Today was the D-Day in some ways - we would be hitting the Transfagarasan. Months of planning and dreaming of driving the famous road !
We started from Sibiu at around 830 after a decent break fast at the hotel. We decided to drive up all the way to Cartisoara - which is the starting point of Transfagarasan. With that excitement we hit the E81 with some nice breeze, cool weather and clear skies. Filled up the tank from a Petrom station. And soon hit E68 which merges with 7C at Cartisoara to become the famous Transfagarasan circuit which cuts through Fagaras ranges. Google map tried to send us in another route since 7C is not open year around and we figured it out after detour of around 30 minutes. My able navigator-cum-wife got us back into 7C quickly and off we went in search of driving paradise.
We hit the Transfagarasan route proper before 10 am. Beautiful free road for a long time given the week day. Soon we knew why Top Gear rated it the best road in the world. Its phenomenal. Climbing up till around 5000ft we were cloistered by huge pine trees on either sides, accompanied by pristine water falls and gurgling streams.
But its truly post 5000 ft when the road opens up to endless vistas of curvy roads, carpathian ranges (Fagarasan mountains to be specific), monstrous herds of grazing sheeps, steep water falls, wild flowers - punctuated by dash of bikers and screeches of four wheelers enjoying the brilliant drive.
We went up all the way to Balea lake, saw the Balea water fall, trekked up a bit. Its a very interesting glacial lake which is as if a magician suddenly conjured it up from nowhere hidden within the fagarasan ranges. It is a tourist favorite and hence expect to find school kids, families, drivers and everyone else around.
Continued drive after lunch at the lake on towards the Vidraru lake and dam. Nothing much to write home about here other than it being an interesting engineering marvel.
We did not spend much time and hit the road towards Poenari castle the home of Vlad the Impaler on whom the tale of blood sucking Dracula is loosely based. Vlad was infamous for cruelty and was also potentially imprisoned for a bit in Bran castle where Bram Stoker positioned his mythical count in. There is no records of him ever drinking blood though. The castle itself is an interesting place, difficult to get to since one has to climb around 1500 steps. Any one reasonably fit can do including kids - so not a showstopper. There are couple of impaled human sculptures, purportedly to add a bit of scary feel to an otherwise beautiful, pleasurable surrounding. One cannot fathom the cruelty and monstrosity that had occured in the midst of these walls but for the stories. Now it is more or less in full ruins and one doesn't feel anything creepy.
After a good exercise, we climbed back down to a nice drizzle. Thankfully, we were all covered in rain jackets and got in time into a small coffee shop for some hot chocolate as the temperature plummeted.
After the rain subsided and we had fill of the hot chocolate, we hit the road (7C) again towards Curtea de Agres reaching our base at 630.
Straight to dinner and since we did not wish to take the car again for any other drive today, hit the bed happy and no dreams of any blood suckers !
We started from Sibiu at around 830 after a decent break fast at the hotel. We decided to drive up all the way to Cartisoara - which is the starting point of Transfagarasan. With that excitement we hit the E81 with some nice breeze, cool weather and clear skies. Filled up the tank from a Petrom station. And soon hit E68 which merges with 7C at Cartisoara to become the famous Transfagarasan circuit which cuts through Fagaras ranges. Google map tried to send us in another route since 7C is not open year around and we figured it out after detour of around 30 minutes. My able navigator-cum-wife got us back into 7C quickly and off we went in search of driving paradise.
We hit the Transfagarasan route proper before 10 am. Beautiful free road for a long time given the week day. Soon we knew why Top Gear rated it the best road in the world. Its phenomenal. Climbing up till around 5000ft we were cloistered by huge pine trees on either sides, accompanied by pristine water falls and gurgling streams.
But its truly post 5000 ft when the road opens up to endless vistas of curvy roads, carpathian ranges (Fagarasan mountains to be specific), monstrous herds of grazing sheeps, steep water falls, wild flowers - punctuated by dash of bikers and screeches of four wheelers enjoying the brilliant drive.
We went up all the way to Balea lake, saw the Balea water fall, trekked up a bit. Its a very interesting glacial lake which is as if a magician suddenly conjured it up from nowhere hidden within the fagarasan ranges. It is a tourist favorite and hence expect to find school kids, families, drivers and everyone else around.
Continued drive after lunch at the lake on towards the Vidraru lake and dam. Nothing much to write home about here other than it being an interesting engineering marvel.
We did not spend much time and hit the road towards Poenari castle the home of Vlad the Impaler on whom the tale of blood sucking Dracula is loosely based. Vlad was infamous for cruelty and was also potentially imprisoned for a bit in Bran castle where Bram Stoker positioned his mythical count in. There is no records of him ever drinking blood though. The castle itself is an interesting place, difficult to get to since one has to climb around 1500 steps. Any one reasonably fit can do including kids - so not a showstopper. There are couple of impaled human sculptures, purportedly to add a bit of scary feel to an otherwise beautiful, pleasurable surrounding. One cannot fathom the cruelty and monstrosity that had occured in the midst of these walls but for the stories. Now it is more or less in full ruins and one doesn't feel anything creepy.
After a good exercise, we climbed back down to a nice drizzle. Thankfully, we were all covered in rain jackets and got in time into a small coffee shop for some hot chocolate as the temperature plummeted.
After the rain subsided and we had fill of the hot chocolate, we hit the road (7C) again towards Curtea de Agres reaching our base at 630.
Straight to dinner and since we did not wish to take the car again for any other drive today, hit the bed happy and no dreams of any blood suckers !
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