stopped at Tarnița thinking that it's a lovely view where we could take some pictures and eat something while being surrounded by the beauty of nature before making it to our next stop of the day.
Our next destination was represented by a very close location to the lake which involved some hiking through the mountains but which I'll keep for a separate post to avoid creating a very long article.
So after eating our sandwich, taking some pictures and admiring the view, we started looking around where we could park the car.
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The surprise came when we noticed that it was actually a dam and not just another road over another lake. Which made us realize it's nothing else but Tarnița Lake.
The confusion started from not seeing any indicators or panels mentioning the lake which is fairly important for Romania, as well as knowing that we will get to spot this from the peak of the mountain we were about to hike. So we thought somehow the actual Tarnița Lake is on the other side of the mountain which we would see from up there.
Happily, Romania is proud to have many lakes and imposing dams that change the scenery in a blink, but Tarnița is completely different from what I've seen so far, and also from what I shared here before.
Back in 1970 when the center was set for the group of people that was about to start working on the dam, no one thought this was going to generate a revolution for the whole country.
There were already four hydropower plants accumulating water and generating electricity around, so they thought this was going just to come in addition to creating even more electricity for the locals nearby.
Hence why, building the first part of the dam was postponed three times with the hope that the group of workers would meet Ceausescu who, along with all the bad and hard times created, he will always be remembered for the well-done constructions that are standing still even in 2024, yet a problem with the new buildings that obviously don't enjoy the same professionalism and quality of materials.
Sadly, this one never came, and people started building the dam anyway, but as soon as this was raised there were rumours that Ceausescu paid its revenge by populating the waters with huge huchen fish that could reach even 4 meters in length and which were brought with the purpose of keeping the lake and dam safe from curious ones.
Hence why, the fish appears in more legends such as attacking those who were swimming in the lake or eating almost entirely the bodies of some passengers from a truck that fell into the lake.
The accuracy of the information was never confirmed though even if there were divers who refused to get into the water again unless there were some big iron cages surrounding them. At the opposite pole, the dam was entirely emptied a while ago and no fish was found in there.
The dam is 97 meters in height and it represents the widest construction of this kind from Romania measuring 232 meters. Tarnița Dam is also the most supple arched dam with double curvature in Romania which makes it twice more unique from the others.
The maximum volume of water the dam can hold is a bit over 70 million cubic meters, the total surface being 220 hectares with a depth of 70 meters.
While most of the dams are known for creating electricity for the houses nearby, the one from Tarnița comes with a triple role, adding the water which is potable and serves many towns from Cluj county, as well as finally having a dam that is protecting the area from possible floods.
When it comes to the lake though, the lack of legends are not missing. Hence why, not for a few times I heard the locals speaking about a mysterious treasure laying on the bottom of the Tarnița Lake, as well as an underwater fortress that found its peace on the ground after a big earthquake.
While the citadel is thought to be there after an earthquake, there is no connection between this one and the mentioned treasure. The treasure is often presented as a place where locals used to store their goods when some wars were taking place in this part of Romania, with the hope that they wouldn't lose everything they earned through hard work during their lives.
Gold, silver and other precious stones are the ones that filled most of the treasure, everything being accompanied by other ancient artefacts of inestimable value.
But just like in the case of the fish brought by Ceausescu for the dam, there is nothing concrete either in the case of the so-called citadel and treasure laying on the bottom of the lake even though numerous expeditions happened with this purpose... nothing was found.
Just like I say in most cases, even though I am not a person who believes too easily in legends and sayings of the places I visit, I do believe they contribute pretty well to making a place more popular for the tourists without being needed to bring too much intervention from people. Which is pretty smart since no one enjoys a place in nature that was changed too much by people.
Tarnița Lake and Dam are located 15 km away from Cluj-Napoca and you can reach it by following the European road E60 until you reach Gilău, then make it to the county road DJ107P and you will reach your destination in no time.
Even though the lake surprises with its beauty, there are quite a few trails to follow in the mountains to reach more scenic views over the lake, as well as go fishing, swimming, or rent stand-up paddle boards, kayaks, water bikes or even rowboats.
Other articles from my Romania Tour 2023:
- The Blue Lagoon of Cluj (Laguna Albastră)
- Ciucaș Waterfall... or beer? (Cascada Ciucaș)
- The Sequoia Tree from Romania
- Șapte culori ale Pământului (The 7 Colors of the Earth, Romania)
- Lacul Tarzan (Tarzan Lake of Romania)
- Gresiile de pe Stânca Dracului (The Devil's Rock)
- Cetatea Trascăului (Trascău Fortress)
- Grădina Zmeilor (The Garden of Kites)
- Tarnița Lake and Tarnița Dam
more coming soon...
Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 700+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.
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