A road that at first leads to nowhere but which makes you reach a unique lake of the country that was formed through dynamite and which will bring more colour into your life with its emerald clear waters.

Another week, another post about one of our discoveries made in Dobrogea - a land of legend which makes the time pass like it never existed during our trips to the hidden gems of nature.
And I'm saying that because we are talking about the oldest area from Romania and Europe which doesn't matter how many times you are going to visit it, you will still feel like you are far away from discovering everything it has to offer for the real adventure seekers.
The region is mostly known for its monasteries that are gathering many tourists with each passing year, but the whole place has so much more to offer, especially that we are talking about a place where you can still discover the proofs of Jurassic ages and lots of legends that offer you a completely new perspective about the world.
Since it was one of those hot days of late summer where you could literally spend the whole day in front of the TV far away from the sun rays, we decided it's time to step away from losing an entire day without exploring the surroundings, but actually get in the car and drive away to a place where we can easily cast out the slackness of the crazy weather.

That led up to a unique place from Romania which was located just 63 km away from where we were accommodated in Tulcea and 20 km away from the Macin Mountains. The perfect distance to have a proper ride with the music turned loud in the car while you get surrounded more by nature and less by traffic noise and crowded places!

Iacobdeal Lake can be found in the village called Turcoaia, at the foothills of the Macin Mountains, also known as the tiniest mountains from Romania which barely measure 500 m height.
The lake which is also called by the locals "The Fountain", has been formed in a granite quarry which makes it a unique location for the country.

But the real unicity of the lake is given by the formation of the quarry using dynamite until people discovered an underground spring which filled and covered all the galleries made so far, creating the lake we can admire nowadays, known as Iacobdeal Lake.
The old stone excavations and the uncommon vegetation create a rather austere scenery contrasting with the clear emerald-green water whose depth exceeds 20 meters and which leaves you lots of question marks since there is no running water around it to feed the lake.
Yet, if you’re a passionate fisherman you should know fishing is forbidden on this place, but you are free to enjoy the landscape from the shores made entirely of granite or gravel, mixed with soil.
When we visited the place back in August 2019, there were also some improvised sunbeds where you sit down for a while and get more connected with nature.

The period when the lake was formed is uncertain but there are known that some decades passed since it was first discovered, the emerald and clear water leaving speechless every tourist which comes to see the unique place from Romania.
Though the interesting facts about the lake don't stop here, because if you are a passionate person about minerals, you'll definitely enjoy admiring all the granitic walls which are surrounding the place, made out of quartz, mica and feldspar, but also small portion of radon too which makes the water slowly become more radioactive than it is for other lakes.

Iacobdeal Lake covers a total surface of around 1 hectare and it represented a private place which was bought by a professional diver a few years ago with the wish to protect more what nature is offering to us. Even though there is no tax for visiting or taking pictures of the lake, there are a few restrictions which people have to take note about if they don't want to be taxed with stinging fines for either fishing or leaving rubbish on the ground.

Even if the lake is still not so known by people there was already a movie created directed by Radu Jude but also a short clip for a song in 2015.

Though, to have a proper view over the lake and discover the emerald green beauty, it's recommended to visit the place when it's sunny outside and not after a rainy period when the colour could be darker and the water not so clear. The level of the water is also directly connected to the 2 ways of supplying it either via the underground natural springs or by the rain precipitation.

The access paths down to the lake are quite limited due to the steep granite walls which are surrounding it, but we had the great surprise to discover a hidden cave right under the main spot from where people usually admire the lake, which makes it easier to reach the water.

We are talking about a pretty small cave which is definitely not in the favour of the claustrophobic people, but which makes you get closer to the water and even reach it. Yet, let's not forget about its depth which is around 20 meters and that no matter how experienced swimmer you are, you should still think twice before jumping into the water.

If you are passionate about seeing everything from the top or improvise one of those shots you could admire only from the plane or using a drone, keep in mind that there are plenty of hills which are surrounding the lake and which if you climb, you will get a new perspective too.

The one which caught our attention was a hill pretty far from the lake but which on the map was showing with the name of The Hill of the Bones which made us really curious about our next discovery.
So we started walking through the huge dry vegetation which seemed like it was never crossed by anyone else before and approached to the interesting hill whose story we wanted so badly to find out.
Unfortunately, the more we were getting closer, the more we were losing our hope to find something unique, but we still enjoyed the experience and stopped here and there to take some pictures and enjoy the nice weather.
In reality, as soon as we reached the place which seemed like a promising place, we discovered the hill was formed during the during quarry extraction and even though there could be something interesting with a cool story to be shared with the tourists, everything was covered by granite and different rock formations, with very few plants to succeed making a living through the rocky soil.

Therefore we missed making another discovery and find the story of the hills which most likely a long while ago had a story to be heard by many tourists, we enjoyed the experience and the view over the valley and surroundings of the hidden lake.

If we are talking about the access roads to the lake, the things are getting a little bit more complicated as there are no signs leading to it, but actually just the locals who love offering information how to reach the place, or the GPS itself which has the lake added on the map.

One of the ways of access discovered so far is the national road DN22D from Măcin-Cerna to the village Turcoaia from where you will follow the county road DJ222H for 2,5 km until you reach an intersection and go to the left for 3 km more. Even though the lake is still not visible, keep in mind that there are only 200 m to be crossed on the road from the right which will make you reach it. As a reference point, you should follow the road which leads you to the disused constructions of the former quarry that is located nearby.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

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