Dărmănești

Set between the Trotuș and Uz rivers, at the foot of the Nemira Mountains, Dărmănești has been a local tourist resort since December 2022. It has 14,539 inhabitants, a railway station, a national road (DN12A) — and a written history going back to 1546.

A little history

The first documentary record dates from 1546, in a deed confirmed by Prince Petru Rareș. The name of the Uz Creek comes from the Uzes, a migratory people, and place names in the area — Comănești, Dărmănești — still carry Cuman traces. The settlement became a town in 1989.

Historic monuments

• Știrbei Palace (Castle) — 21 Dumbravei Street; late 19th century, a category A listed monument.
• The Boiștea hydraulic installations — a water-powered wool mill, fulling mill and whirlpool from the 19th–20th centuries, traditional water-driven craft.
• The Hazaparu watermill — 2 Morii Street.
• The wooden church of St Nicholas — 11 Măguricei Street, built in 1808.
• The wooden church of the Dormition of the Mother of God — Plopu, 1795.
• The wooden church of the Holy Archangels — Lapoș, 1813.

More places to see

• The open-air museum of the First World War — in front of the Town Hall.
• The church of Sts Peter and Paul and the "Izvorul Tămăduirii" healing spring.
• The hermitage of St Ephrem the Syrian — a quiet place, recommended by the guesthouse hosts too.
• The Monument of the Unknown Hero — in the Uz valley, near Sălătruc, 1.4 km (a walk of about 20 minutes) from Cabana Marisa. An old oak cross, restored in concrete, and a panel telling the story of the autumn 1916 battles in the Uz Valley: here the Romanian 7th Division defended the Uz pass, and the village of Poiana Uzului — today beneath the waters of the lake — was lost and retaken in November 1916. The fighting in the Trotuș and Uz valleys cost the lives of 51 officers and 4,092 Romanian soldiers.
• The church of St George in Poiana (1762–1777).