This are some legendary facts about a special place in Romania

Podul lui Dumnezeu/God's Bridge

by Valentina Raisa NARDI

God's Bridge it is a unique landform from Romania, renowned for being one of the few natural and full trafficable bridges. It was formed by the collapse of the ceiling of a cave. This fact gave birth to all sort of legends among the locals.

One of them says that the Devil itself lived in the cave of Ponoarele (ponoare is the plural form of the noun ponor, an old Romanian word of Slavic origin meaning a geographical formation in shape of a slope). God struck the cave ceiling with His hand, crashing it over the entrance. This way, he wanted to save the world of wickedness of the devil. Devil saved itself though and refuged on a cliff which would be named the Devil's Rock. From up there, he watches the land and all the travelers and sometimes he causes them to drown in the deep waters of the two lakes. Another story says that the bridge was created by God when a monk, future Saint Nicodemus of Tismana, escaped here after being ousted and accused of stealing by the people from the village of Ponoarele. There he wanted to build a monastery, as he had been shown in a dream.

This legend is even more credible from another point of view. It is said that Nicodemus cast a curse on the place, that the water in the two lakes nearby would dry up and there would be no living creature in them. And… guess what. This is a true fact! In times of drought, the Big Zaton Lake dries out, water is retreating to a cave underground and, when it rains, it comes back to the surface.

 Even today, drivers or hikers think this is a place with great natural energy. They fell strange vibrations and may happen that the car brakes no longer function. Bad accidents happened and there is proof and eye-witnesses of such events; for example, after one big truck fell and crushed into the depth, drivers were alive, and one of them raised a cross nearby, in gratitude.