One of the great attractions of Banat region is Oravita-Anina railway. It was inaugurated in 1863 (being the oldest mountain railway in our country) and its short route of just 33km is spectacular with no less than 14 tunnels and 9 viaducts. The difference in level that the train wins between the two terminals Oravita and Respiratory Anina is 339m.
A one-step closure due to lack of profit was saved after an online petition, and today it operates on a touring train with only one round-trip per day.
In the full tourist season, in July, the train is overcrowded, obviously air-conditioned, so the journey that takes about 2h / dusk is not necessarily a pleasure. However, immediately after leaving Oravita after entering the shade of the forest the temperature becomes bearable and our ears are also accustomed to the continuous scraping of the train wheels.
The children are excited, few of them went up to the 10-year-old train, and when the train entered the tunnel and they lit the lanterns in the big mouth, it made the wagon burst into a healthy laugh.
We all descended to Garliste station and watched as the train entered the big tunnel where the leveling of the track was so large that it could see with the naked eye. After a little pick-nick, we start on the old trail that descends to the village of Garliste. Now few people in the village travel with the train because the trail is almost lost in many places. After crossing an old pine forest (about 200 years old trees here) we pass through a series of marshes and then descend through a beech forest to the Garliste river. From here on a forest road we continue our journey to the village where the minibus waits for us.
The road is not diffused, it has 8km in total, but it still consumes us about 3 hours because we are surprised by a heavy rain. Thunderstorms that at some point seem to be very close to scare us pretty hard, but the next day stroll through the rain has become a pleasant memory.
