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          When travelling in this part of Romania, you`ll find some of the country`s loveliest, wildest and loneliest mountain expanses. In ancient days he Dacians used these mountains as a sort of fortifying walls. Today they are valued mainly for their unequalled countrylife atmosphere, holy monasteries and hermitages, their frightening gorges, valleys and caves and untamed heights.
          Oltenia, as its name shows, is the land of river Olt and stretches westwards from the Olt valley to the Danube river at Drobeta Turnu-Severin.
          With all this in mind we start this trip by crossing the river Arges region. The river Arges flows roughly parallel with river Olt, some 50 km to its east. Our itinerary includes Târgoviste which is a worthwhile tourist destination. The remains of the former Princely Court are tremendous impressive. The palace`s church of the Assumption boasts fine frescos. The amazing 15th century Chindia (Sunset) tower, part of the palace defences, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1802 but subsequently rebuilt.
          The surroundings region is very well worth exploring. The Firiza storage lake lies only 11 km away.
          Further north we encounter the town of Câmpulung, the first capital of Wallachia. The church of the Negru Voda Monastery, which bears the name of Wallachia`s first ruler, founded in the early 14th century is the town`s ain attraction. The 14th century Catholic church contains a gravestone inscribed with the name Laurentiu de Longocampo and the date 1300. It`s the first documentary mention of the town under the name Câmpulung (Longocampo).
          Turning westwards, the road leads us to another Wallachian ancient capital, Curtea de Arges. The first spot everyone flocks to in this town, is the staggering, vast Monastery Church. It`s covered outside with marbel and stone carved in amazingly intricate and beautiful patterns. The church was completed in 1526. Its founder was Prince Neagoe Basarab and it`s linked to one of the best-known of all Romanian legends, that of Master Manole, the architect-builder. The essence of the story is that the builder first had to immure his wife in the walls and then to kill himself by throwing from the top of the church, in case he produced a church to rival this. A spring appeared at the spot where he fell. The old palace`s small church, Sfântu Niculae Domnesc, dates from around 1320, suppoesdly the oldest one in Wallachia.
          Curtea de Arges is the point where the road forks north off our itinerary, upstream the river Arges which rises high on the Fagaras ridge. To use its valley to reach the Brasov - Sibiu road, you have to cross the saddle above Lake Bâlea, between Romania`s highest mountains, Mount Negoiu to the west (2535 m) and Moldoveanu (2544 m) to the east.
          Until you reach the Lake Bâlea which is the highest altitude a road was ever built at, you`ll notice other interesting things such as:
          The two-storeyed fortified buildings, called cula, at Corbeni (18 km north of Curtea de Arges); a further 10 km or so brings you to a remarkable conical hill which is topped by remains of a castle. It`s the citadel known as Poienari. Ancient documents suggest that it was built by Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler or Dracula), in the 15th century. Pienari fits the description of Dracula`s castle given by Bram Stoker. To reach it you have to climb an extrardinary steep path which incorporates 1400 steps.
          The modern Vidraru hydro-electric dam starts just beyond Poienari. A forestry road makes a complete circuit of the huge storage lake providing magnificent views.
          The main entrance to Oltenia is Râmnicu Vâlcea, the Vâlcea`s county town. Among the town`s tourist attractions we can mention the Anton Pann Memorial, an Orthodox priest who lived from 1797 to 1854, one of the world`s earliest collectors of folk music and a famous musician as well, the Bishopric Cathedral (17 century), the Cetatuia Church and Hermitage (16th century - built on the hilltop of Cetatuia), the town parkland and so on.
          As we leave this town we make a small detour upstream river Olt taking the road from Râmnicu Vâlcea to Sibiu. We are about to drive in a deep, narrow valley beside the rapidly-flowing river Olt sparkling in the sun, alongside steep mountain slopes clothed in thick, dark green forests. It`s the sort of enormously impressive drive you hope will never end.
          The first major settlement you come to is Calimanesti spa. An island in the river has been laid out as a park. It includes a hermitage built in 1522 by Neagoe Basarab.
          Another spa called Caciulata is 2 km away. A Roman camp built a stronghold just to guard this road. Both spas are renowned for their miracle-working mineral waters, known since the Roman times.
          Almost as soon as the buildings end you come to Cozia Monastery, lying between the river and the road. Cozia was built by Prince Mircea the Old in 1388. The church`s open porch was added by Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu. Mircea is buried in the church. You can look straight down into the river from the edge of the monastery`s boundary.
          There are other monasteries near Cozia - Turnu and Stânisoara (18th century), both on the mountain slopes below Mount Cozia`s summit.
          According to the international statistics, Romania owns the most impressive mineral water reserves (almost one third of Europe`s). The Olanesti and Govora are the best two spas of Oltenia, highly appreciated for their mineral water springs. The former well-known since 1873, when the Gold Medal was awarded in Vienna.
          The Govora Monastery dates back from 1496 when Radu the Great laid its foundations, then it was restored during the Matei Basarab`s rule (the 17th century) and subsequently extended by Constantin Brâncoveanu. The monastery museum comprises a valuable collection of ancient art. The Surpatele and "Dintr-un Lemn" Monasteries nearby are related to the two princes mentioned before. The latter is famous for its church being built from a single oak tree-trunck.
          Bistrita Monastery lies some 20 km from Govora on the upper course of the Bistrita river near Costesti village. The original Bistrita was destroyed by the artilery fire in 1509, but rebuilt and heavily fortified at various periods since then. The Monastery church houses the holy relics of Sfântul Gheorghe Decapolitul ("Saint George the Beheaded"). A cave near the monastery contains two small churches that form part of a hermitage. Striking scenery round the monastery includes the Bistrita Gorges.
          Climbing up the steep slopes you can reach the Arnota Monastery lying amidst magnificent scenery, in "the eagle`s nest". It was built by Matei Basarab in 1636 and his mortal remains are buried under a tombstone - one of the most valuable stone-carved work at that time.
          From here you can drive directly west to Hurez Monastery,thought by many to be possibly the most beautiful in all Romania. The church`s fine frescos, its richly decorated iconostasis and its massive carved pearwood doors are remarkable examples of the Brâncovenesc architecture. The monastery was founded and built by Constantin Brâncoveanu with the support of his whole family. The original work was completed in 1697. The belfry was added in 1753.
          Maldaresti, 4 km south of Horezu, contains two fortified homes of the type called cula. They date from the 18th and 19th centuries. One houses a folk museum.
          Polovragi boasts, like many other Oltenian villages, many houses typical for this region and Polovragi Monastery on its outskirts. It was built by Barbu Pârâianu in 1643 and rebuilt in 1647 and repainted in 1703 during Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu`s rule. The frescos in the monastery`s infirmary are particularly fine. A kilometre from the monastery the entrance of the Oltetul river`s gorges some 20 km long. This is the site of the Polovragi Cave, a typical limestone cavern, well-known in the ancient times as the outlaws` hiding place. Its name is also related to Zalmolxe, the Dacian pagan cult`s god who supposedly lived in this cave. It is believed that its galleries end to the north, on the other side of Carpathians in Transylvania since a little part of the cave has been explored.
          On our way to Târgu Jiu, a road on your left takes you the 5 km to Baia de Fier, where there are graphite mines and further 3 km to the Muierii Cave, with more striking limestone formations.
          Târgu Jiu, like most of Romania`s "market" (Târgu) towns, stands at the point where the river, it is named after, emerges from the hills. The Old Town Hall (erected in 1898) and the Cathedral (1764), both in Piata Victoriei are worth seeing. Ecaterina Teodoroiu`s mausoleum faces the Town Hall. She was an extraordinary young woman, aged twenty in 1914, who somehow contrieved to join the Romanian army, was given a commission and died leading her detachment into battle in 1917 against the Germans. A very good reason for stopping off in Târgu Jiu is to see the Brâncusi sculptures.
          Constantin Brâncusi, called before WWII " the father of modern sculpture", found the proper settings for its extremely fine works, the Table of Silence, the Avenue of Chairs and the Gateway of the Kiss in the Heroes` Park, down by the river Jiu. The ensemble is linked with the Column of Endless Thanksgiving, a 30 m high geometrical copper-coated pig-iron structure.
          Our itinerary takes you westward the 44 km to Baia de Arama, with several useful stops on the way. At 13.5 km from Târgu Jiu, we can make a diversion north to Runcu village and the wild scenery of Sohodolului Gorges. From Pestisani village, 22 km from Târgu Jiu, known for its wooden church (erected in 1525), we can turn off yet again, southward this time, to reach Hobita, Brâncusi`s native village (his birthplace is a museum).
          At Tismana, which has a major fete on the 15th of August, the Feast of the Assumption, we can turn north once more to reach Tismana Monastery and Tismana Gorges and Cave. Standing over 500 m above sea level the monastery was built in the 14th century by Saint Nicodim of Tismana, who came from Serbia to fulfil God`s will appeared in his dream as a epiphany, crossing Danube just by throwing his monk clothes over its waters. The monastery was enlarged in 1508 by Prince Radu the Great and then very well fortified in 1633. The museum comprises a collection of fine, original, earliest church mural paintings.
          The Tismana surroundings are filled with karst caverns, such as: Tâpesti and Gura Plaiului cave, an even more spectacular limestone caverns at Closani, 9 km beyond Tismana, Pocruia, Cioclovina and so on.
          From Baia de Arama, a mining centre whose copper was exhausted two centuries ago, a road, not yet complete, leads you across the hills, down Cerna Valley and Gorge to the spa of Bãile Herculane, strung out along the riverside below huge forest-covered mountain slopes. Baile Herculane is one of Romania`s most famous spas. It was used by Roman people who dubbed it " Ad Aquas Herculi Sacras". Other notable people such as the Austrian rulers, Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Franz Josef I had their emperial suite in one of the spa`s hotels, still existing. You have half-a-dozen hotels to choose from.
          The Mehedinti Mountains behind the spa contain the large Domogled Mount Nature Reserve, desribed by specialist writers as home to "one of the richest floras in Europe, with numerous Mediterranean and endemic species".
          Orsova is about 20 km from Baile Herculane. It stands on the shore of what was once part of the Danube`s most turbulent section and is now a vast, placid storage lake stretching 100 km or more upstream. The lake was created by the huge Yugoslav-Romanian Iron Gates hydro-electric barrage across the Danube, inaugurated in September 1964. The barrage raised the water level some 30 m - far above the old town. A new, grid-pattern town now stands on the slopes above the lake. The lake`s scenery is spectacular, both on its Romanian or now Serbian side as far as 100 km to Moldova Nouã.
          The new lake and barrage provide Romania and Serbia with 10 billion KW of power each, as well as making navigation upstream and downstream simple and stress-free. On this stretch of the river, the most powerful tugs could once manage an upstream speed of no more than 2-3 knots and the channel was far too narrow the passage simple. This part of the Danube where its course was once squeezed into a wildly turbulent 100 m wide channel, is aptly called Cazanele, the Cauldrons. It is where the mighty Danube has cut a spectacular gorge through high mountains. The views down into the lake are magnificent from the ountain heights on both of its sides.
          For karst caverns` adicts, there are two caves on the Romanian side near Dubova, the "Water Cave" and the "Veterani Cave" that must be seen to be believed. The former is located in the "Little Cauldrons", where the Ponicova stream digged out a huge entrance (about 40 m high) into a solid high peak to make an extraordinary cave. The other end of the cave, flooded by the Danube, is the exit point of Ponicova stream. The latter is just above, known for its huge hall (some 40 m high) which is believed to have been used as a pagan cult church. It bears the name of an Austrian General, called Veterani, who conquered a Turks` stronghold point on the Danube`s island of Ada-Kaleh, about 30 km downstream from Orsova. The island is now under the storage lake`s waters.
          Drobeta Turnu-Severin dates from the Roman times when a bridge, 1350 m long, 13.50 m wide, was built by Apollodor of Damascus, for the Roman Emperor Trajan`s armies in AD 103-105 to cross the Danube in their attempt to defeat the Dacians. Parts of the bridge`s end and one of the twenty pillars that supported it have survived. Remains of extensive Roman baths stand on the bridge`s upstream side, both being exhibits of the town`s history museum.

          The "Northern Oltenia" package tour