The area has a tourist character, but also an industrial character and it is
formed by the Bistra Valley and the Poiana Rusca Massif. The Poiana Rusca Massif
stretches in three counties: Caras-Severin, Timis and Hunedoara. It rises under
a block shape above the depressions in its vicinity, the highest peaks being in
our county: Pades (1374 m), Rusca (1355 m) and Poiana (1049 m), with slopes
which descend onto the Bistra and Timis valleys. This massif is very interesting
from a geological point of view, having crystalline schists, limestone and
sandstone, but we cannot leave out the deposits of metamorphic limestone, which
makes up the richness of the area, marble, especially statuary marble, which
rivals the Carrara marble. These metamorphic rocks are exploited on both slopes,
to the west, and to the north-east.
We can also find here: lead, zinc, copper and even gold, in the territory of the
county, Ruschita is the mining centre of this massif. In the Ruschita area we
have one of the biggest and oldest marble exploitation centers. Now the
processing was transferred to Simeria, the old tradition was abandoned and took
somewhat domestic processing forms; the masons from here processed at home
objects like vases, flower supports, flower vases and other decorative objects.
There is a centre for the construction of obituary or commemorative monuments
too. It has been transferred to Simeria too and so an old tradition of marble
processing in the area was lost.
On the Bistra Valley, and in the Poiana Rusca area too, mountain tourism with
familial character had been practiced at Ruschita, but mostly at Rusca Montana;
the peasants and the workers from here received in their houses tourists, who
enjoy spending here a few days to rest.
Before the First World War and after 1943-1944, many people came here to spend
their holidays. It is very interesting that Italians, Germans and Czechs, who
came to their relatives or to their friends, settled in this picturesque area.
The fact that a well developed tourism existed in this area is proved by the
raising of a monument of tourism, unique in the world. In 1937 the Tourism Club
of Banat built it from local marble, in the place known under the name of “Sapte
izvoare” (Seven Springs). This monument was moved several years ago, from the
high area, to the road which leads from Rusca Montana to Ruschita, at the
entrance into the first locality. Annually, in August, the Day of the Monument
of Tourism is celebrated here. Forest trains existed, which carried the
tourists, in the weekend, on beautiful routes through the forests and the
meadows, alongside the tumultuous waters. We must mention that between the
localities of Boutari and Subcetate, on a mountain railroad line unique in
Romania, trains with racks traveled.
In the mountains, on the road which carries us on the Carlontului valley and
after that on an almost unknown trail, which climbs to the Pades Peak, a rock,
which looks like the face of a man, like a Sphinx from the Egyptian desert or
maybe like the head of a Dacian, gets in our path.
This tourist area in the vicinity of Caransebes, capitalized, could bring
benefits to those who live in this sector. The human settlements with a folklore
and ethnographic tradition can create, together with the surrounding nature, a
special environment, so that these places remain unique for their beauty.
Performance tourism in the alpine settlements and a mountain, pastoral and
agrarian tourism, can bring a renewal of this special area.
