The dam wall
Curved between cliffs.
Firilacroco — CC BY-SA 3.0 · DariDaryk — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Țetcu Mircea Rareș at ro.wikipedia — CC BY-SA 2.5 · Stoschmidt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Andrei Dan Suciu — CC BY 3.0
Vidraru Dam is an arch dam on the Argeș River in Romania, completed in 1966 to create Lake Vidraru, built mainly to generate electricity. It sits on the Transfăgărășan mountain road, about 62 km in a straight line from Sibiu. The dam is 166 metres high with a 305-metre arch and holds 465 million cubic metres of water. It took five and a half years to build and required 42 km of tunnels. When completed it ranked fifth in Europe and ninth in the world. The lake behind it runs 10.3 km and up to 2.2 km wide, with a 28 km shoreline, and the plant generates about 400 GWh a year. The curved concrete wall spans two towering rock cliffs, with the road running along its crest. On one side the wall drops sheer into a deep, narrow gorge; on the other the green-turquoise lake stretches between forested mountains. You can walk across the dam to look down into the gorge and stand on terraces overlooking the lake. The road over the dam is narrow and busy in summer, so watch for traffic.
Curved between cliffs.
Deep below.
Green-turquoise.
On the Argeș River, Transfăgărășan road, Argeș County, Romania
Yes, free.
On the Transfăgărășan road.
