The Roma who built these Disneyland houses come mainly from Ireland or Britain. Most of the houses are unfinished
This is all one house! But it looks somehow unfinished
When I was walking down the lane to take photographs of the houses, a 14 year old girl came to me and spoke perfect English. She told me she was born in Ireland and is now living here. She offered to show me her home from inside (I refused). The ceilings are full of towers and silvery signs, especially the peace and love sign from the hippies.
Sundowner with a 1,5 l Slovakian beer we bought on our way down to Romania
Outside toilets in the villages
This is a "beehive-truck"
Two pigs sleeping along the way, they really scared us, we weren't expecting them there!
View up the gorge where we drive down to Gilău
Our camping ground Eldorad in Gilău
I am wearing (almost) all my beautiful presents
Piața Unirii
Banca Transilvania in Cluj
At the Pergola Bar up the Belvedere Hill
Black swans in the lake Chios
Lunch at the Crying Monkey. At the end of our meal, it started to rain like crazy. The waiter had to serve with an umbrella
Central Park Simion Bărnuțiu
Cluj Stadium
Our parking and overnight stay in Cluj at the university sports area
Sushi all-you-can-eat at the Iulius-Mall, Cluj
Special hammock hanging devices are placed on many trees
Lacul Oașa Mică in the Transylvanian Alps in the evening
... and on the next morning
The woods are full of chanterelles! That's why they are sold in huge amount everywhere!
Will a rain storm start while Volker is on top of the plateau?
You still see many of the horse carriages being used
Trucks with beehives sell their honey on the road
Two men were wearing this hat yesterday in Cabana Oasa
A German cemetery juste beneath our camping sie with graves of people who died here before 1989 or after the iron curtain fell then in Germany
Camping Ananas in Cisnădioara
The house on the right side is tilted! But people live in it!
The oldest ski resort in Romania
Volker hiked on the Cindrel Mountains. The chairlift "Telescaun Păltiniș Oncești" : two strong men help people on and off the chairlift, as it makes its rounds like a carousel
Arena Platoș Păltiniș
Reminding us of Adelboden
Having fun rolling down the hill for 750 m with a sleigh -twice!
We enjoyed the quietness and the good fresh air in Păltiniș
Medieval Festival
Orthodox church in Făgăraș/Fogaras
&
Pension Dobrava Ursului in Zarnești
Delicious fresh cooked food
We went up to the tower of the Evangelical Church built in the 15th century
Today we saw 4 marriages at the same place
The houses have the typical eyes in the attic!
German newspaper in Sibiu
The citadel in Brașov and the view over the town
The Black Church that isn't black
The making and having of Kürtös ! We really get addicted to it, because it is soooo good and baked in a king of roll, so that the piece you try to unwind never finishes!
View upon our parking from the castle
We are parked on the border of the Wallachei and Transylvania
A beautiful abandoned house in Bran
Nobody believes in Dracula, but in the castle's shop I found garlic hanging on the wall -not for sale!
Overnight along a river where we hope to see a bear
"The Spirit of Transylvania"
Cabană Trei Brazi
Cabană Secuilor
At our overnight place in Glod we had the visit of 2 puppies with a male dog, cows, donkeys, horses, but no bear (at least of what we got to see)
Poor puppies. They were hungry and had just a male dog with them, no mum...
The large dog is a male dog.
Friday 17.08.2018: Băile Felix - Oradea - Mărișel/Apuseni Mountains Nature Park (alt 1270 m): 157 km, 30ºC sunny,
Drive to Carrefour just outside Oradea (a really nice hypermarket). Then drive to Oradea centre where we parked near the main square at the T. Vladimirescu (2,60 RON/hour). We strolled along the main square and then Calea Republicii -a very pleasant town! Break for a juice at the Sophia Coffee, then lunch at the Butoliul de Aur (lunch menu for 25 RON each). Drive through Huedin with its crazy Roma villas. We ended our day on a grassy picnic area up the mountains. N46º38'39" E23º3'34"
Saturday 18.08.2018: Mărișel/Apuseni Mountains Nature Park - Gilău (alt 424 m): 53 km, cool in the mountains, hot 30ºC in Gilău
A little walk in the morning down the hill and back, then to the Mărișel look out point where we also bought canterels and blackberries. Drive to Gilău (very bad road!). Settled at the Eldorado Camping Ground (70 RON with electricity - loud because close to the main street) N46º46'3" E23º21'15"
Sunday 19.08.2018: Gilău - Cluj (alt 424 m): 19 km hot 30ºC
Volker prepared the Sunday special birthday breakfast. Lots of presents! And many people thought of me and called. Drive to Cluj and we parked at the parking of the University sports areal and swimming pool along the Someșul River. We took a taxi into town to the main square Piața Unirii (8 RON). Lunch at the Crying Monkey (130 RON, very good). When we were finishing our meal it started to rain real heavy! We managed to get a cab back to our camper. Actually, arriving there the rain had already had stopped! So we decided to walk through the nice park along the river and then we climbed up to the Belvedere Hotel. There we had a drink at the Pagode Bar with excellent views over the city. N46º46'0" E23º33'58"
Monday 20.08.2018: Gilău - (alt 424 m): Gilău - Alba Iulia - Cabana Oașa (alt 1280 m): 199 km, hot 34ºC in Alba Iulia, 19ºC in the Transylvanian Alps in the Carpathian Mountains km, hot 30ºC
Finally we got our laundry done today at A&G Laundromat. We brought our bags of laundry and got them delivered clean and dry at 13:00 (104 RON). It was not easy to load and unload from our camper, but we managed to stop for a few seconds on the road. In the meantime we drove to the Iulius Mall and did some shopping and had sushi for lunch at WaSaBi (61 RON per person for 1 hour all-you-can-eat sushi with as much soft drinks as you wish. Drive to Alba Iulia where we rented a kind of scooter at the citadel and did the whole round with it (30 RON). Then we took off and drove along the Transalpine road along the very long canyon Sebeș up to the Lacul Oașa Mică. N45º34'49" E23º37'21"
Tuesday 21.08.2018: Cabana Oașa
Volker hiked up to the the ridge Cindrel (7 hours, 1100 m ascent, 26 km!). Julia tried to work on the India website, but with no success. Dinner at the Cabana Oașa (89 RON).
Wednesday 22.08.2018: Cabana Oașa - Cisnădioara/Michelsberg (alt 569 m): 166 km - 24ºC in Cabana Oașa, 34ºC in Cisnădioara!
Drive south then we turned east on to 7A at a crossing with a village without name (!) passing through Brezoi, then again north towards Sibiu but we drove west to Cisnădioara (Michelsberg) where we settled at the Camping Ananas (80 RON with electricity). Walk down to the village (500 m along a path passing a German cemetery) then up to the old fortified church Michelsburg (900 years old!) on the hill (7 RON/pax) and then through the village. N45º42'23" E24º6'20"
Thursday 23.08.2018: Cisnădioara: 30ºC
Hike to Cisnădie (= Helltau), strenous, hot, 14 km, 700 m ascent, 3h30, some parts really tough. In Cisnădie we had lunch at the Pizza Restaurant Casa Măgura (very good, 82 RON), taxi back to Camping Ananas (40 RON, because it came from Sibiu). Julia was dead after this walk. I booked my flights to visit my Mum and my Dad for 6 days.
Friday 24.08.2018: Cisnădioara - Păltiniș/Hohe Rinne (alt 1313m): 33 km 25ºC very nice weather although there was a threat of a thunderstorm
Drive to Păltiniș where we had a coffee at the Après-Ski Bar at Arena Platoș Păltiniș Mountain Resort before continuing to the Telescaun Păltiniș Oncești further up. Volker did a hike to Varful Oncesti at 1713 m (380 m ascent, 3 hours, 9 km) while Julia just took the chairlift up and joined Volker up the hill. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed up there, actually there was nothing up there. The chairlift itself was a pretty funny experience because it worked like a continuous "carousel": we had to jump on the seat when leaving the station and jump off when arrived. Two strong men helped people up and off the chair. Drive back to our first place at Arena Platoș Păltiniș. After lunch we decided to do one of the summer entertainment things they offer: we did the sleigh (27 RON/pax). We did it twice because it was fun and not scary. Volker had a beer outside while Julia went on a swing for some time. N45º40'32" E23º56'10"
Saturday 25.08.2018: Păltiniș/Hohe Rinne - Sibiu - Zarnești Pension (641 m): 172 km - 30ºC hot
Drive to Sibiu, a very nice town where there is a Medieval Festival this weekend. It was fun walking around, going up the tower of the Evangelical church (73 m high) then having an iced coffee at the Café Wien (28 RON) with a piano player. Then we had lunch at the food stall on the main square. There we met a very nice family of Chilean-French Olivia with Christian Preuss and their 2 children. We had good food (105 RON but we got 2 dishes twice, the second for free, because there must have been an error of the cooks, lucky us so we have already lunch for tomorrow). Drive to Zarnești where we stopped at the Pension Dobrava Ursului (40 RN/night with electricity and water). There was a party going on, so it was pretty loud, but the music stopped at 22:00. N45º34'45" E25º23'38".
Sunday 26.08.2018: Zarnești Pension - Libearty Bear Rescue Station - Brașov - Râsnov Fortress (alt 809 m): km - 28ºC hot
Drive on dirt road up to the bear sanctuary. We bought our tickets online yesterday evening for 9:15am (130 RON good tour!). Drive to Brașov where we it was hard to find a parking place so we drove to the Coresi Shopping Resort. Uber into the Oldtown (12 RON and back afterwards 11 RON). Walk through the old town, up to the Citadel when it started to rain so we ubered back home. Drive to tried to Râsnov where we parked on the former Camping Ground (free) and took the tractor up to the fortress. Visit of the really interesting fortress (12 RON/pax open from 9:00 to 19:00). We had dinner at the restaurant on site.
N45º35'20" E25º28'43"
Monday 27.08.2018: Râsnov - Bran - Cheile Rașnoavei (alt 727 m): 30 km - 25 ºC
After getting up late this morning we drove to Bran. Parking before the castle museum. We were on the line to buy the tickets for Bran Castle at sharp noon. After half an hour we had our tickets (40 RON/pax), then another 20 minutes to enter the castle itself. It is a very cosy little castle but built in height, so there are everywhere stairs. After the visit we met with Abhi and Hunor who came to Bran to meet with us. We had lunch at the Restaurant "Il Gallo". After that Hunor and Abhi went to visit the castle. We drove to Cheile Rașnoavei and settled for the night along the river. N45º32'58" E25º30'16"
Tuesday 28.08.2018: Cheile Rașnoavei - Glod/Moroeni (alt 680 m): 65 km - 26ºC - sunny, then in the afternoon thunderstorm
Drive to the entrance of the Cheile Rasnovaei. Walk up to Cabana Trei Brazi (1117 m) where we had a beer. Then walk to Cabana Secuilor (1070m) where we had some delicious starters, a grapefruit juice and a chocolate frappé. The hike was 10,2 km long, 480 m ascent, 4 hours with the longer breaks we had. After driving to the picnic place #123 (WoMo) that incredibly full with people staying there for months, we drove south through Bușteny where you can see the amazing Buceni mountains. The place was so crowded and very turisty, so we drove further south and decided to stay at a place along the road in the woods (full of rubbish) near the village of Flod. In this village nearby everybody works with stones and transport them with horse carriages. We had the visit of all kind of animals, especially 2 puppies with a male dog, then at night grassing horses -no bears! N45º14'57" E25º27'53"
Next day: Drive to Bucharest: 165 km, see next page
Friday 31.08.2018: Bucharest
Saturday 01.09.2018: Julia flight to Hamburg
100 Romanian Leu (RON) = ± 22 EUR - 1 EUR = 4.67 RON