Summer is when everything turns towards the sun. Summer is when you make new friends and fall in love. Summer is when you travel and discover new places…and this is just how my summer is.
We are already half way through the holiday season and the unpredictable is still around the corner.
Places I visited in Romania this summer:
1. May - Macinului Mountains
A great place to turn into a prolonged weekend!
Macinului Mountains are the oldest mountains in Romania, a Hercinic chain (I think in Toledo – Spain you find something similar). Their altitude varies from 7 to 467 m….small but strong. It’s a pleasure to go from one pick to the other. Though it feels like a small walk on mountaintops, once you get up you feel like you just climbed the highest mountain on Earth. The rocks look very powerful and give you feeling of strength. The landscape is greatly unique; it’s impossible not to be impressed.
Extra to that, the fauna is just amazing. The climate created a wonderful combination of ecosystems (Mediterranean, Central European and Asian). Though they only occupy 1% of Romania’s territory, they have over 50% of the countries fauna:
- 1770 plant species (a lot of them very rare)
- 181 bird species
- 47 species of mammals
- 1436 species of insects
- 11 species of reptiles
Extra to that, there are a lot of wild animals that you meet along the road there
Not very easy to access, it would be good to know the road before taking the trip.
Though every website says that you actually have to pay to enter the Natural Park, nothing is organized there…so we had no idea about this. Just as nothing is organized related to the entry, nothing is organized for camping either. There is a small place where you can place your tent, but it depends a lot on what other people are there at the time. We had a big surprise to have neighbors that day. Though it’s a monastery just there, they had very loud, very bad music…and were getting ready for a BBQ. We were lucky and had the best place ever to set our tents, in a nearby village in the garden you one of our friend’s grandfather. Unfortunately I cannot give you a solution if you get the luck we did.
2. May - The Muddy Volcanoes (Vulcanii Noroiosi)
Perfect for a one-day trip if you leave in Bucharest. The place is in Buzau, a county that’s only 100 km from Bucharest. The road is fine and easy to get around. You can bulls eye the place even if it’s your first time there.
When you get there, you have to pay a very small fee to get inside. Then, the fun begins. What you can see it’s mini volcanoes created with the help of natural gases that come out from over 300m underground. Everything looks extremely muddy and in the places where the mud was dried by the sun it looks like a deserted planet. If it weren’t for all the green around the are, the landscape would be very lunar.
This phenomenon is very rare in the world, so if you happen to be in Romania, it must be on your list.
I recommend walking barefoot around the volcanoes and sticking your hand into them as deep as you can
We also tried visiting surrounding tourist attractions – such as the Chihlimbar Museum – but we’ve been told that the road is really bad and you basically need a 4X4 to get there. Hopefully this will change soon, I’ve been there while in primary school and it is beautiful!
If you’d also like to eat, as you go down to the main road, there’s a great place at the crossroad. There you can also try traditional food from the region.
3. June - Vama Veche
This is a traditional, not surprising place to have on my list.
If you want to experience freedom and heavy drinking on the beach till morning, catching the sun rise from the sea while listening to Bolero, then this is the place to be. The place is not the same as at used to be, but the feeling of freedom is still there.
You can choose to put your tent on the beach or find a good shadowed camping place in somebody’s garden, or find a cheap room at the people in the village or a more expensive one at the hotel.
You can choose between eating at a restaurant or on the side-walk with a plate in your hand. You can also eat freshly captured fish….or the best pancakes in the world.
4. July - Hasmasul Mare Mountains – The Lonely Stone (Piatra Singuratica)
A long road from Bucharest…very long. If you make a lot of pit stops and visit the places around, it’s a 8 hour road trip.
One of the places to visit in the area is Lacul Rosu, a natural lake formed in 1837. This is the largest mountain lake in Romania. The name – Red Lake – comes from the color of metal residues. It’s also called the Murderer’s Lake, as the legend says that a pastor and his sheep were caught under the slipping ground. (http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacul_Roșu).
The little detour is definitely worth. Once back on the road you have to be patient till you reach the little town of Balan. This is where you can leave the car and get ready to hike. The mountain hut is at an altitude of 1504m, but the way up is not very steep. If you take it as a pleasant walk through the forest it takes about 2 hours to reach it. The road starts and ends very rough, but it’s worth every single drop of sweat.
Up there it's wonderful and the hut, which has just been remade, is great. We slept 16 people in a room with 9 beds and it was perfect. Unfortunately there’s no “toilet”…at all…anything, except for the forest We had a wonderful host, she even cooked something for us. We also had a campfire in the evening, a horse to ride and dogs to play with.
That part of Romania is simply wonderful and impressive - clean and neat; with good roads and flowers everywhere. We saw many storks
If you take a longer trip you can visit a lot of other places in Harghita. This is the source of natural sparkling waters and an area full of resorts and spas.
5. July - Vadu
My middle of July trip – a first timer again – Vadu Beach. They say that this is stil a vergin beach. A large sand limb that goes directly into the Black Sea. A lonely place which gives you the sea and it’s wonders as they naturally are. There’s nothing here….no lifeguard, no garbage place (you have to take it back with you), no supermarkets and ahm…no toilets or showers. It’s just you, the sea and your tent.
Officially you are not allowed to camp there, but the beach is filled with tents.
But, the place does not seam different from others at the seaside anymore. The wilderness is not really there anymore. The beach is clean and you can find lots of unique pebbles...and the water is very clean with tiny fish in it. At the same time there are lots of bugs and mosquitoes.
If you want to spend a day and night without water in a killer sun and with bugs around you...than it should be fine. I felt really good here, but I couldn't take more than a weekend.