We packed up early in the morning and had a relaxed breakfast at Brasov. The idea was to cover Peles castle as soon as possible before heading to the third famous route that we had decided to drive - the Transbucegi. It cuts through an amazing national park by the same name - Bucegi national park. We quickly did Peles from outside - thankfully the long queue to enter and get tickets helped with a quick decision of not even trying to see the interiors. Quickly had a bit of pizza and cake from a restaurant overlooking the beautiful castle before getting into the drive to Transbucegi.
On GPS we put the coordinates of Bucegi entrance and got started by around 12.30 p.m . Soon we would cover a route which was brilliant and at some stretches even the better than the two other more famous cousins of Bucegi route, the Transalpina and Transfagarasan. The drivers and bikers in the country and surrounding areas are indeed lucky to have three routes each of which could easily be in the top 15 top routes of the world. The images do not do justice to Bucegi either but the dappled sunlight, cloud cover in parts, grazing cows, green plains stretching to infinity, hundreds of sheeps guarded by sheep dogs - all put together made it a memorable drive that we wouldn't forget for a long time to come.
At the end of the route, we went up a hiking trail for half an hour to get some more amazing shots of the panorama and enjoyed the thrilling sounds of a group of 10-15 bikers below with the throttle booming in the cool mountain air. The altitude was around 2000m and weather decidedly chilly at the top. Since we did not take warm cloths up, we decided to go down and get back to the warmth of the car.
We drove the same route back before merging with main roads onwards to Bucharest. In a few hours we hit the A3 motorway and cranked the engine up to run it at a constant 140-150 kmph. The route is again an amazing one albeit a bit boring after the mountain routes. The straights passes through sunflower fields on both sides so one almost feels as if one is cutting through a large yellow ocean in a fast steamer with waves upon waves of yellow still left to sail.
Got heavy traffic as we neared Bucharest and finally reached back in Sheraton at around 630pm with couple of short stops for stretching the back which was now hurting after 8 days on the road constantly. As I returned the Fiesta back to Avis, I wondered how well she did duty. I had heard rave reviews about her from various quarters and had even got reccommended by another driver friend as the best hatchback for mountains this side of the Mini/ Germans. I was glad I went with it. It was worth it as a fun, cheap ride - good balance between not burning a huge hole in the pocket and not being Logan Dacia-ish boring. The sportz mode though was not quite as entertaining as I thought and hence I drove almost 75% of the time in normal mode. Other than hitting higher RPMs quicker, the mode did not change any drive charecteristics materially.
Decided to skip dinner and just have fruits while wife cooked some MTR dishes we had picked from Dubai for her and kiddo.
We had one more day left before catching the evening flight but for all practical purposes our driving holiday had come to an end. Next day we revisited the palace of parliament for couple of pictures, had a nice break fast in front of it and walked around Bucharest for a bit before heading back home.
On GPS we put the coordinates of Bucegi entrance and got started by around 12.30 p.m . Soon we would cover a route which was brilliant and at some stretches even the better than the two other more famous cousins of Bucegi route, the Transalpina and Transfagarasan. The drivers and bikers in the country and surrounding areas are indeed lucky to have three routes each of which could easily be in the top 15 top routes of the world. The images do not do justice to Bucegi either but the dappled sunlight, cloud cover in parts, grazing cows, green plains stretching to infinity, hundreds of sheeps guarded by sheep dogs - all put together made it a memorable drive that we wouldn't forget for a long time to come.
At the end of the route, we went up a hiking trail for half an hour to get some more amazing shots of the panorama and enjoyed the thrilling sounds of a group of 10-15 bikers below with the throttle booming in the cool mountain air. The altitude was around 2000m and weather decidedly chilly at the top. Since we did not take warm cloths up, we decided to go down and get back to the warmth of the car.
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| Tranbucegi, Bucegi nationalpark |
We drove the same route back before merging with main roads onwards to Bucharest. In a few hours we hit the A3 motorway and cranked the engine up to run it at a constant 140-150 kmph. The route is again an amazing one albeit a bit boring after the mountain routes. The straights passes through sunflower fields on both sides so one almost feels as if one is cutting through a large yellow ocean in a fast steamer with waves upon waves of yellow still left to sail.
Got heavy traffic as we neared Bucharest and finally reached back in Sheraton at around 630pm with couple of short stops for stretching the back which was now hurting after 8 days on the road constantly. As I returned the Fiesta back to Avis, I wondered how well she did duty. I had heard rave reviews about her from various quarters and had even got reccommended by another driver friend as the best hatchback for mountains this side of the Mini/ Germans. I was glad I went with it. It was worth it as a fun, cheap ride - good balance between not burning a huge hole in the pocket and not being Logan Dacia-ish boring. The sportz mode though was not quite as entertaining as I thought and hence I drove almost 75% of the time in normal mode. Other than hitting higher RPMs quicker, the mode did not change any drive charecteristics materially.
Decided to skip dinner and just have fruits while wife cooked some MTR dishes we had picked from Dubai for her and kiddo.
We had one more day left before catching the evening flight but for all practical purposes our driving holiday had come to an end. Next day we revisited the palace of parliament for couple of pictures, had a nice break fast in front of it and walked around Bucharest for a bit before heading back home.
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