Vulcanii Noroiosi (Muddy Volcanoes)

The Berca Mud Volcanoes (Romanian: Noroioși de la Pâclele Mici) is a geological and botanical reservation located in Scorțoasa commune close to Berca in Buzău County in Romania. Its most spectacular feature is the mud volcanoes, small volcano-shaped structures typically a few meters high caused by the eruption of mud and natural gases. As the gases erupt from 3000 meters deep towards the surface, through the underground layers of clay and water, they push up underground salty water and mud, so that they overflow through the mouths of the volcanoes, while the gas emerges as bubbles. The mud dries off at the surface, creating a relatively solid conical structure resembling a real volcano. The mud expelled by them is cold, as it comes from inside the Earth's continental crust layers, and not from the mantle. The reservation is unique in Romania. Elsewhere in Europe, similar phenomena can be observed in Italy (the northern Apennines and Sicily), Ukraine, Russia as well as Azerbaijan.

Slanic Salt Museum

Known as the biggest salt mine in Europe, Slanic Prahova stands today as one of the most important watering and climatic resorts in Romania, situated between the valley of Prahova and that of Teleajen, at about 44 km of Ploiesti, at 400 meters of altitude. Muntele de Sare (The Salt Mountain), unique in the entire world, Grota Miresei (The Bride’s Cave), Baia Baciului (The Shepherd’s Lake), Baia Verde (The Green Lake), and Salina Unirea (Unirea Salt Mine) are just some of the resort’s attractions, which, according to the documents, for more than 300 years represented an important salt extraction center. To get here we drive for 2 hours from Bucharest!