Climbing the Carpathians is an adventure that sometimes leaves you breathless. Here I drank milk from the cow (not literally, but almost LOL) I watched farmers mow their lawns with their sickle, St. Bernard’s laid at out feet at dinner, and I stood on a geologically preserved rock formation called Babele (Old Ladies) on the plateau of the mountain :) - it was an amazing two days.
Although we did most of the climbing in a car, the serpentines which you need to drive on to get to the top were insanely dangerous and abrupt. Most of the time I was holding on for dear life LOL. The way up the mountain was truly beautiful - I don’t think the pics I took do them justice. Along the way we had to watch out for sheep and cows which would cross in order to find a new place to graze. Every now and then a horse and buggy would appear, but we were driving so fast I couldn't take very good pics.
We arrived on the mountain to a place called Fundata. It has a little Inn where we spent the night. We had lunch (amazing food) and headed out to Drac’s Castle in Bran (further up the mountain).
Drac’s Castle:
Drac’s Castle was kind of small... but I am told that he didn’t spend too much time here, and it was used by him as a retreat of sorts. There was some furniture in the bedrooms and the dining rooms, but most of the rooms were empty, with little information as to what the rooms were used for, and by whom... one room did hold some of his outfits and some of his weapons... the courtyard was really pretty and in the middle of it was a wishing well... Ma gave some young girls some change to make a wish and then talked me into making a wish as well LOL - my favourite part was a secret cave way, where you could climb up to a different floor - when we started the climb I immediately felt constricted and creeped out by the small space and the stony interior - it was a lot of fun though :) I’m guessing Vlad and his people must have been really short because all the doorways are about 5 feet tall, and I had to bend to enter every room... no one seemed to be able to answer this question but then, there really wasn’t anyone around to ask. We wondered around the rooms, and the garden, and then started the climb back down to the front gates. Although Romanians aren’t really into Vampires, when it comes to Vlad you can see that tourism is starting to change that as everywhere you turn there are shops for Dracula souvenirs (not very good ones so I didn’t buy anything) and haunted houses LOL - I didn’t go in them but thought of Bay who would have loved them LOL. Overall, it was great - and although all the small stairs were a lot to climb up and down it was well worth it :)
From there we went back to Fundata and had an enormous dinner. I’m sure I’ve gained at least 5 pounds but Ma says I must be crazy LOL. I spent the night watching Shrek Forever on my laptop and Ma read her book. In the morning we had another enormous breakfast and started our climb to the top of the mountain.
Babele:
On top of one of the Carpathians (Mountain Bucegi) is a geological conservation. Here you will find several rock formations which are supposed to look like old ladies sitting around talking... you can see the pics and let me know what you think... Ma says I came here when I was a kid and although I remember coming here, I don’t quite remember what the rocks looked like. She says back then they were not as worn by weather and people, and they actually looked like old ladies. Nevertheless, the view from on top of the mountain was breathtaking. With the cloud hovering near the top you felt as though you entered another realm. I took a video of the trip down so you can see what it felt like - awesome! Ma tells me there are ways to actually walk up the mountain but it takes a whole day and we just didn’t have the time or the equipment necessary for this adventure. But as we got into the teleferic (cant remember the English name for this thing that took us up the mountain) there were people with tents and sleeping bags getting in. Once you reach the top of the mountain you could pretty much walk from one mountain to another over the plateaus... it’s really a fascinating experience. There’s an enormous cross on top of one of the mountains built there in memory of military heroes - it was about a 2 hrs hike to get to it, but because it would have taken us 4 hrs to get there and back, we would miss the last teleferic heading down the mountain... maybe next time :)
Once we came back down the mountain we headed out towards our last stop... The King’s castle. But that’s a story for another blog ;)
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