Babele

Babele — Romanian for "the old women" — are mushroom-shaped rock formations perched on the Bucegi plateau at around 2,200 metres elevation, sculpted over millennia by wind erosion acting on the area's sedimentary rock. Alongside the nearby Sphinx rock, they are among the most distinctive natural landmarks of the southern Carpathians and lie within the Bucegi Nature Park. Romanian folklore holds that the peculiar silhouettes are petrified women, lending the site an air of legend that persists in local storytelling. Visitors reach the plateau by cable car from Bușteni or via marked hiking trails, arriving at an open ridge with sweeping views across the Prahova Valley and, on clear days, deep into Transylvania.