Marking: Blue triangle
Length: 16 km
Route: Celic Dere Monastery – Edirlen – Carasan Teke – Alba
Campsite: Izvor Celic Dere
A unique route that offers the opportunity to combine three forms of responsible tourism: landscape, religious and scientific.
It starts from a spring located near one of the many Dobrogean gateways to Christianity in Romania – the Celic Dere Monastery and includes segments of some special natural reserves at the European level, through the floristic and faunal components: Edirlen and Carasan Teke. You can see evidence of the Edirlen fortress, VII-X century AD. which constituted a point of connection between the Greek cities and those of central Dobrogea.
Special landscape given by the alternation of forest ecosystems with Downy Oak (Quercus pubescens), Dalmatian Gorun (Quercus dalechampii), Mojdrean (Fraxinus ornus), Silver hair (Pyrus elaeagrifolia), Silver lime (Tilia tomentosa), Hornbeam (Carpinus betula), Ponto-Sarmatic thickets with Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Dwarf Almond (Amygdalus nana) or Rock Honeysuckle (Spiraea crenata) with those of Ponto-Sarmatian steppe meadows or sharp ridges alternating with deep valleys.
The flora represents a floristic synthesis of two continents Europe and Asia with many rare, vulnerable or endangered species at universal or national level: Steppe peony (Paeonia tenuifolia), Mouse tail (Achillea clypeolata), Spotted tulip (Fritillaria orientalis), Lion’s foot ( Gymnospermium altaicum), Honey garlic (Nectaroscordum siculum ssp bulgaricum), Orchid (Himantoglossum hircinum), Peony orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis), Milkweed (Limodorum abortivum), St. John’s Wort (Tanacetum millefolium), Sedum grass (Sedum hillebrandtii), Spring rush (Adonis vernalis), Shamrock (Orlaya grandiflora), Lily of the valley (Stipa ukrainica), Snowdrop with bent leaves (Galanthus plicatus), Pontic baskets (Astragalus pontica), Eggplants (Centaurea marschalliana). The faunal component is just as rich, in this area finding favorable places for food and shelter for species such as the hornet (Pernis apivorus), the European hornet (Circus pygargus), the white hornet (Circus macrourus), the field grouse ( Asio flammeus), the hunted Erete (Circus cyaneus), the reptiles the Dobrogean Tortoise (Testudo graeca) and the Lizard (Lacerta viridis) or among mammals the Stone Marten (Martes foina) and the Wild Cat (Felis silvestris).
