Not for a few times, I mentioned how much I love going into nature and explore the surroundings just because I find it the right place where you can actually get through an imaginary portal to a world that ended millions of years ago.
Of course, there are still plenty of museums and cultural centers where you can find pieces of history in the true sense of the word but nothing can be compared with the genuine place from where everything comes.
However, the place that caught our attention and made me want to write about it, is not just a simple rock formation that looks pretty interesting at first, but also a location like these mentioned earlier.
Piatra Broaștei which can be translated as Frog's Stone represents a protected area of high national interest located in the southern side of Transylvania, in a tiny village close to Sibiu, called Cisnadioara.
The stone is actually a hippurite limestone that resulted from several erosion processes over time such as freeze-thaw, powerful wind, several washes and runoffs after rain, which comes as an addition to their cretaceous composition.
The carved stone has something in common with The Snail Hill we discovered not long time ago, where the stones had hundreds of mollusc shells which were dating since the Jurassic Age.
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However, this time we are talking about a huge coral reef that has in its composition the remains of molluscs fossils with lamellae (lamellibranchs), oysters, sea urchins and starfish, corals, and fish.
After finding out more about its structure, I could see a better resemblance between the rock and its name, because depending on the direction you are looking at it, with a little imagination you can see it having the shape of a frog's mouth.
The total surface covered by the Frog's Stone is pretty little talking about just one hectare, but which is very accessible for both cars, mountain hiking, or even simple strolls with the bike.
There are also two marked trails with the purpose of making more people reach it with a bike, but unfortunately during the weekend and especially when it's nice weather outside, there are a lot of people who are coming from surroundings for a picnic right under the stone.
This aspect not only that it comes with lots of rubbish left behind but also with the degradation of the surface since the cars are getting as close as possible to the rock and pollute nature.
That's why I always say that there is no place in the world that deserves to be so known by people because, in the end, it will come with a big disadvantage for those who truly love and appreciate nature, but also for the places themselves.
Happily, we were lucky enough and didn't meet anyone when we visited the rock except a shepherd that was taking care of his animals, but the remains we found on the ground and other pictures from the internet that showed cars and picnics being held right under the stone, said more than words would ever do.
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If you get to visit the Frog's Stone on a sunny day, you will see that the whole experience is different, due to the sun rays that encourage your imagination to become part of the (hi)story, together with the tiny river that flows just a few meters away from you and creates a magic sound for nature's silence.
The river is called Cisnadie which is the closest city to this place, and as fragile as it seems in the 21st century, keep in mind that it's the main reason the whole place was created because during the time the water dug into the structure of the stone until it was naturally obtained the shape it has, namely, of a frog's mouth.
What's even more interesting is represented by the cretaceous limestones from the composition of the rock that are over 65 million years old and made people think that we can discuss about the place that represented the Neo-Cretaceous Sea.
So the saying of traveling back in time is not just a metaphor.
Even though the rock was firstly analyzed by scientists in the first half of the 18th century, it was only declared in early 2000 when it also became a protected area.
The history behind it began a long time ago but the thing that we can still enjoy it in the 21st century is the real proof that everything was naturally maintained well before human intervention.
The Frog's Stone has a height of around four meters and it's also a good landmark for those who want to get closer to nature, because the rock is part of the Cindrel Mountains that reach a maximum altitude of 2,245 meters where I'm sure you will find fewer people and more nature.
Anyway, if you've been following me for a while, you will notice that I'm not so expressive in pictures when it comes to showing the excitement I feel when I get into the woods, and that's because I've never been good at having one of those popular pictures jumping or with the hands in the air next to the monuments, but I still felt the need of climbing the rock and have a picture from the top of it which offered a great view over the valley, being able to see Magura Peak located on an altitude of 1,304 meters. 😃
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To reach the Frog's Stone is quite easy if you are using a GPS, but you can also get to the destination if you are following the forestry road on Valea Argintului that is 1 km away from the village (Cisnadioara) that you can get into if you follow the county road DJ106D from Cisnadie to Cisnadioara.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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