Realizing a dream feels cool. Realizing a dream you have been talking about for more than three years feels great. And if that dream happens to be driving on the Transfăgărășan… there are simply now words to describe this! But what exactly is this Transfăgărășan? This is the second-highest road in Romania, about 90 kilometers long in some of the tallest parts of the Carpathians. This is how it looks like on a map:
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Now, a lot of travel books and even Wikipedia will advise you to drive on this road from north to south. We tend to disagree. But decide for yourself. This is how we experienced our adventure.
Lars and I started in Curtea de Argeș. We didn’t visit the town itself, but only chose it as our starting point. And then it gets very easy; you just follow the National Road 7C to the north. There is only one main road, so you can’t be mistaken.
In the beginning, you will see lots of cozy villages. Slowly the road starts to climb and you can see the first peaks. When you stop to take pictures, you will often be approached by Romanians who want you to take their picture. Because for them, this road is quite an experience as well.
You climb further and further and for many kilometers, you will see a beautiful lake, called Vidraru. The contrast between the green of the trees and the blue of the water is really stunning. You also see more and more people having a picnic or camping. And 15 minutes later, the thrill is gone… You keep on driving and driving and seeing trees and … trees. Is this what the Transfăgărășan is all about? No, because the best is yet to come!
It all changes when you reach an altitude of about 1000 meters. The landscape becomes different, because the vegetation starts to disappear. Temperatures start to drop and there is a lot more wind. And the road changes as well. There are tunnels, viaducts, steep hairpin turns, long S-curves, and sharp descents. Or in other words: 90 kilometer of pure adrenaline! (source: Wikipedia).
The top is about 2000 meters high. About from stunning panoramas, we also saw this:
It was difficult to choose a handful of pictures. If you want to see them all, have a look at the Flickr album!