Ocnisoara Salt Sea | Let's travel together #359

In my nearly 400 trips in Romania that led to more or less known destinations, I had the honour to come in front of you with some unique locations amongst these, that are unique not only for Romania but in Europe or even in the whole world.

Hence, being a while since I last took the moment to explore and then return with a story of a place from that category, I thought that during my trip in Alba County, there was a must to also stop at Ocnisoara Salt Sea which already does a great job saying what it's about based on its name.

Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of places with thermal and salty water, but it was my first time running into one of these places, way before becoming a resort, because I've read in some local news from 2023 that a whole resort is meant to be raised in this location. Considering that 3 years have passed since then, I can say that I was either lucky to explore it before turning into a resort, or that the plan was abandoned along the way. But what I can guarantee is that I will surely keep an eye out for this since it's not too far from home and I'd love to return one day.

Reaching our destination, however, was no less exciting, as I got to drive on some very narrow roads with lots of curves and an inclination of about 20%, which surely brought some adrenaline in my veins.

The best part though, was to see that there was actually a road for most of the part, since going up and down those hills would make it almost impossible for any car if we were speaking about forest or unpaved paths. Happily, that was not the case until the last 1-2 km before reaching Ocnisoara Salt Sea.

And speaking of unpaved paths, this is how the last part of the road leading to our destination looked like, with just a few hundred of meters having gravel on top of it that was around the homes of the locals anyway, while the rest of it was a mix between sand and mud, becoming a real challenge during the rainy periods if you are not driving a 4WD car.

The white part you see in the 2nd picture from above is actually a small section of a salty mountain, which shows how rich in salt and minerals the lands are in this part of Romania, making it have a big potential for therapeutic purposes and natural remedies for elderly people.

I am not sure whether the 'alley' you see in the images which ends with the small Romanian flag attached to a fountain was naturally created as the rest of the place, or if it earned some human contribution, but what I can say for sure is that this section of the sea can be easily accessed by anyone as there are no risks of getting too much mud on your shoes.

And speaking of the fountain, keep in mind that that is not one of the common water fountains one gets to see, as this fountain is filled with salty water that is often used by locals for therapeutic purposes or even to use it for cooking, there being rumours that the food is a lot more tasty in this part of Romania when using this kind of water.

For the rest of the place, though, is a completely different story. We are speaking about an enormous mix of water, sand and mud, which slightly creates an effect of quicksand if you want to advance to the actual point of interest from this place.

As you might have guessed, of course I couldn't miss the chance to approach, even with the risk of losing my shoes or having my bf ask to take off my shoes before getting back in the car, lol!

This area represents the richest spot of waters with salt in their composition from the whole surface, which is hard to find with no water at all, no matter how hot the temperatures are.

Of course, you won't always see the quantity of water I got to see during my trip, as in fact I had my journey when it was raining outside, so everything was taken to a whole new level. But no matter the water level, I think the overall place is worth a visit, and of course I couldn't miss the chance to add a @worldmappin sticker on one of the wooden pillars!

Since the weather conditions were not the best during my trip, I didn't get to meet anyone else along the way, but during the summer or when it's warm outside, some of the bravest locals get inside the water for a quick bath pretty often, since the salty waters in general have good properties for skin, as well as treat people from rheumatism or cardiovascular system diseases.

Ocnisoara Salt Sea is located 18km away from Aiud in the town with the same name, which only have around 20 locals, and can be reached by typing Ocnisoara Salt Sea on your GPS. The route we followed was to drive on the A1 highway for most of the part, then head on the European roads E68 and E81 until Aiud, where we then made it on the national road DN14 until we reached our destination. However, as previously mentioned, the last 2 km of the road are unpaved and can be quite a challenge during the rainy periods to cross.

^{Gabriela Travels is a Curator for Worldmappin and Hive Gaming communities, but also 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 (350+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game and book reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 850+ 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.}

[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 46.24778 lat 23.87123 long A unique sea in Romania that makes it even more unique d3scr))