I needed to run an errand, so walking out through the beautiful reception in my glorious, historic hotel…
…and down the street past a sign that I think was meant to mean two-for-one, but didn’t quite get the message across…
…past one of many hookah bars…
…had a delicious, leisurely lunch at this cute little cafe…
Oh, yum!
…then continuing on…
…and found the Pasajul Macca-Vilacrosse – two passages that join up, one named Villacrosse, the other Macca – with a stunning yellow glass covering… built in 1891…
Although it is the ‘modern’ way of life, it’s funny, I did still think it strange, especially given my personal focus on paying attenton to the little things, to the beauty around me, to the sights, smells, and sounds… that it seemed everywhere people where only engrossed in what was on the small screen in the gadget in their hand…
By the way, if one looks at the thumbnail for the video below, it appears to be a great big puppy dog!
I needed to sit for a while, so what better way to pass the time than with a spot of dessert…
Once at the top of the Transalpina, Max called in to buy supplies for our picnic… but not until we again went off-roading…
The views were truly spectacular…
…and I made the mistake of leaving my window open as we did some off-road ‘gardening’… hmmmmm…… 🙂
The crisp air at only 6 degrees C / 42 degrees F, the smell of wood fires, the happy people… it was amazing…
Max found us the most perfect picnic spot… right beside a small river…
…and the produce he acquired included Romanian wine, local fruits and vegetables, and the most aaahhhhmazing buffalo cheese!
It’s always handy to have a man around for such things…
Yum…
There are literally hundreds of stray dogs everywhere in Romania, but this fellow was lovely and became my friend…
Incredible huge mushrooms… Apparently this is Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric.
…and the fluffy part is apparenently called its ‘fins’…
This photo, perhaps more than any other, represents the ways of the past fading into the distance as the future zooms ahead…
…guided by a very bright nearly full moon… and the sky was so clear we could also see Neptune and Saturn!
Then home sweet home, back to Bucharest… and to find in my inbox the photo of a cake that a dear friend made for my birthday! Hmmmm, it’s in America so I guess I will have to just imagine how good it tasted! But the thought meant ever so much…
My dear friend, Max, and I set out on Sunday morning for what ended up being over 13 hour road trip from Bucharest, and along the Transalpina Road…
…passing the largest chemical factory in Romania…
There is something about wells that I find so beautiful…
This is a traditional Romanina hay shed… I love the design!
A painted forest? Yes! Literally!
Taking one’s cow for a walk…
…as one does…
This is officially the beginning of the Transalpina Road…
The Transalpina or DN67C is a 148 km national road located in the Parâng Mountains group, Southern Carpathians of Romania. It connects Novaci, south of Parâng Mountains, to Sebeș in the north, and is the highest road in Romania, having the highest point in Urdele Pass (at 2,145 m).
These are snow barriers… The road is closed due to snow from October to May…
See those switchbacks in the distance? That is where we are headed!
If you look closely, you can see two people on the side of the mountain, about two-thirds of the way down…
Max took us off-roading to find a lovely little lake…
These really did look like toy cars on a toy road…
…and just up ahead where those buildings are… that is the highest spot on the highest road in Romania!
If you haven’t watched the esipode of ‘Top Gear’ where they trio drive the Transfăgărășan Road, I recommend doing so – but here is a snippet of where Florin and I were about to drive…
…complete with cable-car… This is how, in winter, people get from the bottom to the top, and vice versa…
…and then home sweet home… and discovering so many birthday wishes from so many friends… and people I don’t even know but to whom I am connected online in one way or another… (I am still wading through them all, replying to everyone…)
A few years ago, I did the Transfăgărășan Road with my friend, Adrian, however this was a far as we could get on that trip… Why? On that trip, it was literally buried under a mountain of snow!
Now, time for lunch… at what felt like the edge of the earth…
Technically, my birthday was on the Monday, but I decided to make it a long weekend… Starting with waking up to this beautiful spectacle…… Bliss!
…and my major destination… The incredible Transfăgărășan Road!
…but we will get to that soon enough…
Happy Birthday to me!
Part of my present to myself was a set of watercolours and artist pencils… and so I sat in my beautiful window seat… looking out at the world…
…and created my first ever pictures with coloured pencils… (this is Glen Affric in Scotland)…
I droo a coo…
…and my first ever animal in multi-media watercolour and pencil… A highland cow named Ben. OK, technically, because of the shape of the horns, this is a girl cow, not a boy bull, but I like the name Ben after all the wonderful bens in Scotland…
…although, I wasn’t sure early on if it would even look like a cow!
Then off to one of my favourite haunts… and I love little things like seeing so many bicycles and scooters here that have not been chained up… They are everywhere! I love that…
…and this strange policeman with his whistle… The lights were working just fine, and at the end, it looks like he was attempting to take flight… He continued for about 15 minutes, before mozying on somewhere else to do who knows what… Strange…
…and yet another Romanian Street Party…
…then meeting a friend for drinks in the bar…
…but reading one of the books published in the 1800s that travel with me – in this instance, volume one of Sir Walter Scott’s abridged biography… published in 1874…
…then Max arrived! He has done work for us for years, but we’ve never met. We had soooo much fun and talked for hours!
Transfagarasan Road Trip
Then, on Tuesday morning, it was off for the road trip of all road trips – the famous Transfăgărășan Road – with my new friend and driver, Florin…
I love that Romania is such a mix of old and new…
Airstrip?
This road is dead straight for a reason… In the time of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the road was built without a barrier in the middle, and doubled-up as an airstrip!
No, this is not a nuclear plant…
THIS is the Transfargarasan Road!
First, how to say it…
Transfăgărășan = trans-fah-garra-shaan
What does it mean?
The road goes through the Fargaras Mountains… so it is trans+fargaras (and add an an on the end)
We will get more on that soon… but first we need to get there…
EXTREME ALERT…
Along the way, both of our phones start blasting warning signals… What does this say? Basically, that there are wild bears next to the road… and we press on…
The Transfăgărășan road was constructed between 1970 and 1974, at the orders of Nicolae Ceausescu, and was meant to have a strategic importance in case of a Soviet invasion.
It has the longest road tunnel in Romania – 887 meters – Capra Tunnel
The Transfagarasan Road (National Road DN 7C) begins in Cartisoara and ends in Bascov, covering a total length of 151 km / 94 miles
The highest point is at 2042 meters (it is the second-highest in Romania, after the Transalpina)
The road has 833 small bridges and 28 viaducts
Looking in between the mountains, the fortress is visible…
Poenari Citadel (Cetatea Poenari in Romanian), is a ruined castle in Romania which was a home of the real-life Vlad the Impaler (inspiration for Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’).
Vidraru Dam
If you happen to watch the full Top Gear episode where they feature the Transfăgărășan Road (and say that it is the best road in the world!), the bottom of the dam is where they spend the night, sleeping in their sports cars…
The Vidraru Dam was completed in 1966 with the primary purpose of serving a hydroelectrical power plant. One of the largest hydroelectric dams in Europe it stands 166 metres tall and can produce as much as 400 GWh of power per year.
…and an opportunity to be a good samaratin to a stuck motorcyclist…
…and a good thing they were on their way, because you remember that extreme alert about wild bears…?
On the weekend, I was treated to a wonderful experienece… Below my window, a street party complete with traditional dancing, traditional line dancing, and in between their sets a wonderful saxaphone player…
Bulgaria has certainly been an ‘interesting’ experience. I was chatting with Adrian, my friend and driver, about the differences between Bulgaria and Romania, and how I find it difficult to reconcile the two.
The two countries could not be further apart, yet they lie next to each other on opposite sides of the River Danube.
Anyway, we left Bulgaria and headed toward the border…
Had an opportunity to be a good Samaratin…
Hello Romania!!! I have missed you…
…and my beautiful hotel… I will write a separate post about the hotel – it is quite historic!
…and this is the view when I opened the door to my suite…
…but of course, I had to bring some of Scotland with me…
After an amazing night’s sleep, I dressed for dinner and went downstairs, only to discover the restaurant had been booked out for a function… so I wandered only a block away and found a delightful café – and enjoyed a dinner, the quality of which I would rival any fine-dining restaurant to equal.
With French music from the 1950s playing, and reading my beloved Sir Walter Scott’s journal from the 1830s (the edition I have with me was printed in the 1880s)… this is what it felt like… nostalgic and simply marvellous…
…and this morning, this is where I have been sitting by the window, being every so content and peaceful simply watching the world go about its daily rhythm…
It has been a fascinating two months in Bulgaria… I decided to do a retrospective, akin to an exhibition of photos I have played with, made more ethereal, that would capture my thoughts and feelings of the place… oh, and the photo below of the back of the van? That is a man selling fish in 40 degree Celsius (104 degrees F) heat on the side of the road… Welcome to Bulgaria!
