Romania: Summer 2006

In September11 UBESters set off on their Eastern European adventure to explore Romania, a former Eastern Bloc communist country which has been described as ‘the Wild West of Europe’ and as a land of mountains, plains, wolves and Dracula. So what did this country, which is due to join the EU next year, have in store for us?

We travelled to Romania on the overnight train from Budapest, and then made our way north from Buchurest to the Bucegi Mountains just south of Brasov.

The first three days of the expedition were spent crossing the Bucegi Mountains to the village of Bran staying in huts called ‘Cabanas’ along the route. Highlights of the Bucegi included being warned away from a flock of sheep by some rather menacing looking sheepdogs and staying in a Cabana at an altitude of over 2500m.

We had a well deserved rest day in Bran. Here we visited Dracula’s castle, stayed with a Romania family and met some men scything grass who took a picture of us with their new camera phones! Our group was also adopted by a stray dog we nicknamed Ron.

The next day we continued across the valley through woodland and meadows towards a stunning ridge called the Piatra Craiului. On the way we passed through some villages where time appeared to have stood still with horses and carts (complete with registration plates) as the main means of transport.

The following day we undertook a day walk along the ridge, where thanks to perfect weather we had spectacular views of the Bucegi and Fagaras Mountains.

We then made out way to the Medieval city of Brasov, where we had a relaxing couple of days staying in a hostel. After staying in the Cabanas away from the main tourist route for the past week we felt quite superior to the ‘International Travellers’ staying in our hostel whose only glimpse of Romania was Brasov and fellow westerners.

The next part of the trip took us to the Fagaras Mountains 2 hours west of Brasov on the train. Here the main challenge was getting to the mountains after finding ourselves at a deserted station, miles from where we wanted to be. Thanks to some excellent negotiating skills by some members of the group we managed to get a lift to the mountains from a local in his van. I’m sure we’ll never forget that experience!

While in the Fagaras we ascended Mt Moldoveanu, Romania’s highest mountain at 2544m and thanks to Neil’s culinary experiments, we experienced the unforgettable meal of ‘Cheesy Meat’.

We then made the epic train journey to Poland which took 22hrs, and crossed several borders. The journey was passed in the only way we knew… alcohol!

In Poland we visited the Tatras, where we did some scrambling in the rain on some awesome terrain before spending the last few days of the trip in the city of Krakow enjoying some well earned relaxation.

Overall the trip was extremely enjoyable and thank you to everyone who made our Eastern European Adventure so memorable.