Above Vârtop, on the ridge of the Bihor Mountains, there is a rock which the Moți, the highlanders of Arieșeni, say can speak. They call it Piatra Grăitoare – "the Talking Stone" – and our guesthouse is named after it.
The story
The legend is told in several versions, but the heart of it is the same. Long ago, two girls from Arieșeni took the cattle up the mountain to graze. Up there they lost the calves and, however hard they searched, they could not find them.
Afraid to go home without them, they stayed on the mountain and wandered along the ridge until they reached some great rocks. There, tired and frightened, they prayed for the stone to open and hide them. The rock split and took them in. In some versions of the story, only their braids were left outside.
Ever since, the old people say, the stone speaks. Whoever calls out to it gets an answer: the echo comes back off the rock clear as a voice.
The girls' questions
The legend gave rise to a custom. Girls passing by the rock would ask it questions in verse, about the man they were fated to marry and about their wedding, and the echo would "answer" them. What each girl heard depended, of course, on how she phrased her question.
The story has been recorded by several authors, with small differences between the versions. We have told it in our own words, keeping what they share.
The rock today
Piatra Grăitoare is a rock about 2 m tall, on the peak of the same name, on the ridge of the Bihor Mountains. From the top you can see Arieșeni, Băița and Nucet, and the echo can still be heard today.
Getting to the peak
The trail starts in Vârtop, close to the guesthouse, and follows the red stripe waymark of the main Bihor Mountains ridge route, through Șaua Vârtop (the Vârtop saddle). The climb is about 4 km with roughly 550 m of ascent and takes between an hour and a half and two hours, depending on your pace.
In good weather, in summer and autumn, bring hiking boots, water and warm clothes for the ridge. In winter the ridge is exposed to wind and snow; go only with winter equipment and after checking the weather and trail conditions with Salvamont, the mountain rescue service.
There is more about the peak and the views from it on the Piatra Grăitoare Peak page, and the other trails in the area are in our guide to the area.