Romania — Rogue Wanderers

Romania, beautiful and wild, land of castles and mountains and, of course, Dracula. Just the name Transylvania evokes mystery and danger. Romania held plenty of mystery but no danger for us. The people were warm and helpful. Just as the trolls in Norway evaded us, so did the Romanian vampires. Some countries just fill your heart immediately and Romania did that for us. It hit all the right notes, with stunning medieval architecture, expansive mountain ranges and rural villages.

We enjoyed the challenges of travelling in a country which was slighly more complicated for tourists. Logistics were a little harder to figure out. Outside of the main tourist areas we had a language barrier as our Romanian is limited to “Hello,” “Thank you” and “Water” and many people did not speak English. Finding hikes was more difficult as online information was much more scarce. Once on the ground in a national park or reserve, trails were well blazed but knowing where they went or which trails to tackle was a challenge. We were arriving after tourist season so many information offices were closed. We discovered that our Garmin Overland’s estimated driving time to destinations was based on a high degree of optimism and a lack of information on road closures. Most two hour journeys turned into three or four hour ones as long swaths of the highways were closed and traffic redirected through small town main streets. But the extra effort required to navigate our activities was more than worth it as we stumbled upon beautiful solitary camping spots and adventurous hikes to destinations unknown.

The first night we lucked out and with the help of Park4Night found a great spot on a levee outside of Oradea.

*Our first morning dawned clear and warm and we had breakfast outside. Luxury.*

Time to get provisions. We use Google Translate constantly and the first trip to a supermarket in a new country always takes ages as we stand in the aisles typing words on labels into our phones. And then there is that moment when you get overconfident interpreting pictures and end up with buttermilk for your coffee instead of half and half. But Andy caught that Dawn had picked up what she thought was olive oil but was actually apple cider vinegar. A Romanian bonus, after spending months in Scandinavia, our grocery bill fell about fifty percent in Romania. We also found eating out to be much more affordable - even in tourist areas you can find a lunch of soup and bread for $3-4 US dollars.

*Apuseni Mountains in the Carpathian range*

Our second night we headed into the Apuseni Mountains. We found a great isolated place to camp up a steep four wheel drive road and went hiking and cave exploring.

Enjoyed running into shepherds with their dogs and sheep -on roads, on hikes, in the most unexpected places. — Throughout Romania, we enjoyed running into shepherds with their dogs and sheep -on roads, on hikes, in the most unexpected places. It made us wonder about these solitary roamers and their thoughts but with the language barrier we were limited to smiles and waves.

*Poking into caves in the Apuseni Mountains*

We came down out of the mountains to do some more castle exploration. First Deva Citadel, a fortress you can see on an isolated hill as soon as you enter the city. Many steps up to climb up to it and explore, but there is no charge to poke around and it is an interesting medieval site.

*Deva Citadel, built in the 13th century on top of a volcanic hill*

We heard that according to most Romanians, Corvin’s Castle in Hunedoara is the best castle in Transylvania. It lived up to it’s reputation - gorgeous turrets with steepled rooves, beautifully renovated.

On our way in we met a friendly group of Spanish overlanders touring Romania with Vali from Adventure Romania. — *On our way in we met a friendly group of Spanish overlanders touring Romania with Vali from* *Adventure Romania. Vali was super helpful later in our trip.*

*Corvin’s Castle, construction begun in 1446, one of the largest castles in Europe.*

Driving out of Hunedoara on our way to to go Hațeg to Retezat National Park, we happened by this neighborhood of fantastic houses. Some quick Googling and we found out that they were Roma houses.

*Morning view from the campsite at Retezat Mountain National Park*

Ping ponging back from the mountains to city life, as we do, our next stop was Turda to visit the old salt mine and hike in the gorge.

Turda Salt Mine - closed as a mine now a tourist destination. Gargantuan excavation - tunnels and enormous caverns carved out of salt. — *Turda Salt Mine - closed as a mine, now a tourist destination. Gargantuan excavation - tunnels and enormous caverns carved out of salt.*

*And an underground lake and playground at the bottom of the mine!*

After spending a couple of hours in the mine, we drove out to the edge of Turda Gorge to spend the night. We perched on the edge of a bluff with a view of the gorge and our only company, a friendly white dog.

Dogs are everywhere in Romania. Camping near towns means a nightly chorus of barking dogs and many campsites come with groups of friendly canines. We did change our routine and start bringing our shoes inside.

*Andy’s camp friend for the night. Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.*

*Driving down to Turda Gorge for a morning hike*

Then it was big city time. We headed to Cluj-Napoca to take care of some business (laundry, more food) and explore Romania’s urban culture.

*Our very favorite urban hotel situation, free, gated self parking that is not covered, added bonus, a view of the truck from our hotel room. Popped up over night in an effort to dry it out.*

*Dinner out at a traditional Romanian restaurant. Andy’s favorites - big platter of meats with lots of potatos.*

Cluj-Napoca felt young, chic and a great blend of old and new. In addition to eating out and exploring, we joined the college students at the only self service laundromat and enjoyed a restful hotel night.

From Cluj-Napoca, we headed east to Bucovina to visit the famous painted monasteries.

A word about driving in Romania! The roads are great, but can be narrow and populated by fast cars, trucks and farm carts pulled by horses. Passing is an art form and people do not have the same safety margins that we are used to when it comes to blind passes on steep curvy roads. But it all seems to work out, drivers are speedy and full of courage. Walkers, horse riders, horse carts and bicycles all share the road with a high degree of faith.

*Horse drawn carts common on rural roads in Romania*

Moldovita — *Moldoviţa Painted Monastery*

The painted monasteries were incredible, covered in frescos from the 15th and 16th century. You could feel the deep faith, endurance and hope coming through the depicted images and stories. We originally set out to visit all eight, but in the end made it to six. Beautiful as they were, there was a saturation point for us.

The churches varied in the levels of preservation of the frescos. They are predominantly protected by the huge overhanging eves. Most of them are now UNESCO sites.

*Arbore Painted Monastery, one of the least preserved*

*St. John the New Monastery in Suceava, frescoes mostly faded away*

Perhaps the most famous and stunning of the painted monasteries is Voronet, founded in 1487 by Stephen the Great to celebrate a victory over the Turks. Its frescoes feature an intense shade of blue commonly known as “Voronet blue.”.

After leaving Bucovina, we made a side trip to the small country of Moldova, entering and leaving from the eastern side of Romania, the province of Moldovia. We wrote a separate blog post on that week. After we re-entered Romania, we continued our way west.

*The next morning dawned clear, in a beautiful meadow to ourselves*

Time for more castles! We had mistakenly bought into the marketing and reputation of Bran Castle as the inspiration for Dracula’s castle. In fact, it’s not even a place associated with Vlad the Impaler, Dracula’s inspiration. But it was still worth a visit, despite having to run the gauntlet of Dracula inspired souvenier booths along the way.

*Caught the beautiful evening light on Bran Castle*

*Inner courtyard of Bran Castle, renovated by Queen Marie in the 1920’s to become her primary residence. Her heart is kept on site in a box in her favorite room.*

Nearby Râșnov Fortress, built impressively on a hill as a defense system for Transylvanians. The main building was closed to renovation but we were able to walk the outside and enjoy the fall mountain views.

Continuing the castle tour, we made our way to Sinaia, with a gorgeous setting in Transylvania mountain country. Our intention was to visit , Peleș Castle, built as a summer home for King Carol I, the first of four Romanian monarchs as Romania became an independent country separate from Hungary or Turkey. (One of our history guides told us that when King Carol I arrived from Germany to be the king, he was not pleased with the prosaic eight room house that he was offered for his residence.) The castle was built from 1874-1914. The first day, we accidentally went to Pelișor Castle, or Peles Palace, which was built later for King Ferdinand and Queen Marie (the second of the Romanian monarchs.) The two castles share a wooded park on a hill.

*Sinaia, beautiful village in the Bucegi Mountains*

*Pelișor Castle (or Palace), worth a visit but much smaller and less grand than Peleș Castle*

We decided to stay close and visit the actual castle we were aiming for the next day. Headed up into the mountains for the night and found a beautiful hike with a view.

*View down on Sinaia from Bucegi Mountains*

*Because we were in Transylvania, we had to do it. Downloaded and watched the movie of the book. Despite a stellar cast, we were not really fans of the movie. Also no scenes from actual Transylvania.*

We were so glad we returned! Peleș Castle was one of the most incredible interiors we have ever seen. It was built in a Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival similar to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. Over 170 rooms are decorated with ornate woodwork, paintings, fabrics and exquisite furniture. No pictures of the interior, we were too cheap to pay the photography fee.

*Fall colors alive at our wild camping spot outside of Zărnești with another friendly camp dog.*

*Piatra Craiului Natural Park, Carpathian Mountains*

We found a beautiful loop hike in Piatra Craiului National Park, walking up the gorge from Zărnești then up the hill to Cabana Curmătura and back down.

*Treated to the site of two Romanian chamois in the canyon*

We left the craggy mountains to begin our next travel theme: fortified churches. Built during the time when Transylvania was inhabited by the Saxons, these churches doubled as fortresses to protect village inhabitants from the invaders of the day. Usually the Ottomans.

*Prejmer Fortified Church, UNESCO site, largest fortified church in Eastern Europe, built by the Teutonic Knights in 1212*

*Prejmer fortified church - guard’s walkway*

*Harman Fortified Church - another UNESCO site, built in the 13th century by Saxon settlers*

Feeling full of ancient thistory, we set off to the second biggest city in Transylvania, Brașov, known for its medieval Saxon walls, old town and beautiful mountain backdrop. We really enjoyed Brașov. It had a great mix of modern and medieval architecture. With no free walking tours in the off season, we picked up our own map and started walking around the city highlights.

*Streets of old town and Brașov city name on the hill*

*Beth Israel Synagogue established 1868*

*Rope Street - claiming to be the narrowest street in Europe? But we hear there are contenders . . . It’s a competition.*

*Sampling street food -our favorite, a tubular cake with a crunchy caramel outside. Although for Dawn, Covrigi are up there too (sesame encrusted pretzel like bread.)*

*Discovered easy ordering system in Romania*

More of challenges of life on the road, ordering US specific stuff! Discovered the Romanian version of Amazon: Emag. Had a US to European electrical adapter shipped to a lock box in two days for $4. Back to being able to charge the laptop and hook to shore power if needed (our old adaptor broke).

*Tucked in the shadow of the skyscrapers, wild camping five minutes from downtown Brașov, sometimes you sacrifice scenic beautry for convenience.*

*Catherine’s Gate, originally built in 1559 as part of the city’s defense system*

We left Brașov full of food and culture, re-supplied with water, propane, gas and groceries and went back to fortified churches. Next stop on the highlight tour: Viscri.

*Viscri Fortified Church, built by the Saxons in the 13th century. Roman Catholic when it was built when the area was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, later became Lutheran after the Reformation.*

*Sun going down on the town of Viscri, beautiful Romanian village*

The final stops on our Transylvanian tour were the two beautiful Saxon towns, Sighișoara and Sibiu. Both were originally founded during the 12th century. At the time, Romania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the King of Hungary invited German craftsman and merchants to Transylvania to settle and defend the frontier of his realm. Romania has had a complicated history of the people being invaded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the west, Russia to the east and the Ottoman Empire to the south. Independence began in 1878 with the beginning of the reign of the four monarchs followed by the country’s shift to Communism. The general consensus among the Romanians we have talked to was that governance by monarchs was a better situation for the country than being ruled by a Communist dictator.

*Medieval entry gate into old town Sighișoara*

*Cobbled old town streets of Sighișoara*

*Yellow house was where Vlad the Impaler (inspiration for Dracula) was born.*

On the drive from Sighișoara to Sibiu we stopped at our last fortified church in Biertan.

*Biertan Fortified Church, also built by the Saxons and orginally Roman Catholic, switched to Lutheran after the Reformation.*

*Happy camping faces - it was truck shower night*

And then on to Sibiu. Another beautiful Transylvanian city blending the old and the new. Color and character everywhere. Here we opted to try a game app which created a city tour for us, similar to a scavenger hunt. It was initially entertaining and kept us amused and thinking but had a few glitches that made it too annoying in the end. We fired it when it told us there was a fountain in the middle of the street and there clearly wasn’t. We like the concept though.

*Andy dancing his way down the alleyways*

*Beautiful wild spot on a resevoir in the Făgăraș Mountains*

Before finishing our Romania tour in Bucharest, we headed into the mountains one more time for some wild camping and to drive the famous Transfăgărășan road. Unfortunately, the tunnel portion was closed for the winter, but we were able to drive up to the tunnel on each side and get a sense of the ingenious engineering that went into building the route.

*Transfăgărășan, the truck is there, just very very tiny*

*On our approach, just before we left the tree line we saw this beautiful bear peering out at us.*

*And just a little further on, two cubs and a mom. We were a little bit nervous on our evening hike.*

*The next morning we visited Poenari Citadel, pretty much in ruins, but one of Vlad the Impaler’s strongholds so we had to stop by.*

Arriving in Bucharest from the colorful mountains and towns of Transylvania was an adjustment. Our largest city in months, we were plunged into sensory overload. Of all the places we had been in Romania, the imprint of the Soviet style architecture built under the leadership of former Communist president Nicolae Ceaușescu felt the most evident here. We did a fabulous free walking tour with a guide who described the transitions from the monarchies to Communism and the subsequent corruption and economic consequences for the people of Romania.

We found a great apartment just south of the city center for $39 a night on Airbnb. We pretty much ran the little washing machine the whole time we were there - deep cleaning the truck time. Also maintenance.

Still plagued by an increasing squeakiness in the truck springs, we reached out to Vali from Adventure Romania and he connected us to an off-road mechanic. He quickly diagnosed that the nylon bushings between the individual leaf springs had deteriorated and needed to be replaced. He was able to temporarily grease and separate it for us and Andy is reaching out to Deaver springs for new parts.

*Andy with Vali from* *Adventure Romania*. Vali finds his bliss leading overlanding trips in the mountains of Romania. He advised us along the way, telling us about a great camping spot and connecting us to the right mechanic. If you are looking for a guided trip in Romania, reach out to Vali!

In between taking care of business, we explored the city and its bakeries.

It didn’t help that we had lost our sunny fall skies but the city felt very grey. It was also experiencing a resurgence of COVID so people were heavily masked and quickly getting about their business. Likely we did not find our rhythm here and there was more to appreciate, but it was hard to overlook the crumbling decay and extensive graffiti.

*Beatuiful old church in old town next to crumbling apartment buildings*

*Beautiful old white house next to Soviet style apartment buildings*

But there was a heart to old town where buildings had been preserved, and majestic statue-lined throughways and plazas.

*Stavropoleos Monastery Church, built in 1724, tucked into old town*

Dubbed “the Paris of the east,” you can see why Bucharest was given this name in the old town area of Bucharest where the architecture is preserved and beautiful.

We only wish we were able to take pictures of the faces of Romania. We found the people to be compelling and intriguing. The sun lined faces of the shepherds and farmers, the Roma in colorful clothing, the older women with their headscarves and the kids with Doc Martens and black leather jackets. But we didn’t want to be those kinds of tourists so we didn’t. We were asked off and on why people from the US don’t come, and we had no answer. Romania is a place for adventurers, history buffs, art and architecture fans and so much more. We plan to be back some day!

In the meantime, we are hoping to be allowed into Bulgaria next. We have a recent PCR negative test, our vaccine cards and all paperwork in order. More soon! Thank you for reading,