11th - Fagaras Mountains/Sambetei

Not much walking today, so it wasn't too bad.

The morning was spent on visiting Bran castle, close by where we had been spending the last couple of nights. Bran castle is more known by its less formal name; Dracula’s castle. It got its name as at one point Vlad the Impaler too up residency there. A beautiful castle, very unlike the large almost bombastic buildings in England this was a very compact building with a lot of small nooks and crannies, small corridors and generally fairly small rooms. Overall it was a great walk around and nice to see.

After lunch we went back to the bus which took us to our next destination, the Fagaras Mountains. It would be a 3 hour walk up through a valley where just before it would be getting steep we would spend the night at the Valea Sambetei Chalet. We were supposed to walk along a long muddy road which is mainly used by loggers, but due to the moist weather our driver took us up as far as the bus managed, which cut off almost an hour of the trek. Getting out of the bus it was only drizzling so it made the walk easier as opposed to if it had been pouring down.

The walk up was primarily by mud paths so the path all the way up to the lodge tended to be quite slippery. Apart from that it was a nice walk – the clouds were hanging fairly low so the sun never really appeared.

After a few hours we arrived at the lodge where we were separated into dorms and rooms. It was a nice place, but as there was no heating you had to rely on having a nice warm sleeping bag. Personally I didn’t have any problems with that, but others were apparently struggling a bit with the temperatures. I had no problem with staying here for two nights.

The castle sitting in the background overlooking the town.

Small narrow staircases.

The inner courtyard.

Vlad's clothing. Easily recognizable from the pictures that exist of him.

Two of these black swans were spotted after our lunch break.

Gotten out of the bus and started walking along the road.

Reaching the lodge, all we can see are low clouds.

10th - Piatra Craiulu National Park

Today was a relatively easy day compared to the recent walks. We still did quite an ascent and descent, but the distance was less than the past couple of days. And everyone joined in today. As usual we got a ride with the bus for a short while where we were unloaded at the start of the trek. Today the weather wasn’t too positive; it felt cooler than before and the clouds didn’t seem to want to let go.

The day started with quite a walk up through a gorge with steep cliffs on each side, covered in trees looking like they were holding on for their dear life (they probably were). It was oddly silent, the winds didn’t come down in the bottom where we were and all you could hear was each other at the other groups.

We soon ended up at a path going up through the forest, where we could look forward to a short steep, slightly slippery, path until it flattened and we found ourselves in an almost mystical forest with mist hanging quietly between the trees. The stories about Transylvania and its monsters felt just a bit more real in these surroundings.

We came out in the open, pastures surrounded by the forests and low-hanging clouds. Apparently during the winter it is a skiing resort and it was easy to see the slopes going cutting through the forest. The sun slowly managed to cut through some of the mist and clouds, and at the same time we arrived at a cabin which sold food and drinks.

Here we had our lunch before we would continue to the lookout point which would be the final goal for the day. As we would come back to the cabin after being at the lookout point half of the group stayed behind while the other half continued upwards. After a short ascent we were at the first point, and we saw exactly what we had expected; absolutely nothing. A white wall. Because of this we decided it wouldn’t be worth trying to get to the next point as the visibility would probably be just as poor.

Went back down to the cabin, had a short rest (other than lunch they had cake, too!) and returned to the bus which took us back to the lodge.

The day’s walk was through Piatra Craiulu National Park which is famous for its wildlife; 1,5% of the European surface, and 1/3 of Europe’s large carnivores; estimates go for app. 6000 bears, 3000 wolves and 2000 lynx. Didn’t see any of them, though, but back in the lodge we saw a documentary about the bears and wolves and their interaction with the people in their habitats. But no personal encounter, unfortunately/fortunately (depending on preference).

On the way up through the gorge.

Opening up a little.

The mist seeping through the forest.

The beautiful view at the lookout point.

9th - Bran and the Bucegi Mountains

Most important topic first; when meeting in the morning we found out that the hospital visit had resulted in a cast – the wrist had been broken in the fall. Woops.

After breakfast we went down to the market again to pick up lunch before heading for the bus which transferred us to Bran where we would be spending the next two nights. Arriving in Bran we offloaded our luggage, the injured and who else needed a break from yesterday. From here we drove a short distance to get to the trail.

From here we started ascending on the first part of the day’s trek. Like yesterday we were walking through the dense forest, but this only lasted the first couple of hours before we came out and into the open. Almost from the beginning we had been approached by three stray dogs that ended up escorting us all the way up – at that point one of them disappeared but the two others followed us all the way back down again.

Coming out from the trees at around midday and still ascending we had a great view of the surrounding hills and areas. Hills covered in forests, with rocks sticking out here and there.

Coming towards the highest point of today’s walk we met a couple of herders with their large groups of sheep and their sheep dogs. Some interaction was had between the sheep dogs and “our” dogs, but it was obvious that the sheep dogs didn't really give a damn while “our” dogs made sure that no one would hurt us. It was quite fun to watch.

Coming back down again we were picked up by the bus, the dogs disappeared and we returned to the lodge.

Some steep passages now and then.

Out of the forest, ascending.

One of the strays.

A sheep herder.

On the way down again.

Small break.

8th - The Piatra Craiului Mountains

We started the day going to a nearby market getting food for our lunches before we loaded up in a minibus which drove us to our starting point. We quickly got out of the centre of Brasov into the less populated areas before we ended up in nice quiet wooded area.

We dismounted and started what would be a more dramatic walk than planned. The plan was to ascend app. 1000m where we would have our lunches, have a small walkaround before descending again.

The ascent was surprisingly tough. We were walking through a forest with slightly soggy ground, so it was humid and heavy moving around, especially when it got steeper going up. At one point during the ascent we were supposed to be able to walk up through a narrow – but apparently beautiful – canyon. Unfortunately when we passed by, the scaffolding we were supposed to utilize was being maintained, so we had to walk around instead. This didn’t really matter much, though, as the forest was quite pleasant to walk in.

Reaching our lunch spot we had a beautiful view of the surrounding area, including Brasov. Afterwards some of us continued upwards to the area’s tallest point. It was a stunning view, from where we could see the Bucegi and the rest of the Piatra Craiului mountains, in which we were standing.

Coming back down to the lunch spot an hour later we realized that we had gotten company from a couple of local donkeys. Some of them were very social, something one of the group members had personal experience with.

After a good laugh (the unfortunate group member not so much) we were on the way back down again, by a different route than up. It was still through the dense forest (there wasn’t much else around here), but the path way was less steep and easier to walk. At some point on the way down our guide – local – admits that there has been a certain miscommunication between him and the travel agency. He had apparently expected people of a much higher physical level than we could present which was why we were quite a bit behind schedule – our afternoon return would be closer to an early evening. But then he had a background as a mountain guide/trainer for the Romanian military, and often did private tours for experienced mountaineers. So, we had quite a lot to live up to, which we apparently didn’t do so well.

Trying to cut some corners shortening the trip down us in the front were suddenly stopped by shouts at the rear; apparently one of the girls had slipped and had problems getting up again. She admitted her wrist was sore, but she had no problems moving it around, though. After only a couple of minutes it had swelled up and looked like a parody of the elephant man, so it wasn’t very promising.

We came back to where the bus picked us up, and back at the hotel we went out for dinner except for the guide, the girl who slipped and her sister. They went to the hospital to get the arm/wrist checked out to try and find out what was going on.

The canyon we should have been up through.

View halfway between lunch and the top.

View from the top.

7th - Departure

I had a horrible early departure from Copenhagen as the best flight to Bucharest would be with a layover in Frankfurt, and after arriving in Bucharest I still had to get to the main train station and from there go on a 3-4 hour train ride to Brasov, and then a taxi from the station to the hotel.

Apart from the entire “early”-part, the flight to Bucharest was uneventful – Lufthansa is indeed one of the best airlines I have flown with. From the airport things got a little interesting. I found a booth where I could get a ticket for a train – I would have almost two hours until departure, so plenty of time. I was then pointed outside where I was to find a shuttle to take me to the train that would take me to the main train station in the city. So I went out to wait. Soon a shuttle stopped, and I asked the driver if this was the one. He looked very confused, he apparently barely understood any English at all. A couple of locals came to my assistance, and by translating he apparently said that yes, this was the shuttle, but he didn’t recommend me going with him but take a taxi instead. I asked him why that was so, but apparently “taxi” was the only thing he wanted to say.

Got a taxi, the meter was exactly what the locals recommended me to pay when arriving at the train station. Apparently, at that exact same time, the driver lost all ability to speak English, and with only gestures and a number written down I realized he wanted me to pay double – because, as he pointed out, the fare was not including him getting back to the airport. I got visibly pissed, but he kept pointing at the price. There wasn’t anything I didn’t want to do, beginning gently by shoving the meter up is scumbag POS ass, but I realized there was nothing I could do. I paid the bastard, got my bag and stomped into the train station.

With 45 minutes until the train departed I had time to cool down and trying to figure out what all the numbers on the tickets meant. I ended up finding a random seat in an otherwise almost empty carriage, and enjoyed the view the following many hours on the way to Brasov. Beautiful country, no doubt about it.

Arriving at Brasov I grabbed a taxi to the hotel, and got royally screwed there, too. I can’t feel too bad about it, though, as I could have saved quite a bit of money if I had been a little observant regarding price/distance and the actual distance to the hotel (as opposed to the first driver which basically just told me to go an eff myself).

Arrived at the hotel and found my room half an hour before the intro meeting which I spent walking around, getting an initial impression of the town. There was a small fair with a group playing cover songs. I can hereby testify that I have heard the worst cover of Hotel California. Ever.

4th - Coming back home

Coming home from Turkey was very eventless - especially considering all the problems we had going down.

Early departure from the hotel, arrived at Van airport where all the luggage was checked in all the way, and with a 2 hour layover in Instanbul this part of the trip was actually the easiest one.

Coming home Wednesday there was no time for rest, though, as I would be leaving for Romania the following Saturday. More stories to come!

3rd - Return

We had a relatively early start today; breakfast at 0700 and departure at 0800 so we would have some time for some sightseeing in Van. I woke up a few minutes to 0600, the 11 hours of sleep felt great.

We were soon on our way down to our pick-up point and 3 hours later, much warmer we were on our way back to the hotel where we had left any unnecessary luggage before going to Ararat.

Oh, by the way, the weather and mountain gods apparently hate us. We could see the summit the entire morning until we were picked up and there wasn’t a single cloud near the summit. And it was less windy. It feels better knowing that both guides had never seen such weather at the top before during a summer climb.

Back at the hotel we retrieved our stuff, had a short rest (wifi- yay!) and waited for our luggage to arrive in the second bus which had stayed behind waiting for “our” horses to get down with our bags. Finally the bags arrived, we all moved to a larger bus and we were soon on our way towards Van with a quick lunch stop on route.

We arrived at our hotel in Van where we had 40 minutes to shower before we would be leaving again to visit an island on which there was a small Armenian monastery. The island itself was quite small, not even one km long or wide, and with only us and a couple of local employees on the island it was a pleasant calm after the hectic climb.

Sailing back to the main land we had dinner on the beach.

The drive back to Van was eventless, and after getting off from the bus across from the hotel most of us went to a bar to have a couple of drinks. I shared half a bottle of raki with two others, and I’ll admit it tasted good until getting halfway through the glass, after which it got too much. No worries – the others were more than happy to help me with it.

After enjoying our drinks we were a few who went down to the street to get some durums – mainly to compare them to the ones you get at home. Conclusion by just looking at them being made was unsurprisingly that they naturally were in a completely different league. We were allowed to eat them in the hotel bar as long as we bought beers/drinks, which we of course dutifully did. After a couple of fun hours (Bo has some amazing stories from his climbs around the world) we went to bed.

Panoramic view of base camp after coming down. You can see the shadow of Mt. Ararat with the sun behind it.

The Armenian monastery.