Romania – Summer Roadtrip

Most probably most of you don’t know it, but I am currently living in UK and come from Romania, more precisely Bucharest, the crazy capital of the country, also known as Little Paris. Now, for those of you whom are not very good with Geography, nothing bad about that, I know I wasn’t, awful memory when it comes to names, it is not the same thing with Budapest, even if a lot of people think so. A tad bigger than Helsinki, as I found out earlier this year, Bucharest is a full of potential city that is always up for some fun times. And I do mean always, 24/7, as no one will kick you out of a club or pub at just 3AM. Anyway, this isn’t that much about Bucharest (even if I do advise everyone to go and see it) as about the amazing places Romania has, places not properly advertised.

After moving I said I will go home 2-3 times per year. That was the goal, and I did keep to it in this first year. Because it’s summer time, and back in Romania it’s always a proper one, I left Bucharest for a few days and went for a short road trip with my parents. In my 25 years of living in the actual country I can’t say I saw too much of it. Of course, I had the weekends and week at the seaside during the summer, maybe some time at the mountains during winter and those would have been the main trips. Apart from that I only left the capital occasionally and that usually was related to visiting a friend. Those do not count as sight-seeings.

We decided to take a different route going towards Sibiu from the one we would use to come back. The actual route was Bucharest – Targu Jiu – Hateg – Sarmizegetusa – Alba Iulia – Sibiu – Balea Lac – Bucharest. Actual time spent on the road? 4 days. Actual done distance? Around 1,200 km. I do think the posted photos might convince you, but here is a go with a few words.

Targu Jiu was the first actual stop and I was the one that wanted to see it. You see, I worked in an art gallery at one point in my life and my former employer was a romanian man that lived most of his life in Paris. Madly in love with art and stubborn when it came to who are the greatest modern artists, Lucian always supported Constantin Brancusi‘s work. “Adopted” by the french, like Brancusi was, he always kept on praising how much of a genius the artist was. With age and proper information on the subject, I do admit I have also realised what a loss his departure was for my country. Anyway, three of his most well known sculptures are there – Masa Tacerii and Porta Sarutului in one part of the city and The Endless Column. If you are art lovers, go and see it. There was also a memorial house, not his actual house as that got consumed by fire, but it’s still something. We didn’t have the actual time for that, but maybe at a future trip.

Hateg was mostly on my mother’s list as there was a monestery and some famous prist burried there. If you are the religious type, go have a look. Apparently touching his tomb is good luck and makes miracles happen. I am usually reluctant to this type of things, but if you do believe, who knows, maybe it will happen for you? We spent the night here and there are quite a few hotels and private villas that rent room. However, if you know when exactly you are going, better make a reservation as it’s quite crowded during summer because of the monestery.

Sarmizegetusa was on my list, and very close to Hateg, about 12 km. I was dissapointed. If you look online you will find photos that capture the whole site, however, once there, guess what? You don’t have a hill around or something to climb and see the whole thing fom above. That was truly where I felt that the local authorities gcould easily do more to improve the impact that piece of history has. Shame they don’t. We only stuck around for a few minutes, grabbed some traditional romanian food from the two places that are next to the site and carried on. At least the food was good.

Alba Iulia was on our way to Sibiu. Got some protests for the detour, but when did some protests stopped me? I wanted to go see it and I am really glad I stuck to my opinion. Go see it! Cetatea Ana Carolina is absolutely stunning and very well kept. You have everything there from an amazing catholic cathedral to photos from when the olden day and places to stop for lunch and slowly take in the whole experience. Also, one of the gates offers a breathtaking view of the city.

Sibiu was an European Capital of Culture back in 2007. It has small street that take you back in time. Amazing food, and jolly people. You can see how the process its been through in 2007 has changed the city and the people living there. Most of the things you will want to see are found in the centre: from bits and pieces of history to good restaurants or coffee shops.

To get to Balea Lac you have to drive on the Transfagarasan, the world’s greatest road according to Top Gear. Balea Lac is a glacier lake situated in the Fagaras Mountain. This part of the trip is all about natural beauty, how green and alive everything looks and realising what amazing things nature can offer us.

And, if you still need an excuse, maybe this Top Gear video will convince to take a short trip there:

Sadly, my journey had to end after that as I still had a number of people to see and not that much time to do so. However, on my way back to Bucharest, I decided that next year I will try and reserve a few days to discover another part of my beautiful home country.

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