Romania: Rain-mania or Road-mania???

Predeal, Romania
It was with huge reluctance that we had to leave Harmony Hills, our small little gem in the hills of the Black Sea. We just thought we’d have a really long drive and get to the place we really wanted to spend three nights in next - Predeal. Our 7am departure had us cutting across Bulgaria in a NE direction, and we crossed the BULG-ROM border at General Toshevo, which turned out to be very quiet at 8am. We decided we would take the faster route across Romania towards Bucharest and then take the ring road north through the mountains. That "speed" never really caught on; we were caught in ring road construction traffic outside of Bucharest, and then in weekend mountain traffic once we hit the foothills. Total traffic time? NINE hours, three hours longer than expected.

We stayed at the Medieval Pension in Predeal, which turned out to be the small gem of a pension on our trip! It was so nice and relaxing we would go back in a heartbeat! We had a loft bedroom, with a fireplace and animal skin rugs, and a massage multi-jet shower. It was so cozy – we even had a massive picture window overlooking the forest and ski hills. We also had a new small gym, a billiards table (Marcus won), a bowling alley, and had a delicious meal at the restaurant – grilled chicken with garlic sauce and polenta. We’ll stop gushing – but it was pure heaven! They even sent us away with packed sandwiches when we checked out. AHHHH.

Predeal is an adorable small town, more akin to what a mountain town should look like – right in the middle of massive hills and mountains, cute cafes, restaurants, a small fruit/veggie market, and a small market. It was not mobbed by tourists from other countries necessarily, probably more popular with local Romanians. There was also quite a lot of ski runs up in the hills (it actually has one of the highest ski runs in the mountains), so we’re sure it is hopping in the winter! We liked Predeal so much more than Brasov, and if we had to do it again, we would base ourselves in Predeal. While we were there, there was also a massive road rally driving through Transylvania, and the cars were fun to see “racing” through the same weekend traffic we did the day prior.

The next day we took on hiking in the mountains! We aimed for a local favorite road called Trei Brazei, or three trees, which has three of the area’s oldest trees. Incidentally we could never find them. We ended up walking there from town, which took us up an asphalt road, which had some local auto and foot traffic on it. It also seemed that everyone was walking up in that direction! There were some walking paths in the forest on the side of the road, but there was some mud, so we stuck to the pavement. After an hour, we finally reached the hilltop. The scenery was stunning – you could see mountains and lush forested valleys for miles! It was an outstanding view, and unfortunately, we shared it with a million other weekenders! We have never seen anything like it – there were tents and RVs pitched everywhere, no rhyme or reason, and apparently no rules on camping on public lands. Then there were people who must have driven up for the day – collapsible tables and caravans of friends grilling out! Cars were perched precariously on the side of the roads, and they drove up any semblance of “road” to get to their spot. The only unfortunate effect of all the people in the area was that there was a bit of trash on the roads and in the forest, especially plastic bottles. It was a little sad, especially since the both of us have always been schooled on “bring out what you carry in.” We also found a route back to town through a really dense forest - the trail was really steep and really muddy! That night, we were woken in the middle of the night by thunder, lightning and really heavy rain! We went back to bed, and slept in, pretty much inferring that hiking the next day would be out, unless we had knee-high farm boots! Sure enough, when we woke up, it was still pouring – and what was worse – the temperature dropped to 10 C! It was freezing!

Sibiu, Romania
We hoped that the drive to Sibiu would be easy and quick, but it was not to be… the road was largely one lane in either direction, and was heavily traveled by trucks and farm equipment. To make matters worse, the route took us through many small towns, so it was largely stop-and-go. Grrrrr. Additionally, cars pull off quickly, stopping to pitch up hitchhikers, which is a widely accepted practice. Everyone hitchhikes --- young mothers with babies, seniors – and you see them near bus stops or at the end of towns with their thumbs outstretched. You don’t see many buses on the roads, and we read that the hitchhikers actually pass on gas money. On our drive we did find some of the road signs funny, towns called “Beclean” and “Brotuna,” which had us giggling, along with a phrase everywhere we inferred meant "thank you" or something similar, “Drum Bun.”

We were disappointed by the town of Sibiu, which was awarded status as a European heritage city a few years ago. Perhaps it was the freezing weather, the clouds, the overglut of medieval towns we have seen in Europe … but it was a little stagnant! We were not really impressed, and even had a hard time finding restaurants, as there seemed to only be cafes. Additionally, the traffic in Sibiu was insane, with pedestrian crosswalks everywhere, which snarled up traffic for blocks on end. We did end up finding a massive Carrefour grocery store and were excited to self-cater lunches – we even found the first hummus since we left London in June! In the end, we were glad to stay there just for some R&R since it was always raining, cloudy and cold, so we used our hotel gym and jacuzzi, and tried to stay warm!

Oradea
Our last drive and night in Romania was bittersweet – we had 320 kms to drive on roads – and we knew it would be a rough drive. Yet, we really enjoyed the hospitality of the country and the stunning vistas! The last few days of rain and cool really reminded us of Scotland, and we realized how lucky we were on our drive south a few weeks back that we had decent weather. Who would have thought that the temperature would drop 20 C in a matter of weeks when swinging back up north through the country?!?!? The drive west from Sibiu to Deva was rough --- tons of semis, one lane roads, and incessant small towns with pedestrian crossings and roundabouts. We used to play a game of “beat the initial GPS time” in the States… but here it became a game of “let’s hope we don’t fall too far behind the initial GPS travel time!” Seeing minutes get added on to your travel time is never fun. Once we split from the main road to Oradea with 200 kms left – we hit scenic vistas with less traffic, but horrible road conditions. While the weather was still cool, dark menacing clouds hung low in the foothills, and rain splattered down occasionally, it fit the country drive and the last day we would spend in the country. We had scenic views of town churches in distant hills, you could see the tops of the churches from miles away! Most of the surrounding lands were fields or orchards, and the hay bales had unique shapes, and looked like village sentries. The fields were being farmed, and we could see pumpkins and gourds galore. We passed one small town where the local peasant women were selling apples and a liquid in plastic soda containers, which we guessed was fresh cider. And then both of us hit reality – fall was in the air! The farther we drove into the foothills, the more autumn-like it became – some trees had shed their leaves and others were just starting to turn! People had on their warm weather gear – farm boots, fleece jackets and knit hats. After about 6 hours of driving, we pulled into our hotel, well-positioned at the outskirts of Oradea, in a more industrial area, and relaxed and geared up for the next day’s big drive. Luckily our hotel had a good restaurant, and we were able to enjoy a delicious last Romanian meal of ghoulash. It was one of the best we had, so we savored it.

We really enjoyed Romania, and were happy we did visit, despite initial misgivings. Our second time through, we were disappointed with the cool weather and rains, but, it fit the atmosphere. We had a hard time with the traffic and driving in Romania heading north- it was tough work. However, the goodwill, hospitality and generosity of the Romanian people is beyond words, which makes up for the lack of road infrastructure. We'll be back!

Next: Slovakia and Poland!