By staff writer Estrella Azul. Photos Copyright © Estrella Azul.

LEGEND HAS IT a bride once fell off the steep cliff, with her veil left hanging from the rocks. Her wedding guests stopped in their tracks and started crying, forming a waterfall with their tears.

This is the Răchiţele Falls, commonly known as Bridal Veil Waterfall. Located near the village of Răchiţele in Mărgău, Transylvania, it is said to be one of the most beautiful smaller waterfalls of Romania.

My friends and I decided to go for a short road trip there in July. We started out from Cluj-Napoca and reached the waterfall in about two hours, on the E60.

The weather was gorgeous and, despite having to wake up at 7 a.m. to pack, meet our friends and avoid traffic and the heat wave the weather channel warned us of, the whole experience was well worth it. (I was also excited because it was my new travelogue’s very first trip.)

Bridal Veil Waterfall is located in a beautiful mountainous area in Apuseni. You can access it from Răchiţele either by foot or by car/bike on a dirt road. The roughly 7 km scenic forest road is well marked for tourists. On this road there are several mountain meadows where you can stop, have a picnic and enjoy the scenery. Hostels and cabins can be rented in the village and along the route leading up to the waterfall.

Situated at an altitude of 1,000 meters in the mountains, the waterfall consists of two steps. Looking from the bottom up, the first step is the most spectacular; the second forms a water tank above the first one. This is what ensures the scattering of water, just like a veil. Together the two steps account for a drop of 30 meters.

Forest roads pass near the falls and some go over it. You can hike higher up to take pictures from different/better angles and, if one hikes all the way up, you can admire the waterfall from the top down (although carefully, as there have been fatalities recorded).

The mountain rescue teams have an organized area you can hike up to and give ziplining (the flying fox sport) a try, and on specific ridges you can practice mountain climbing.

Unfortunately it started raining while we had our picnic lunch, so we headed home early.

When I read up about the place at home that evening, I realized the waterfall must offer a breath-taking view even during winter, when it freezes to an ice wall. I’m sure this is an excellent place for those passionate about ice sports, as a round of the national ice-climbing championship is held here each winter.

I’d like to go back during winter to see the waterfall all icy, and this year it will be easier to plan a trip there than it would be to travel back to Lillafüred Waterfall.

I’ll leave you with a message I read on one of the “Tips for hiking” signs I saw near the waterfall:

If you are in the mountains leave nothing but your footsteps behind, take nothing but pictures with you, kill nothing but your time.

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Estrella Azul is a young emerging writer, passionate about reading, floral art and photography, with an artistic personality and a soulful outlook on life. She is a Hungarian girl living and writing from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the capital of historical region Transylvania. Estrella is our European correspondent, and she dreams of embarking on a round-the-world trip. To read more of her creative writing, her thoughts and daily happenings, visit Life’s a stage – WebBlog©.