My work often provides opportunities for travel and consequently I have experienced many interesting places that might not have made it to the top of my vacation priority list …. Seoul, Silao, Abu Dhabi, Bangalore are a few places that come to mind. So, I was delighted to get an invite to travel to Bucharest for a Women in Leadership workshop. Even better yet, my Romanian colleagues offered to help me plan a few days of independent travel in Transylvania prior to the start of our meetings.
With my errant passport in hand (see my previous post), I flew to Amsterdam, met up with another American team mate and arrived in Bucharest mid afternoon. Our Romanian colleague picked us up from the airport and took us to her condo in a tree-line residential area of Bucharest. We dined at a nearby Lebanese restaurant and then spent the night in her lovely renovated ‘attic’ apartment. We were her first guests as she had just completed the remodel. Decor was contemporary, simple, yet elegant. I particularly liked the beautiful ceramic accents on grey tile.
The next morning we woke early, had a quick breakfast and met another coworker to drive to the mountains. Traffic was light and we quickly left the city, driving for an hour past newly tilled farmland. Occasionally, we passed fields of bright yellow plants; a quick Google search identified these as rapeseed or canola. Eventually, we saw mountains ahead, the southern Carpathians, called the Bucegi range. Many peaks were still snow-capped. We passed though the town of Sinaia and then took a road that climbed uphill. The road eventually became gravel and quite rugged as we drove though forest.
Eventually, we came to a beautiful waterfall. Seven Springs Waterfall is thought to be one of the purest sources of water flowing in Romania. Its source is from seven streams of an underground lake. Researchers have found that water from these streams flows through a silver deposit, which prevents the growth of bacteria, rendering the water clear and pure.
The falls cascaded down the hillside underneath a structure built over the stream. We hiked a path down the road from the waterfall, across a wooden plank to see the source of one of the streams. The water was gushing out of the rock face. Of course, we touched and sampled the water; it was cold and clear!
Our next stop was a visit to Pestera Ialomiţa, Ialomita Cave, located in the Bucegi mountains. We parked the car and walked through the grounds of the monastery, along a gushing river, overflowing with snow melt, across a bridge and then up a steep flight of stairs. It seemed odd to have to ascend to enter a cave, but Ialomita is located at 5000 ft above sea level.
To enter the cave, we crossed under the archway of the Ialomita Monastery church. Here we paid our admission fee and donned hard hats.
In the wide entrance to the cave was a small church and shrine which we opted to visit on our way out. The first hall of the cave was large and damp with water dripping from the ceiling. Walking on a metal grate, we came to a steep set of stairs that took us to the top of the cavern where we entered a long narrow passageway.
The ceiling was so low, we had to crouch to move forward, thankful for the hard hats protecting our heads! Eventually we entered the driest and largest gallery, named the Bear Room because skeletal remains of prehistoric cave dwelling bears were discovered here. In fact, a large skull adorned the entrance to the hall. The Fountain room had a stream and small waterfall. This cave was fun to explore – not as many stalactites or stalagmites as in others I’ve visited but Ialomita had narrow passages opening into big caverns and was definitely wetter with streams, waterfalls and dripping ceilings – another reason hard hats came in handy! We toured the cave for an hour eventually circling back to the entrance.
Before leaving, we peeked into the small monastery church at the cave’s entrance.
Its walls and ceilings depicted Bible scenes beautifully painted in Byzantine style. The church and monastery were built in the 16th century by prince of Walachia, Mihnea cel Rău.
Walking down the steps, I noticed how the piles of snow were melting underneath, creating a steady trickle of water feeding the river below. The snow was blanketed with seeds and pine needles that had blown off the trees in the surrounding forest.
We walked through the monastery grounds back towards the car but stopped to visit what looked like a newly renovated stone and wood shake shingled sided church.
The building was open and once again we saw beautiful Byzantine paintings adorning the walls and ceilings depicting important Christian religious figures.
Back in the car, we traveled to a station where we hoped to catch a cable car, but unfortunately, it was not operating. So instead, we drove higher in the mountains to see the view and the snow and the lovely wildflowers that were emerging from the wet ground.
Purple crocuses were starting to push up from the wet ground where the snow had melted. What a lovely landscape with the wispy clouds, snow capped peaks, thinning snow drifts and purple crocuses just beginning to bloom.
We turned around once the road became too snow covered and headed to Azuga, a small town in the Prahova Valley of Transylvania. Here our Romanian hosts would catch a ride back to Bucharest after a late lunch, generously leaving us the car to further explore Transylvania for a few more days.
As we descended and left the snow behind, the landscape became lush and green. The scenery was majestic; this would just be one of many times over the next few days that I would marvel at the natural beauty of Romania.
Our destination in Azuga was the Rhein Wine Cellar, a historic winery built in 1892 by a German investor who supplied his vintage to Romanian royalty between the two world wars. We planned to stay overnight at the Rhein Pensiunea, the small sixteen room guest house next to the winery During lunch, we sampled five different types of wine, including the famous sparkling wine – Rhein Extra, that is still supplied to the household of King Michael the First today. This cellar is believed to be the oldest location in Romania where sparkling wine has continuously been made using the traditional Champenoise method, fermenting the wine in glass bottles.
After lunch, we bid goodbye to our Romanian hosts who returned to Bucharest. Hoping to burn some calories, we walked towards town to explore; it was cloudy but we were able to see snow capped mountains in the distance behind the turrets of a large Orthodox church.
As we continued walking the clouds thinned and we saw a large cross a top one of the peaks. This was the Commemorative Cross to the Romanian Heroes of the First World War built in 1926 on Caraiman Peak to honor soldiers who lost their lives in World War I. According to Guinness World Records, the monument is the tallest summit cross in the world located at an altitude of 7500 ft above sea level.
By the time we walked back to our hostel, the clouds had cleared and the sun was shining. We explored the winery grounds; there was a beautiful yard with walking trails, tables and wine casks; then watched the sun disappear behind the mountains. Tomorrow, we head further north into Transylvania!
