Piatra Craiului and Bran

Romanian train service hadn't disappointed us again, and we arrived to Brasov on time, heading straight to the Autogara 2 - and from there to Zarnesti by bus. This logistic procedure was performed successfully (I was pleased again with the availability and reliability of public transport in Romania) and in the late morning we arrived to Zarnesti to start our hike in Piatra Craiului mountains. It was a sunny and warm day and we had no idea what was expecting us on our way up to the Cabana Curmatura. Soon after we gained some height - we entered a very snowy canyon with almost vertical walls. It seems that the heavy snowfall that was here just a few days ago accumulated in that crack. At first the snow was just about thirty centimetres deep, but soon at each step we had to carve our way up in a almost meter deep layer of soft snow. Pretty soon one of my walking poles got broken and I had crawl my way uphill.

Good thing we met on our a way a pair of huge and fluffy dogs that apparently came to assist us . The dogs not only helped us to carve the way, but also cheered us and made the climb much more fun.

Our saviours at the top of the ascent

Finally, after many hours of crawling we arrived to the top, and were rewarded by a great view from the mountain-top to the valley below. We thanked we dogs by giving them salami and smoked meat that we had, and headed to the cabana which was nearby.

Unfortunately, when we approached the hut, a huge St. Bernard - resident of the hut chased out friend dogs away. Besides a dog and a cat, the were two hosts in the cabana which offered us a not only hot wine, dinner and a breakfast, but also a place to sleep and dry shoes after our little journey.

A resident of the hut

Another resident of the hut

The next day - we enjoyed a much easier hike from the hut to the town of Bran. It was actually more like a walk, from snowy forest and mountains of the ridge, via villages, hills and forests to the town. Although I am sure that these place are mostly visited in summer, I liked them as they were, partly covered in snow but already pretty warm.

Village of Magura

The town of Bran is mostly popular because of the Bran Castle, residence of Vlad Tepes - I think the only serious tourist trap in the area. We celebrated our arrival to Bran with wine home cooked dinner and stayed for the night in the town. In the morning, our host had a special occasion for two reasons. The first one - it was Easter morning and we got special treats for breakfast, and the second one was that her cow went into labour and was giving birth to twin baby-calves. We thanked out hostess and wished her and all of her livestock all the best and walked to the Castle.

Bran Castle

Castle from the inside

Easter eggs

Kürtőskalács - a local treat

The Castle was preserved pretty well and you can find a lot of interesting old stuff inside. Also you can see some animals in the forests nearby. Since it was a holiday (or it the usual thing in this area) there was some kind of fair with food, drinks and souvenirs.
We planned to take a bus to Brasov but since it was Orthodox Easter - the bus service was off. That wasn't such a problem since the train service was still working and we walked to a nearby town named Rasnov for a train to Brasov. But that's already another story.

Spring in the Valley - Sighișoara and Cluj

This is a second post in a series of posts about my two months long Romania-Bulgaria trip. The previous one covered a hike in the Bucegi National park and this one covers my stay in Sigisoara and Cluj-Napoca.
Romania is incredibly convenient place to travel by a public transport in - at least that was the feeling I got from travelling there from town to town. The train network spreads over the whole country and there is a stop virtually in any place.

Sighișoara

We left Siania early in the morning and arrived to Sighișoara early enough to wander in the oak forest. It was much much warmer there than in Sinaia and we we saw a lot of animals in the woods.

Sighișoara forest

Sighișoara forest

Besides spending some time in the oak forest and enjoying a picnic on the hills near the town - you can walk in the old city and there are Vlad Tepes related buildings. It is a good place to spend a day or two enjoying Transilvanian food and a glass of wine or beer. 

Sighișoara at dusk

At night the old town becomes even more pretty - one would definitely enjoy and appreciate a walk between the buildings. 

Our next destinations was Cluj-Napoca - a second biggest city in Romania located four hours of train ride north-west to Sighișoara. I am not a fan of big cities but still, the stay in Cluj was worth the time. The city has a really pleasant atmosphere, and I really like that Bulgakov cafe place that we had a dinner in. 

Cat Behemoth in Bulgakov cafe

The city offers a great combination of older buildings with these cozy narrow streets with and newer buildings, squares and fountains. I personally liked the botanic garden and the parks, especially considering the fact that is was a spring. 

Victims of communism memorial

Spring in Cluj

Cluj's city park

After spending a day in Cluj we decided that it's time to go to the mountains again, and got us tickets for a night train to Brașov. Unfortunately there were no regular tickets so we had to buy tickets to first class wagon. The good thing was that we were able to get a better sleep so it was probably to the best. The plan was to arrive in the very early morning to Brasov, and take from there a local bus to a town Named Zarnesti, near the Piatra Craiului national park and hike there for a couple of days.

Romania trip - Sinaia

In spring of 2015 I had a two months long trip to Romania and Bulgaria where I spent about two weeks hiking and travelling. Two weeks I was in Romania with a friend, and rest of the time I was hiking solo and travelling in Bulgaria. Here I will share my first part of the trip - hopefully it will inspire someone to enjoy Romanian's mountains and towns.
After arriving to Bucharest at night and getting some sleep the plan was to take a train to a town named Sinaia about 130km north. We spent half a day enjoying Bucharest and getting gear and supplies for the hike (local internet sim, gas for stove and of course some tea). The stay in Bucharest was short but I enjoyed it very much. The food was great, the city's centre was clean, photogenic and easy to navigate and even the weather was in our favour.

Palace of the Parliament

Memorial of Rebirth

On our way to Sinaia we already saw what was coming - the trains from north were all covered in snow and we got mentally prepared for colder weather and snowy conditions.
Sinaia looked very pretty - a nice and clean small town located in a valley just below the Bucegi National park - our first destination. It was a passover evening and we celebrated it with a good meal and a bottle of a very nice semi dry rose wine, saving local made cherry liquor and other treats for the hike. The wine and beer in Romania were by the way a super pleasant surprise for me.

Sinaia from above

Sinaia - near the Castles

We started our hike with a pretty steep ascend to the mountains from elevation of about 800m in Sinaia to the higher ski area at 2000m, where most of the mountain trails intersected. There were still some skiers and plenty of snow up high, but it was definitely the end of the season. In general the path was much snowier than we expected but thankfully the second part of the hike, to Cabana Babele was flatter and went through a beautiful hilly ridge, partly marked with snow poles. The cabin itself laid at elevation of about 2200m and was surrounded with beautiful mountains and there were some curious boulders nearby, one of them called Sfinxul (Sphinx).

View from Hut Babelle

The great white

Boulders near Babele

I was aided by my phone's GPS to navigate, but the path was pretty easy to follow. It was a beautiful day to walk in the snow - not too hot and not too cold and the view from above was more than I could ask for. Clean, white sheet with nothing but green plains down in the valley and more mountains ahead. The Babel hut appeared closed and we almost turned down to a nearby village, but my friend phoned the hut keepers and the door magically opened. There were two ladies and a girl who kept the hut and they welcomed us to the sturdy and warm building and we were even able to dine with a meatballs soup and hot wine (a recommended treat for a traveller in Romania). There was also this huge snow dog that the girl let us to pet after next morning's breakfast. We called it Ghost in honour of Jon Snow's direwolf.

Ghost - photo by Veronika

We returned to Sinaia to visit the Castles and head to out next hike - Fagaras mountains.

Sinaia Castle

But as it happens in mountains, it became very snowy and a local guide told us that there was a six meters snowfall in the last few days at the Fagaras and we really shouldn't go. So we just hiked near Sinaia and enjoyed the fresh and soft snow.

Fresh snow in Sinaia

Sinaia - View from above

It snowed the next night and day, and according the forecast it was supposed to be snowy in the next five days both in Bucegi and in Fagaras, so we decided to change our plans a bit and head north-west to Sigisoara and later to Cluj-Napoca.
I more than enjoyed my stay in the Bucegi and Sinaia - walking through the snowy mountains was an amazing experience for me. The views, food wine and atmosphere made Sinaia a place I definitely would like to visit again some day.

Sinaia train station