Living Fire of Lopătari

Focul Viu is one of a handful of places in Europe where natural gas escaping through fissures in the rock burns permanently at the surface. On a bare, scrubby slope above the hamlet of Terca, flames rise straight out of the ground through cracks in the clay, sometimes only a flicker, sometimes half a metre high, moving as the seepage shifts. The ground around them is scorched and warm to the touch. By day the flames are almost invisible in sunlight and visitors regularly walk past without noticing them; after dark they are obvious and strange, which is why most people arrive at dusk. The Buzău hills around it are a district of geological oddities, with the mud volcanoes, the salt mountain at Meledic and amber workings all within an hour, and the whole area now carries UNESCO Global Geopark status.

What you actually see

• The burning fissures - flames rising directly from cracks in the ground.
• The scorched patch - bare, heat-marked earth around the vents.
• The hill setting - open scrub slopes above the Slănic valley.
• Night visits - the flames only really register after sunset.

When to go

Dusk or after dark, which is the whole point; in daylight there is very little to see. Spring to autumn for the access track, which becomes difficult in mud or snow. Flame size varies with pressure and weather, so it is never quite the same twice.

Honest expectations

By day this is genuinely disappointing, and many visitors arrive at the wrong time and leave puzzled. The flames are small, not a dramatic blaze. Access is by a rough track and then a walk, and there is no lighting, so you need a torch to get back down. Nothing at the site is developed, and there are no barriers or facilities.

Nearby

The mud volcanoes at Berca and the salt lakes at Meledic are within an hour.