Romania ,DracuLADA tour 2010 ,Athens Transylvania 4000km.

Our most... "Far" thought so far ,inspired ,enorchestrated and accompanied by friends.Thank you ,guys.

A road trip  of 4000km from Athens Greece to Sibiu Transylvania

Four fully-equipped ,LPGas-fuelled Lada Nivas
Nine travellers of various sorts ,led by Tasos-Esky_t (poor guy).

Nine days to fit all that in.

And we did it...almost.

From Athens past Thessaloniki through Promachonas

 to Bulgaria

 a night in Sofia

 and then North to Ruse ,over the Danube ,past Bucharest to Sibiu.Long trip ,made longer by spicy (meaning greasy) incidents of a kind too familiar to Niva owners.
We chose to drive in convoy ,maintaining tight radio contact ,but we  were anable to make the best of Esky_t 's leading and navigating talent ,travelling slow.Thankfully LPG gave us U-Boat self sufficiency ,allowing a 500 km range at the least.So  the end of the second day finds us outside Roberts Hotel in Sibiu.

Although clumsy among the little houses with their paved yards of its neighbouhood ,Roberts hotel prooved to be a very decent choise for lodging. Small but tidy and wide windowed rooms ,elegant interior ,generous breakfast (best fresh milk we tasted in years) and ,above all ,friendly and efficient service.

Sibiu ,Transylvania.

A modern town in medieval array.Colourful,elegant ,well organised ,plenty.

Great place to live ,we thought ,and the locals seem to appreciate it.

Brasov ,Transylvania

Never had the chance to explore the city ,due to tight schedule (and falling back in it).Seemed more modern than Sibiu ,but promised a lot behind the wide asphalt streets and the populous Piatas

Sighisoara,Transylvania

A castle town ,out of medieval stories.Every tower ,every gate ,every flight of stairs has its own history.And the clock tower museum narrates all ,if you take the time to explore.

A few hours was not enough for us ,so we promised ourselves to come back with time to spare...

Transalpina is the name of the mountain road connecting Sebes to Novaci ,from North to South ,over the Parang mts ,in the Transylvanian Alps.A trip to over 2000m altitude and back ,over peak ,through valley ,round lake in the breathtaking Transylvanian backcountry.Live mountains with flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and little homesteads with grazing horses  in their wide hillside meadows .All guarded by rough looking shepherd dogs ,some mastiff-like (the Carpatin Sheep Dog) but others more like to the Bobtail or the Hungarian Puli (the Mioritic shepherd).Info wants the Parang mountain bears to be more...primitive than others!!!

While Transalpina is just now being levelled and widened and partly asphalt paved ,another mountain road flirts with the 2000m ,over the Fagaras mts ,somewhat to the East ,connecting Sibiu district to Pitesti in the South.And if Transalpina was ,to the locals ,the King's road  ,Transfagarasan was Ceaucescu's answer for a military road against the threat of Soviet invasion.Coils of winding asphalt rend the sheer face of the Fagaras ,diving in and out the fog ,presenting one hell of a route ,especially for bikers but also offering easy access to the hights for all kind of mountain activity fans.Their igloo tent camps nest on either side of the road and along the numerous streams that follow its route.

Bucharest ,the Capital .Danube runs through the middle of the city.And that alone is Grand!! The House of The People ,Palace of The Parliament today ,the avenues ,the wide pavements ,the parks ,the modern buildings next to the classics ,give Bucharest the air of a great City of the World.The mosquitoes and the cochroaches ,on the other hand, gave us a hard time in the evening ,and the dominant presence of aerial cables is a nightmare ,at least for photographers.

The return trip went  well ,until our Niva saw the time to get loose of its front differential ,just 80 km out of Athens.So ended our journey in bad luck ,but we 're tougher than that.

Deck Log Drafts

# The  roads in Romania are narrow and full of holes ,but the asphalt grip is  good , even wen wet.

# Cebab sandwiches by the road prooved tasty as well as safe.

# Flower pots on the stems of street light posts all over Trasylvania-let's talk civilization.

# Too many stray dogs-too strong their hadit to cruise in the middle of the road-greviously large the bodycount.Never before have we seen such lack of self-preservation instinct in dogs.

# As remote places become gradually more accessible ,the first lumps of  trash appear peeping behind the bushes.How Greek!!

# Hitch-hiking is common - a sign of low criminality rates.Even young (and rather eye-catching) girls hitch-hike.Conclusively ,get a big car to Romania.

# The works on the Transalpina continue after dark even on weekends . No wonder how the country survived  the financial turmoil of the past  and hopefully will  weather this recent Crisis as well.

                                                             

                           

 Romania was a revelation to us.We expected to find a wavering state with struggling people but instead we crashed against a deep culture ,a solid ,well organized society ,and active ,beautiful people ,on a wide blessed land.A country with vast roots in history and  determined pace to the future.

Too short ran our days there ,so many things to see ,read ,ask and discuss.Longing to return got hold on us ever since we crossed the Danube leaving.And return we will !!!

                                                                              D.Kom & Crew