Ceahlău, Romania

Lofty legends

The Carpathian Mountains cover about a quarter of Romania's land area, cutting a huge horseshoe through the country's center. Though our panoramic perch isn't the range's highest summit (that'd be the 8,350-foot Moldoveanu Peak), this massif known as Ceahlău might be the stuff of more legends, from tales of gods and devils to hyped-up histories of Roman conquest. Maybe the most famous involves a rock called Panagia—said to have been a beautiful peasant girl who climbed Ceahlău to court the sun itself, eventually turning to stone while waiting for her lover to emerge from the clouds.