Hațeg Country UNESCO Geopark

Seventy million years ago the Hațeg basin was an island in the Tethys sea, and the dinosaurs that lived on it evolved into dwarf forms: sauropods and hadrosaurs a fraction of the size of their mainland relatives, a textbook case of island dwarfism first described by the Transylvanian palaeontologist Franz Nopcsa in the early twentieth century. Dinosaur eggs and nests have been excavated here as well. The geopark built around this holds interpretation centres, a dinosaur egg museum at Sânpetru and fossil localities in the riverbanks and hillsides. What makes the area more than a geological curiosity is that the same basin holds an extraordinary density of small medieval stone churches, built from Roman material salvaged from the ruined city of Ulpia Traiana nearby, along with the Densuș church and the fortified sites of the Hunedoara hills. Dinosaurs and medieval masonry share the same fields.

What you actually see

• Dinosaur egg sites - excavated nests and the interpretation centre at Sânpetru.
• Fossil localities - exposures in riverbanks and hill cuttings across the basin.
• Medieval stone churches - a dense cluster, several built with Roman spolia.
• The basin landscape - hay meadows and grazing under the Retezat wall.

When to go

April to October. Spring and early summer are best for the landscape; the churches are open year-round but many are kept locked and need a key from a neighbour or the local priest. Museums have limited winter hours.

Honest expectations

The dinosaur element is interpretive rather than visual: there is no site where bones lie exposed for visitors, and the museums are small and modest. Sites are scattered across the basin and a car is essential. Several churches are locked and getting in takes patience and some Romanian. This is a place to potter through slowly rather than tick off.

Nearby

Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa and Densuș church are within the basin; Retezat rises south.