We met in Budapest, some early, others after touring all over Europe, the rest with just enough time, but there we were… well disposed.
Phone message, “Breafing at 09:00 hours” in the hotel lobby, magnificent, by the way, a building of Central European architecture in the center of Budapest. We organize ourselves to tour the city, each one in their own way, but you know, we always coincide in the good places. We meet for the next morning, we will start the trip and arrive at the Romanian border.
Budapest – Oradea:
With so many browsers and each one proposes a street to get out of the big city, but we make it and we go to the border by some highway and then local roads, we reach the international border, we do the quick procedures and then we exchange local currency.
At noon we settled in the hotel in Oradea, on the banks of the river, in the afternoon we did a sightseeing tour of the city and then we organized ourselves for the next day’s route, we will get up early, the first slopes of Romania await us.
Oradea – Cluj Napoca:
Very soon, well as every day, we will leave the hotel and soon the fun begins, we go into agricultural Romania, through the meadows, closed tracks, fortunately we do not find much mud, just enough for some crossing on the slopes and to provoke some giggles, well and some hooking, but not important. Federico and his team formed by Cristina, Federico junior, Miguel and Pablito were the most daring and began to draw the first track, although well shielded by the rest of the group. The grass grows fast and the tracks disappear, it’s not easy to follow the right path, but we did it. We had our first picnic of the trip, it really was as fun as the rest of the days. We were a little hot, but bearable. The locals asked us and when we told them that we were sightseeing, they were pleasantly surprised, from the image of the Romanians abroad it is not the same.
In the afternoon we arrived in the center of Cluj Napoca, where we stayed in a magnificent hotel and visited the city, with the fortune of coinciding, in one of the Orthodox basilicas, with a concert of sacred music that left us as good as new. Once in the old town, we all coincided, and we organized dinner in a local restaurant, slowly, but surely, and ended up in a good party… A little late, but very funny.
Cluj Napoca – Sovata:
Another varied stage awaited us that morning, as always, very early, we set off, today Tito opens, with his team of navigators and “navigators”, Noel, Dolo and Lluna. First we do the “tourist” and visit some old salt flats in which they have made an amusement park inside, really spectacular. We continue through the off-road meadows of the area until we reach the town of Reghin and then along more tracks and some car washes than others, and of course, our obligatory mountain picnic, we arrive, also soon, at the hotel in Sovata, a mountain tourist center, where the SPAs in the area delight Romanians and the few foreigners who arrive there. After using the hotel pools we looked for a restaurant, of course, Casa Dracula. A little later some whiskey breafing and resting. A very long day awaits us.
Sovata – Gura Humorului:
More than three hundred kilometers of track await us there was the possibility of doing the first section by road, but no one wanted to, well Jordi and Neus, but because of the need to check the turbo of their Toyota and to ensure that the “noise” was not serious, well, it was not until we got home, which as expected, The mechanic proposes to change it. Shortly after leaving, the brave Tito takes one of the tracks with real mud of complicated exit, but with his winch and Noel shod in fishing boots, they left by their means, yes, there we were all indicating and avoiding falling into the mud traps, later, we went into the tracks of the high mountain, we entered the Apuseni Mountains, a true wonder of nature, especially the Calimani Natural Park, which delighted us with magnificent views and a very cool afternoon. A while before, Federico loses a nut, well rather, his shock absorber, which makes us stop for a while, but we solve the problem. In the afternoon, we found that in one of the numerous sanctuaries on the road there was a pilgrimage, which of course, we visited, shortly before leaving, we spoke with the local police and they warned us that the track we were taking was completely closed due to landslides, common sense forced us to turn around and do the last hour of the day by road, but it did not affect the group much. As usual we chat after dinner in Gura and we meet at “get up early” to sightsee in the Bukovina Moldova to see the Unesco monasteries in the area.
Gura Humorului – Ceahlau:
Near the hotel, we begin the first visit, the monastery of Humor, with its magnificent exterior paintings and its interior “seclusion”. The next to visit the magnificent Voronet, this fortified monastery is one of the best in the area, well in fact, we spent the whole day doing cultural visits, then followed by Moldovita, Suceavita, Volovat and Arbore. Further on, we find the right meadow for our country lunch, where we share the local cheeses and sausages and the curious potato bread. Heading south, we arrived at Ceahlau Lake and its Natural Park, we stayed in a nice and small hotel, where we were given a very good dinner and we were able to use its “cool” pool. The night was quiet.
Ceahlau – Brasov:
First we go around the lake, with some obligatory photo, when we arrive in Bicaz, we refuel and pocket the ATMs and exchange offices, and we resume the march through the beautiful gorge, it is so vertical that most GPS loses coverage. A little later we went into a mountain track with unique views, we crossed two bear reserves, we didn’t see any, well at least wild, :O), at lunchtime, and on a “local terrace”, where only Romanian and a little German were spoken, thanks Noel for your translation, we had a simple, but succulent local meal. It doesn’t take long for us to reach the beautiful city of Brasov. We settled in the hotel and the children, and some not so children, took a bath and then began the visit of Brasov, with its historic square, the black church and the old center. That night we didn’t stay up long, one of the queen stages was waiting for us, where I had predicted mud, and… Good job by the “guides” of the day Vero and Alex, the team from Ibiza.
Brasov – Biertan:
Tito’s brave team (Bultaco, Josep, etc.), takes the initiative and heads towards the first slopes, before Dracula’s Castle, surely the famous vampire set some traps for us in the mud. When we reached the first mud (well almost a kilometer) it delighted everyone, until we had to pass to hook ourselves irremediably, use the winches, the slings, wellies, but above all the photo machines and the laughter, it took us more than four hours to do a kilometer, but it was worth it. In this section, the skill of Rafa Cardona and the combination of his winch and his wellies, saved us…
With all the delay in the world, we head to the visit of Bran Castle, which is a tourist center of the first magnitude, it is a pity that it is not well maintained. But it is a must-see. Further on we go into local roads, tracks and meadows where navigation prevails, the grass grows so much that the wheel marks disappear in a few days. The afternoon is upon us, the visit to the hometown of Vlad “the impaler” is cancelled until the next morning. We arrive at the medieval town of Biertan with its magnificent fortified church, which we visit and photograph. We stayed in a comfortable hotel with medieval decoration but with all the necessary amenities. The next day we would have to recover the visit of Sighisoara and the whole loop through the area.
Biertan – Biertan:
We get up half an hour earlier, and we have some freshly made tortillas for breakfast and the “hard” day of the traveler begins… We visited the city and its tower for a few hours, where the walk is very pleasant, with few tourists, we enjoyed its old town. Later, we began to see the slopes in the area, through very closed forests and slippery meadows, on more than one occasion we had to look for the tracks on foot. At one of the moments and after a sharp curve we found a dense smoke that prevented us from passing. We went ahead with caution, it was some farmers burning stubble… false alarm. Shortly before lunchtime, the organization prepared a surprise at a local farm, they prepared a typical meal with lamb, loins, local cheeses and especially wines and “palinka” of cherries and pears (a bit strong, by the way). Nobody wanted to continue, only the possibility of finding some mud in the following trials made the riders move from the chairs of the “restaurant”. Finally we arrived at the tunnel of leaves that would take us to an impressive descent, fortunately it was without humidity… we really had a good time until the arrival at the hotel in Biertan, but we did some climbing with difficulty and we had to invent a route, since we found a real mud pond that would have swallowed our cars, Without a doubt, not even the brave Rafa passed, it is true that he wanted to try, but we only had an hour of light and to the left of the track there was a hole of more than five or six meters. It was a full day for everyone. Dinner and bed, we all slept well peacefully
Biertan – Sibiu:
First by road, really a good section, and then by the meadows and tracks of the Sibiu area, we spent time doing mountains of grass captained by Tito, we had a great time, we made lunch in a good shade and as we had time, Rafa did his thing and climbed, with his Super GR, to the highest mountain as if it were a dune in the Libyan desert. We also use the winches… We had a good time, well, Neus a little less J. At a prudent time we arrive at the central and magnificent hotel of Sibiu, named a European cultural city a short time ago. We visited the city and contemplated its square and its monuments. The next day was a day of rest, well more or less.
Sibiu:
Free day in the city, but the group decided to take a walk along the Transfagarosan road, which climbs to Lake Bolea and is one of the most beautiful in Europe. Once we have climbed the mountain range and had the obligatory coffee for the fresh air, we return to the city to finish the visit and do some shopping. The next day he would take us along the most beautiful track in the country, we would go into the legendary Carpathians…, if Dracula raised his head.
Sibiu – Orestié:
We left the bustling Sibiu and visited one of the fortified churches from when the area was Saxon, in fact the German language is still used normally, in the middle of the morning we began to climb the Carpathians, we reached almost three thousand meters of altitude, in fact the restaurant we improvised allowed us to have a landscape of hundreds of kilometers. The clue was made slowly, at every moment the cameras were sparking. Heading west, we arrived at the mining town of Petrosani to refuel and then settle in the curious hotel of Orestie, an old military arsenal of the army of Ceucescu converted into a hotel, it allowed us, apart from a well-deserved rest, an outdoor dinner with camp fire and dancing with disco music, it was a good party.
Oresie – Timisoara
A historical and cultural day awaited us, with a certain nostalgia, that day was the last we would sleep in Romanian lands. We start the day with a visit to the prehistoric Dacian ruins, the ancient settlers left remains that the forests protected, centuries later we can enjoy them. The road link to Huneodara Castle was made fast which allowed us to visit the castle in a quiet way. Later we had the picnic on the banks of a small river, it was the last one, and a good meal was organized, and for a good while…
In the afternoon hotel, short visit to the city of Timisoara, where we had the last dinner in Romania and gave the trophies to all the participants.
Timisoara – Belgrade
Liaison stage, on good roads that took us before noon to Belgrade, and that guided us to a workshop where Federico’s wheel could be repaired, it was lucky… All afternoon of sightseeing, in the capital of Serbia. The next morning we would say goodbye.
The end. -House
The next morning we said goodbye, not everyone was going the same way, well we really have pending appointments, so see you later to Jordi, Neus, Josep, Dolo, Lluna, Noel, Rafa, Carmen, Alex, Vero, Federico, Cristina, Ana and the kids, Antonia, Pablito, Miguel and Federico. See you forever and see you…
Manolo Herrera
Territory 4×4
