Transalpina

Quite an adventure we had last weekend: a roadtrip on "Transalpina", the highest road in Romania.

Also known as DN 67C, it was built by the germans during WW2 for military purposes. Very few people know about this road which twist through the mountains, reaching altitudes of over 2000m (Udrele pass, 2145m), crosses 4 counties (Gorj, Valcea, Alba and Sibiu) and connects Novaci with Sebes. Approximately 25% of this road is asphalted, the rest being gravel. Recommended cars for this road are SUVs or any car that isn't yours. :P Unfortunately I didn't meet any of the above. I used my car, which is not an SUV. :( The landscapes though made it worth the while.

My girlfriend and I left home at about 9:30 to pick up Serdar. By the time we picked him up and headed towards the highway to Pitesti, it started pouring. Rain was so heavy you couldn't see more than 10m ahead. I never thought I'll ever be going 60km/h on the highway, but this happend during this heavy rain. After about 20 kilometers the pouring turned into normal rain, then into light rain and finally it stopped. From Pitesti we headed towards Ramnicu Valcea, stopping on our way to eat the best "mici" in the country. :) From there, we took the road towards Targu Jiu. Halfway through, we turned right towards Novaci, where the ascension began. By the time we got to Novaci (14:30), it was raining cats and dogs again, but we were lucky again, as it gradually stopped as we continued on our way.

Allthough we didn't climb much yet, scenery was allready superb. We then got to Ranca. Here it all ends: civilisation and asphalt. From here on, all you see is the mountain and the small road where a car passes by about every one or two hours. Allthough there were only 30 km from Ranca to Obarsia Lotrului, where we planned to remain overnight, it took us 6 hours to get there. 10km/h was fast and 20km/h was allready way above the speed limit. :) Of course we stopped a lot to take pictures and admire the scenery. And then we spent another 1.5h trying to get the car out of the river it got stuck into when trying to get across. When all seemed desperate enough, and we were allready considering spending the night in the car in the middle of the river, we saw the "light". Another car came and pulled us out of the river. We couldn't be happier, as it was allready 21:00 and it was slowly starting to get dark outside. It took us another 15 minutes to reach Obarsia Lotrului, where we found a really nice cabin called "Bradu", confortable and at reasonable prices. The people there were also very nice. When we told them that we came across the mountain, they wouldn't believe it at first, especially after taking a look at our car (pretty low to the ground and no 4WD). They tried it earlier with a 4WD pick-up but didn't make it across. They were nice to us and even though they were preparing to close the kitchen, they served us food and drinks and we also got to watch the football match Brasil-France. One dinner and two bottles of wine later, it was off to sleep with us. We also decided that instead of continuing the way to Sebes (another 35km of the same road, only this time downhill) we should to go towards Vidra and Voineasa, which was asphalt road.

Not being in a hurry, we had a late wake-up at approx. 10:30. By 12:00 we left Obarsia Lotrului after having breakfast. It was off to Vidra to see the lake and the dam there. Going 50km/h never seemed so fast to me. :) The lake and dam offered us another great landscape. We took some pictures, allthough we weren't allowed to (we bribed the guard with some cigarettes) and fed a very friendly (especially when it came to food) dog. He was so desperate to get to the food that he would almost go into the car after you. And then when you came out with the bag, there was no way to get him off of you so you could get the food out. From here we went towards Voineasa, again admiring the magnificent landscapes, and then back to Ramnicu Valcea - Pitesti - Bucharest, where we arrived at 18:00.

All in all, the trip was worth it, even though it wasn't easy at all for the car. I hope I will return there someday, but only with an SUV. And I do hope the road will remain like this, difficult and with gravel, inaccessible to all tourists who are there to make noise and have modern, city fun. I preffer it quiet and wild, as it is now.

Danube Delta

I've been waiting for more than a year to go to the Danube Delta. But this fall, my whish finally came true. Although I live in Romania, I have never had the chance up until now to go there.

The trip was planned for 4 days. The five of us (two girls and three guys), were to leave Bucharest on the 19th and return on the 22nd of September. As planned on the 19th, at 5 am, me and my girlfriend started "uploading" our luggage into the car. It was just the two of us, but the trunk was already more than half way full. On our way we picked up the other three people and we were ready to go, with a car-full of luggage and a lot of good mood. :)

We left Bucharest and entered the newly built Highway of the Sun (Autostrada Soarelui) connecting Bucharest with Constanta. Since I didn't want to stop for gas in Bucharest, the "empty" warning light on my fuel indicator was already lit. My hope was for us to find a gas station on the highway. But since this was a newly built highway, the only service areas you could find were 2 parking spaces. So eventually I decided it is time to exit the highway into the nearest town and look for a gas station. Luckily enough, we found one before we totally ran out of gas.

On our way again, we didn't enter the highway again, but instead used the old road through the villages. This proved again not to be a very good idea. Because of the considerable amount of luggage and people in the car and the car's age, at a railroad crossing, the exhaust hit the ground and the thing that was holding it attached to the car snapped. Now, the exhaust was hanging so close to the ground that even the smallest bump in the road made it hit the asphalt and forcing me to drive very slow. Luckily enough it was Monday and when we entered Slobozia (a bigger town on our way) we immediately found a repair shop where the problem was fixed at a reasonable price and in a timely manner (no more than half an hour).

So our journey continued towards Braila where the road crosses the Danube, not by bridge, but by ferry boat. It was an interesting experience for most of us, as some have never did this before. From Braila our journey continued all the way to Tulcea, where we stopped for some last-minute shopping... just stuff that we remembered we forgot to take with us when we left Bucharest. The interesting part was that we just kept on remembering, so that we spend at least two hours in Tulcea and did three or four shopping tours. :)

Finally we managed to leave Tulcea and find our way to Mahmudia, a village where we planned to stay. We crossed again the Danube with a ferry onto an island where we wanted to set up our tents. What was supposed to be a very simple operation (setting up the tent) proved to be quite a challenge. We followed the instructions, but what came out didn't look at all like a tent. It looked more like a contorsionist's exercise. After unsuccessfully trying to adjust it's position, we took a decision: disassemble and reassemble the whole tent. This time we got it right. This being said, we left the girls to unpack the food and directed our attention to the fishing rods. Unfortunately the current was so strong that it brought our bait right back to the shore, so this wasn't a very good fishing spot. The view wasn't so great either so we decided that the first thing in the morning we were going to lift camp and search for a better place. But, before we went to sleep, a card game was more than welcome... actually so welcome, that it lasted until 4 am.

As planned, the next morning we packed everything and left for Murighiol, another village, not very far away. Seeing the dark clouds and hearing that during the night it rained heavily and Bucharest was flooded, we decided not to camp in tents anymore, but to find some accommodation. After searching a little we found a nice little place that was to our liking. Since it was almost noon, he day was already compromised and there was nothing left but to wander through the village. We arranged for a boat to take us on a sightseeing/fishing trip in the area the next day. The rest of the day was filled again with card playing until late in the night (or early in the morning?).





After a short sleep, we woke up for the big event: a boating trip through the Delta. It was an enjoyable experience, even though beacause of the late fall, the fauna and flora wasn't that spectacular as it should. Anyway, we had a great time and at the end of the trip we also stopped to fish a little. The results of our fishing spree were eaten later that night grilled and with a lot of drinks. Again... card night.

The next day, me and Mihai went fishing. After about 4 hours of sleep, we could barely keep our eyes open. The guy that was supposed to take us fishing came to pick us up and off we went. It was 5:30 am and the sun dind't rise yet and we were able to enjoy a great view: the Danube Delta at night. It felt almost like in a horror movie. Everything was grey and you could just see some vegetation here and there, isolated trees rising out of the water, well just the perfect atmosphere for a big monster to emerge out of the river and take a bite out of your boat. :) Fishing wasn't as productive as planned. In fact we barely caught two fish, but one of them, cauht by Mihai made it worth the while. Back home after the fishing trip, we had a quick bite to eat and then... packing because it was time to get back to Bucharest.

Off we went... the same way back. Well, almost the same way. Because of the floods we had to take a detour. 40 km of country road, full of holes. This cost us aproximately an hour extra on the way. Finally we got back on the highway and next stop was Bucharest. One event is worth mentioning on our way back. It was allready dark outside and just after we took the detour we looked at our left and saw the ... Eiffel Tower. After so little sleep I thought I was dreaming. So I shook my head and looked again... the Eiffel tower was still there. So I stopped the car and we all got out, glazing at it in amazement. A replica of the Eiffel tower, standing there in front of us. I tried to get a picture of it, but being so dark outside and me not having a tripod made me give up.

All in all it was an exciting trip and I can hardly wait to get there again next year, maybe earlier in the summer when there's more to see.