Hey guys! In this post I will share my travel around Transylvania done with 2 of closest friends. Below you can see the entire road trip:
Table of Contents
Day 1 – Sinaia
We started our day beautifully and then a nice lady was too busy to hold the break and bumped into us 😅as soon as we reached the crossroad at Intercontinental hotel. Fun fact: she tried to run away and we ended up in a mouse & cat situation for 10 mins in the heart of Bucharest City Center. In the end, she apologised for running away for she got anxious about the situation, but friendly shake hands in the end and the situation was forgotten.
Now with plenty of energy, we continued our path to our first stop: Sinaia. A town and a mountain resort in Prahova County situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The road trip was super fun and we laughed about Waze constantly saying we only have “1h and 30 mins until our next destination” 🤣. I already knew it was going to get crowded in Comarnic (as it’s usually getting there), but we kept our calm and smiled to the camera 😁
Once we got in the city, we climbed up to 1000m stop point where we were amazed by the quiet and the mesmerizing view of the Bucegi Mountains from our hotel.
We took a break for an hour to charge our phones and external batteries, took a quick shower, took a few selfies on the balcony and we rushed to Peles Castle. Once we got there, we were lucky enough to get the last free parking slot close enough to the Castle. I asked for 2 adult tickets and 1 student and Tthe cashier lady was super nice and she gave us 2 students and one adult ( one Hugo cocktail on her 🥂).
The castle was just amazing. By form and function, Peleș is a palace, but it is consistently called a castle. Its architectural style is a romantically inspired blend Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival.
After Peles Castle, we were craving for some traditional food so we stopped a restaurant near the castle and got some delicious tripe soup (my favourite 🤤). None of us said a word whilst we were enjoying our soup since it was super-duper delicious. Totally recommend it if you want to try an authentic by-the-book tripe soup.
We planned to go visit Babele and Sfinfxul after lunchtime, but a spontaneous rain hit us hard and we had to postpone it for the next time. It was anyway – we got some nice “vinache” (wine) and some nice traditional pancakes alongside it and ended the night with a game of Rentz.
Day 2 – Saschiz – Sighisoara
Woke up early, got a quick breakfast at the inn or how we use to call it “mic dejun șefesc” and went on our way to the next stop in Busteni: Cantacuzino Castle. The castle is situated on Zamora Street in Bușteni, Romania.
Once we finished admiring Cantacuzino Castle, we went towards the nearest gas station to fill up. As soon as we got out of the gas station, I didn’t realise I was still in Brasov City and step it to about 90kmh as per the other drivers. Did I tell you how lucky I felt the other day? Oh well, this day my luck left me and I got pulled over by the police. When they asked for my documents, me (as a complete dumbass) I asked why I have been pulled over and the policeman confirmed I was speeding. Incoming dumb question: isn’t 90 the limit? The police guys smiled and said, no, it’s 60. The fun fact was they told me I might or might not get a speeding ticket because they couldn’t catch the plate numbers whilst I was changing lanes haha. I am still expecting that fine to pay 🤷♂️
I smiled back and continued driving to Saschiz – a medieval city with a mix population (germans, Hungarians and Romanians). Went up on an ATV road where we got a beautiful sight from the fortified church. Fun fact: be aware of the female-whale humans posing vertically on the ground at high altitude. I stopped over to get some juicy sour wild apples and visited the central church in the heart of Saschiz. Got up to the top of the church and had lots of fun climbing each step up to the attic.
Next, the road was smoothly covered until our final destination for the day: Sighișoara (or how we say it, ‘fir întins până acolo’). We only had one stop for Andrei to puff a cigarette and for me to change my T-shirt. As soon as we got there, we checked-in to our AirBnB flat and rushed for a Hungarian-style lunch. Again – just amazing. We filled our bellies with so much food we barely got enough energy visiting the city. The well-preserved walled old town of Sighisoara is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The city centre was full of mouth-watering ice-cream shops. We weren’t craving for one, but till today I don’t know for what reason we all got 2-scoop ice-creams and realised one minute after we didn’t want one and dump them in the nearest bin haha.
After a while, we were starving and went for a quick bite and had some shots & cocktails in one of the pubs in the city centre.
Day 3 – Castelul de Lut & Sibiu
The morning hit me quite early and I was full of energy for the ride after our super healthy breakfast served at a pub in the Small Square. Absolutely delicious! You should definitely try Doctor’s breakfast if you are around.
1 hour later and we got the next stop at Castelul de Lut. Made from clay & sand, this eco-friendly, fairytale-style castle serves healthy beverages & traditional food. It also has a nice river where you can enjoy nature at its fullest. If you are planning to go there, try to visit it during weekdays – weekends are super crowded especially during summertime.
Another half an hour and we got to our beautiful Sibiu – a beautiful city in Transylvania known for the Germanic architecture. Around the city are the remains of medieval walls and towers, including the 13th-century Council Tower. Checked-in to our super nice Airbnb flat, and headed to Piata Mare (Big Square) to get a well-deserved lunch (we were lucky enough to have an orchestra concert in the background).
After lunch, we explored the Old Town, starting from the Big Square to the Small Square, said some lies on The Bridge of Lies, climbed the Towers and really enjoyed the city and the weather.
Day 4 – Transfagarasean & Curtea de Arges
The couch was just amazing. Woke up again full of energy at 6:45 am (dunno why, but I always wake up early on a holiday. Self note #1: I think I like to wake up early. Self note #2: Still debating.). Make my coffee, starting reading of Colleen Hoover novels (I am by far, her greatest admirer – you should definitely check out her writings!!!) until about 8 am. Once my little birds woke up, they were too lazy moving their asses somewhere else 🙄, so we ended up having a royal breakfast at McDonald’s Drive-Thru. We had a long journey passing the southern section of the Carpathian Mountains via Transfagarasean, but we stopped at Balea Lake at mid-point to get some nice Romanian barbeque.
The road trip via Transfagarasen is indeed a spectacular place. A serpentine road takes up to the highest peak of the Transfagarasean, and while driving you can enjoy the beautiful evergreen forests. One of the most beautiful scenes is a tiny waterfall-like brooklet falling down in the middle of the forest. You can literally see the change in the vegetation as you go higher and higher. The closer you are to the top the fewer the trees and bushes become. But it is still amazing and beautiful.
Once arrived we discovered the glacier (Lake Balea) situated at 2,034 m of altitude in the Făgăraș Mountains. We have had a meal at a nearby restaurant (I don’t remember its name, but there is not too much to choose from – I think there are 2 -3 buildings/hotels). That was the only place open and allowed to eat in-doors (with COVID-19 regulations) at that time.
The weather cleared out a bit and we continued the mountain road until we got to the artificial Lake Vidraru and parked next to Vidraru Dam. The view was amazing, the dam has an interesting design and you can climb around 6 floors to get the best experience and to fully immerse into nature.
Half an hour later, we took the car and we were super lucky to see 2 bears walking alongside the mountain road! They seemed peaceful but no one was brave enough to get out of the car haha 😛
Finally, after a long day, we got to Curtea de Arges to our Airbnb. The host was crazy about the city and what it has to offer and the way he talked was super funny – or maybe we were tired and everything seemed funny at that time (I got a moment of spontaneous laugh and I felt a bit bad for the host for being too ironic and sarcastic with my rhetorical questions haha)
In the afternoon, had the pleasure to see again the Curtea de Arges Monastery located in the city centre. Had a moment of pure self-reflectiveness and for some reason, the energy helped me answer some unsolved questions and deep thoughts I had about myself. Today, I am super grateful to set the Monastery as a stopping point on our journey.
After that, we went visit another Monastery and all of us were shocked to see someone taking photos posing plank on the ground (literally!) with the Monastery in background. What?!? Guess too much Holy Water gets you dizzy haha.
Ended the day at a nice restaurant where we got a bit dizzy from the local wine and ordered some more from the shop and played some more Rentz in the flat. Again, I am so grateful for that night because I got to know Raluca and Andrei better.
Day 5 – Ramnicu Valcea
Final day. Super tired after so many days of travel, and boozy but constructive nights, we went to see a common friend who happened to celebrate one year as an employee at the same company Raluca worked. Raluca took care of the details (as always) and we headed to a nice pub and all got some nice caramelized pork ribs and fries. Had a really got time there getting to know better Catri and then headed back to the capital. It was a long journey back because of traffic jam (should’ve thought about it earlier since it was Sunday) but at least we got back safe.
Stay tuned for more! Next week I am planning to go again to the mountains via Cheile Zanoagei, hike the mountains and reach Scropoasa Lake.
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