GeoGate – The Gate to Buzău Land
Going north of the Buzău valley, you enter the Land. It is a wonderful territory, full of natural riches and amazing people. Here you will find salt domes, amber, oil springs, concretions, rock-hewn dwellings, eternal flames, mud volcanoes, but also lakes and valleys dug by glaciers.
But even so, few people have heard of these places. Many drive carelessly on DN10, between Buzau and Brasov, without knowing what they could find just a stone's throw away. Others come in large numbers to the mud volcanoes at Păclele Mari. There are almost 80,000 people visiting every year and almost all return home the same day. This is a transitional tourism.
Transitional tourism creates more problems than benefits. First, it increases the level of traffic, noise and pollution. Second, visitors do not interact with the inhabitants, neither culturally, socially, or economically. In conclusion, it is a tourism that brings almost nothing to the area, apart from the toxic substances from the cars.
But there is great potential! Like if we convinced some of these people not to return home the same day, but to spend more time in Buzău Land. There are so many places to visit, so many people to meet and stories to hear. They could drive to a boarding house or a host. From there, hike as far as the eye can see.
This would reduce the carbon footprint of visitors. They would spend more time hiking than driving. At the same time, we would increase the degree of interaction with the inhabitants. If you spend more time in the territory, you have even more needs! You have to sleep, eat, drink, buy a souvenir, talk to people, get to special places where you need a guide and live the experience of the territory.
This is how social and economic opportunities arise. This is how we can start building a sustainable tourism. And to start this construction we set up a project. The code name is GeoGate.
We want to create a point of visit like no other in Romania: a place where you can see, hear, smell and feel Buzău Land. A pleasant space in which to discover the values and atmosphere of this territory. Following the visit, this place should convince you not to stop thinking and to definitely explore Buzău Land.
Thus, in the village of Sătuc (in Romanian, Little Village: D) there is an abandoned building next to DN10. It's before you make your way to the volcanoes. It is located in a key area: transited both by those who make the Buzău-Brașov road, and by the tens of thousands of visitors who want to see Păclele.
Together with the City Hall of Berca, we agreed that we must make the point of visit here. We drafted a project and sent it to the Council of Buzau Land. The people from the Council were delighted with the idea and took the news to the Intercommunity Development Association in the Land.
This is how the Council of Buzău Land, the ADI and the Berca City Hall have found the necessary resources to achieve our dream: The Gateway to the Aspiring Geopark. The project is worth almost 15,000 euros. Used wisely, it's worth ten times more!
In June 2019, our team started working. By the end of the year, we aim to have something great to show you. If you've seen the rest of the spaces we've set up so far, then you probably have high expectations of us. We will not disappoint you!
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