Invitation

Our organisation, the Transylvanian Carpathian Society (EKE), was founded over 125 years ago. Its goals are walking/rambling/hiking, to get familiarised with local history and the protection of the environment. EKE has branches in 16 Transylvanian cities, and each year one of the branches organises the biggest EKE event: the national itinerant camp. Each year, the participants are able to familiarise themselves with the geographic, touristic attractions, landmarks, architectural and cultural heritage, traditions of a particular region. During the past couple of years, the number of participants has reached 1,300-1,500. So far most of the participants came from Romania and Hungary, however since our organisation was granted membership in the European Ramblers’ Association, this year we would like to open our doors to international participants as well. In 2019 the EKE’s 28 th National Itinerant Camp is organised by the Tîrgu Mureș branch, the venue being Sovata (Mureș County), a resort town famous all over Europe and special due to its salt domes and its heliothermic lake that is unique in Europe and rare worldwide. First of all, we would like to invite to this meeting the members of the ERA and anybody else that would like to visit Transylvania and to get to know one of its regions and would be interested in establishing connections with the local community and its traditions.

Our tour offer is rather diverse; thus, we hope that regardless of age everyone would find something to enjoy. There are going to be difficult and moderately difficult hikes in the Eastern Carpathians (1,000-2,100 m), tours that explore the history of WW1 and WW2 and their monuments, pilgrimage- tours on the St. Mary Trail (the Transylvanian El Camino). We are also going to visit the ruins of old castles within the surrounding mountains and the landmarks of the Salt Country (Sóvidék): salt lakes of Sovata, salt mine of Praid and the Salt-pass. Our local history tours also have a wide selection: medieval castles, Transylvanian Saxon cities and fortified churches that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage (Sighișoara and Biertan). We are going to visit the castle that belonged to Prince Charles’ great-great-grandmother and a town founded by Armenians. There are also going to be cycling tours, mushroom-picking tours, as well as photo and night-time tours, riding horse-drawn carriages in Corund and getting in touch with the local trades, but also wine and palinka (traditional fruit brandy) sampling in the surrounding villages. Children and young adults, as well as those who still feel young, can choose from our creative activities, such as rope gardens, raft making, rock climbing and many other exciting challenges under the guidance of the Outward Bound personnel. The guided tours are in Hungarian, but many of the tour guides speak English or other European languages and where there shall be a lack of language skills the hospitality will make up for it.