Travel with stories #1

Do you like to discover new places?

If your answer is yes, you will certainly like the series of articles I am going to write.
I am Dorel Ichim and I am working at a start-up as a UX Specialist and Founder of a project that will include all the resources I am going to publish. As soon as the project will be finished and launched, I will publish the whole story which I have come to accomplish.
Enjoy!

The Bey's Eye Lake - Romania

Ochiul Beiului Lake — meaning The Bey's Eye— is located in a wildlife area in Nerei Gorges. The lake has the shape of a3.6 meter-deep crater and its water is so clean that the trout swimming in it can be admired in their full splendour.

It is an outstanding feature that the lake never freezes, since its temperature remains unchanged all the year long, at between 4 and 8 Celsius. As a result, the migratory birds — the grey heron or wild ducks — instead of leaving for the warmer countries in winter, stay here.

Legend has it that the lake emerged after the son of a renowned Turkish lord — or bey — who ruled the land a few hundred years ago, while having gone hunting fell in love with a shepherd's daughter.

The bey named Beg fell wildly in love with the local young woman, whom he kidnapped and locked in the Big Tower in Nerei Gorges. At night, however, the young woman manages to escape with the help of a rope made from her own dress and she flees, reaching the foot of the cliff at Nerei Valley.

The escape enraged the bey, who ordered that the woman be killed. The bey's son was so grieved at the news that he shed so many tears as to fill the lake that today bears his name and has the colour of his eyes. Desperate that the young woman cannot be brought back to life, the bey's son killed himself at the lake.

In fact, the lake is shaped as an oval crater or an eye, being around 20 meters in diameter.

The legend also says the woman turned into a river — the River Beusnita, and the young man into a lake — Ochiul Beiului.

The clear water in which the fir-tree forest and the sky mirror, the unbelievably turquoise water of the lake make the place a fairy-tale one. The locals say that if every Romanian visited Ochiul Beiului Lake at least once a year, they would be healthier and the ever-present depression would remain virtually unknown.

I hope you like that story and that fairy tale lake. If so, then follow my article.

"I haven't been everywhere but it's on my list!" - Susan Sontag
Thanks!