Romania Photo of the Day by Dreamstime: Carpathian Mountains in autumn colors

The Romania Photo of the Day created in partnership with stock photo provider Dreamstime aims to highlight the best of Romania. From stunning landscapes and popular tourist destinations and landmarks to people, traditions, and food, this series helps you discover Romania one photo at a time. This week, we put the focus on beautiful Romanian landscapes in autumn colors.

Wild and beautiful, the peaks of the Carpathian Mountains jut out against the sky, while below many four-legged beasts live out their life in an ancient forest and rare flowers bloom, nestled in the grass or amongst tangled roots. (Photo source - click on the number to get to the photo 111314327 | Gutescu Eduard | Dreamstime.com)

On the Transylvania plateau, guarded by the mountains, says responsibletravel.com, crumbling castles overlook medieval villages where communities live lifestyles whose rhythms have changed little over the centuries.

Without the fame of the Alps or the spectacular altitude of the Himalayas, says rolandia.eu, the Carpathian Mountains mesmerize with their sometimes terrifying wilderness. Here you'll find naturally-sculpted statues with strange shapes reminding you of the Sphinx or pagan temples, and thousands of caves in which fossils of large ice age animals have been found.

The Carpathians stretch from the Czech Republic through Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Ukraine, into Romania. But despite stretching across 7 countries, 51% of their total area spans over Romania's territory.

The name of the mountains is derived from the old Dacian tribes called Carpes or Carpi, who lived in the area of present-day Romania, stretching from the north-eastern side of the Black Sea to the fields of Transylvania.

The Romanian Carpathians are part of the eastern sector of the Carpathian Mountains and are divided into 3 geographical groups: Eastern Carpathians (split into 3 groups: The Carpathians of Maramureș and Bukovina, the Moldavian-Transylvanian Carpathians, and the Curvature Carpathians); Southern Carpathians (split into 4 groups: Bucegi Mountains, Făgăraș Mountains, Parâng Mountains, and Retezat-Godeanu Mountains); and Western Carpathians (split into 3 groups: Banat Mountains, Poiana Ruscă Mountains, and Apuseni Mountains).