The Olt gorge
A natural passage through the range, used since the Romans.
Nicu Farcaș — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Petr Vodička — CC BY-SA 4.0
A chain of Orthodox monasteries in south-western Romania along and around the Olt valley, built by the princes of Wallachia between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. The most important are Cozia (1388), Horezu (1690, on the World Heritage list and the finest example of the Brâncovenesc style), Tismana, Bistrița and Arnota. Many are in beautiful mountain settings, most are still working with monks or nuns, and entry is usually free. A single drive along the Olt valley passes several of them and reaches the mineral spas at Călimănești.
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Cozia National Park surrounds the Cozia massif, where the **river Olt** cuts through the Carpathians in a deep gorge — one of the few passages that pierce the range from south to north, which is why roads and armies have used it since the Romans. The massif itself is steep crystalline rock under oak and beech forest, with marked paths climbing to summits above 1,600 metres. Its biodiversity is high because the gorge brings warm southern plants together with mountain ones in a small area. At the heart of the area stands **Cozia Monastery** — among the oldest surviving buildings in Wallachia, built by Prince Mircea the Elder in 1388 and his burial place, its banded stone walls a model of the Byzantine-Serbian manner in the region. The park is free and open, reached by national road 7 through the Olt valley. **About 56 km south-east of Sibiu.**
A natural passage through the range, used since the Romans.
Banded stone walls of the late fourteenth century.
Olt valley, Vâlcea county