The last day of school, the kids dropped off backpacks, hurriedly ate lunch, and piled into the car as we headed out for a week-long roadtrip to explore Eastern Europe. Just a couple hours into our trip, we ended up here:
It was pouring rain, the road had simply ended in construction, and we weren't getting a cell signal. Not the most auspicious start to our trip! But My Man found a suitable detour and we headed on. Then we realized that the border crossing Google Maps was sending us to was actually a ferry and that we might not make it before it closed for the day. We re-routed again to make sure we avoided entering Moldova in Transnistria (an unrecognized republic that claims to be independent but which most countries consider part of Moldova--we had heard that entering Moldova through Transnistria, though faster, would cause some problems when we left Moldova) and avoided the ferry crossing. The plentiful potholes in the roads were harder to miss, but My Man did an incredible job of navigating the rough roads in the rough weather. Before we knew it, we were leaving Ukraine and crossing into Moldova.
Moldova is a very poor country, and we noticed a difference as soon as we crossed the border. There were horse-drawn carts everywhere, the roads were even worse than in Western Ukraine (an impressive feat), and there were fields and fields of sunflowers, potatoes, and wheat. It was very beautiful. Normally, on family roadtrips, I read a book aloud to help pass the time. This time, however, we tried an audiobook. It was awesome to be able to look out the window as we drove. I had a moment as we passed another horse-drawn cart with a Moldovan family in the back when it hit me--wow, we are driving across Moldova! That's absolutely amazing.
We arrived at our hotel around 9pm, and after some yoga to work out the kinks from sitting too long, went right to bed. The next morning, when we went to check out, we found out the hotel only accepted cash. We hadn't changed any money into Moldovan Lei, not expecting to need any. We had USD, Euros, and Hrivnia, but couldn't make the right combination (they didn't have any change). My Man and the boys headed into town to find a bank while Darling Daughter and I stretched our legs a bit in anticipation of the long drive ahead.
At last we were on our way to our first stop:
Old Orhei, an old monastery perched on top of (and inside) a cliff. The views were amazing. We didn't have a guide, so wandered around a bit looking at everything.
There wasn't a lot to see, but we were glad to have stopped. My Man spent a few minutes fantasizing about getting out his paraglider and flying down, but the wind wasn't quite perfect, so he decided to wait for Romania.
We had another border crossing a few hours later and then we were in northern Romania, on our way to Brasov, Transylvania, where we would stay for a few nights. In Romania, the sunflowers were just opening and there were fields and fields of them!
We arrived at our
guesthouse just in time for dinner. We opted to walk after so many hours in the car and enjoyed a delicious Romanian meal to welcome us to town. (This is where it became apparent just how much energy the kids had suppressed during the drive, as it took about 200 attempts to get one regular picture of the three kids :D)
The next morning we rose early, ate a quick breakfast, and then the kids and I headed off to Bran Castle (Dracula's castle!). I had read that it got crowded quickly, so we tried to get there by opening (9am). Traffic was slow because of several sections of construction, however, so it was 9:24 by the time we got there. Already, the tourists were there. (It was probably good we got there when we did, because by the time we were leaving, the line was out the door and halfway down the hill! The crowds inside were almost claustrophic when we were there, so I can't imagine how bad it got later.)
The castle was an interesting experience--extremely crowded, somewhat eclectic, but still, it retained a charm of its own. Of course, it's not actually Dracula's castle and Vlad the Impaler (the count after which Stoker's Dracula is modeled) only stayed in the castle about 2 months, but still, it was fairly easy to imagine it as a vampire lair. And the views were incredible.
After that we stopped for a picnic lunch. Transylvanian forests are beautiful and even though we didn't venture too far off the road, the spot was serene and beautiful.
After lunch, we headed to
Rasnov Fortress (along with about half of Romania apparently!). It was really hot and crowded, so we opted to take the glass elevator up instead of hiking--a very smart decision! The fortress itself was interesting to wander around.
Apparently, it was only conquered once--when enemies found the secret path to the fortress's water source. After that, legend has it that two Turkish prisoners were set the task of digging a well in side the fort through solid rock in exchange for their freedom. It took 17 years to dig the 500+ foot well, but after that, the fortress was once again impregnable.
After exploring the fort, we headed back to the forest for some quiet reading, meditating, and exploring, before heading back to our home away from home for the night.
Meanwhile, My Man had been paragliding all day. Taking a ski lift up to launch and landing just a few footsteps from our guesthouse, it doesn't get much better than that. Conditions were great and there happened to be a paragliding festival going on at the same time, so there were lots of pilots in the air. The whole trip was planned around the flying here in Brasov, so it was great to see it all come together so well. We were home just in time to watch his last flight and landing.
Next on the agenda was what I'd been most anticipating: the Seven Ladders (
Canionul Sapte Scari) hike. The first review of this hike read like a horror story. Seven rickety, precarious ladders straight up cliff faces, slippery from the splashing waterfalls they edged, the whole hike winding through a narrow but gorgeous slot canyon. The pictures were incredible. It made me want to do it but also made it sound like if I did, I would be certifiably insane, especially if I brought along our kids. A bit more searching, however, indicated that the article was old and that stairs and bridges had recently been remodeled and that now it was a beautiful, safe hike. I was stoked.
Thanks to inaccurate GPS instructions, we ended up getting a bonus hike at the beginning. Ironically, another family (from Israel), arrived just before us and headed up what looked to be the trail. I had read that we needed to follow the yellow marks (not red, or we'd end up somewhere else), but we didn't see any marks. After a few minutes, we met up with the other family and realized they weren't sure they were in the right place. Frankly, I wasn't either, but it was a beautiful trail and I figured we could hike for 15 or so minutes to see what we found before calling it quits. When we still hadn't encountered any yellow (or red) trailmarkers, we decided to head back down and see if we'd missed the spot. Sure enough, there was a turn just a bit earlier along the road that led to the signed trailhead. Not too far from the parking area, there was a V in the trail, the red trail to the left, the yellow trail straight ahead. I was glad I'd read that we needed to follow the yellow trail, because at that point there was no indication of which was the way to go to the Seven Ladders.
The hike was nice, along a bubbly creek, through the forest, but longer than I'd expected. At last, we arrived at the base of the Seven Ladders trail, where you pay a small entrance fee to hike through the canyon (5 lei for kids, 10 for adults, so about $1.25 for kids and $2.50 for adults). The hike was great. Perhaps not quite as epic as I'd imagined, but really beautiful and unique.
The ladders and bridges were in great repair and seemed very safe. There was some water splashing from the waterfalls, but not as much as I'd expected. The hike to finish the loop back to the lodge was almost as beautiful in a more forest-beautiful kind of way.
The main disappointment was that we couldn't zipline back down as we'd hoped. There is a zipline (50 lei) that goes from the lodge back almost down to the parking lot, but it's for adults only (they would have let Young Man but not Darling Daughter or Funny Guy). I tried to pin down the minimum age or weight--they waffled a little, 18 years old, they said first, then "maybe 14" and 45 kg. Darling Daughter and Funny Guy are both right around 45 kg, but still didn't make the cut. They were devastated. Then we found out there is a zipline area for kids under 45 kg at the bottom (20 lei for 30 min; 4 lines). Funny Guy signed up and loved it.
Unfortunately, Darling Daughter had pushed a bit too hard on the way up and her legs gave way partway down, causing her to stumble and fall off the path. Thankfully, she was OK except for some scratches and bruises, but it was very slow and painful getting back down the rest of the way. Young Man helped out by giving her a piggy back ride most of the way.
And best of all? The weather had initially forecasted rain, then thundershowers, but we had beautiful perfect weather all day. We even stopped for a leisurely picnic on the way home, enjoying every minute possible in these beautiful forests. The thunderstorms finally blew in as we were eating dinner, comfy-cozy back home.
My Man got to go paragliding in the mountains a couple hours away today and isn't back yet (that's why I'm getting this all written up so quickly!). I got to talk to him for a few minutes, though, and it sounded like another epic flying day. Hopefully we'll get the full scoop and pictures soon.
Sadly, this is all the time we have in Transylvania.
Tomorrow, we head off to Odesa, Ukraine, via Moldova then Transnistria, so it will be a long day of driving but could be interesting (remember, Transnistria is the self-declared but not acknowledged country that is really part of Moldova). I was wondering how the kids would react to so much driving in this vacation, but so far at least, it's had great results. Darling Daughter said it has been her favorite vacation except for Paris, France, and the boys have been positive too. I almost think I have a harder time with all the driving than they do! Looks like we'll have to plan some more roadtripping-in-Europe adventures. Next up will probably be Poland!
