Biking in Romania

After visiting so many amazing cities, we decided to go to the mountains of Romania. After doing some research and realizing that there was more to Romania than Dracula, we found a small independent travel company, called Green Mountain Tours. They offered self-guided Mountain Bike tours in the Western Alpusini Mountains of Romania, home stays, etc. So we booked a trip!

Heading from Budapest, we arrived at the Romanian town of Huedin last Sunday. We were whisked away to a neighboring town of Sancraiu, where we went over all of the details of our week long mountain bike trip. It was a lot of information, but very thorough. We were given maps, directions, a list of phrases to use, etc. Then, we were fed a huge and amazing home cooked Romanian meal by the lady of the house. We realized then that the amount of food we were expected to eat would often be ridiculous and we would have to politely decline the wishes of our host to eat everything they gave us. This lady also told us that there was a festival in the town to celebrate St. Stephen that evening because most of the town was of Hungarian origin and fireworks would be on display that night! We lucked out again with the fireworks! So after watching the locals go around on lofts of hay in horse pulled wagons (literally) at around 10pm, we took seats on the balcony of our room and watched a very nice firework display before going to sleep before our big adventure.

The next day, we headed out on the mountain bikes on a journey of about 40 km to the village of Risca. Because we were on mountain bikes, we often took the road less traveled. We began by heading over some farm fields, through a few small villages, and then up over a set of hills and around some farms. We ate lunch, got lost (a pattern that would repeat almost every day) and then made our way around a farm and over a ridge where we could hear the sheep dogs barking and coming for us. We kept going without trouble and finally made our way over some cow pastures. We stopped for another lunch break (we had made many, many sandwiches with the excessive amount of food we were fed) and took time to really enjoy the scenery. Gorgeous! The hills were rolling and green, with farms and haystacks in all directions. Romanian farms in this area of the country are still very traditional. We did not see any plows or tractors and all of the hay is cut with a reaper by hand and then stacked up. The scenery resembled the area of Solvang and San Luis Obispo (Central California) we have loved biking in over the years. We got lost in another town and then finally made it to the place we were supposed to stay with great surprise! From the road in front of a very large and cozy looking farm house, we heard a very loud “Bye, Bye”. We slowed down and took a closer look, seeing a smiling girl about our age and a cute old grandmother piling hay. In the next breath she said something along the lines of “you stay here!” This was getting very funny and only after we realized she was serious, we headed into the farm and did in fact make the connection that Ramona had been expecting us and was surprised because we were coming from the wrong direction. She introduced herself, gave us water, and helped us settle in. After we cleaned up, she and her sister served us an incredible meal! There was everything you could think of and all from their farm! The salad was grown in the garden, the soup was made from their vegetables, the meat JJ was eating was from, well I think you can figure it out by now! Amazing! They made this special blend of vegetables and spices for me also. After visiting with a group of Dutch people who were also staying there, we learned there was a birthday, and offered to sing “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew in exchange for some cake! Great idea, best cake I have had all trip, with fresh whipped cream made from the cow’s milk. After chatting with Ramona more, I asked her if JJ would be able to go assist the grandma to milk the cow after dinner! Of course! Only if we helped bring them into the barn, toured her garden, sampled the apples off the tree, and herded the chickens into their pen. Ramona’s garden was amazing and she was very proud that most of my dinner had been collected from it. Next, JJ was ushered to milk the cow. He thinks that he could have used more practice, because he was afraid of hurting the cow. The scene was hilarious; the grandma was shouting instructions to him in Romanian and I am snapping pictures, while Ramona is laughing her head off! After watching some music videos with Ramona, showing her the blog (she had wifi installed for her “tourists”!), and going over directions for the next day, we went to sleep. In the morning, her mother prepared us the largest breakfast I have ever seen for two people. There were fresh peaches, some sort of sweet corn meal mush, eggs, fried cheese, fresh cheese, meat, etc. etc. We said goodbye to everyone and the grandma said a nice blessing for us to have safe travels. We had a great time in Risca and we hope to go back there one day, especially if we are hungry!

Throughout the day, we traveled down a mountain on an awesome dirt road, and then up and up hill! We biked over a mountain ridge, got accompanied by some boys on bikes, and biked through a forest! The scenery was amazing, even though the biking was very challenging for me. I loved the last stretch when we were on a paved road and I could see a lake peering at me through the pine trees as we coasted downhill. We arrived to the village of Poina Horea and then a little further to the town of Podina, where we met our next hosts, Charles (Carol) and Monica. We learned that they had hosted over 500 tourists over the past five years, but we were their first Americans! They were very happy about this and so were we! We had a great meal that consisted of risotto and amazing wild yellow mushrooms in a paprika sauce (called paprikosh). The next day, we opted to do a hike instead of riding our bikes around. Charles and Monica had gone out and marked their own 5 hour (12 km) hiking trail around the neighboring mountains by their house in the protected forested area (which is still illegally forested). In the forest we found blueberries and raspberries along the way. We hiked up through the forest and onto a meadow where we had 360 degree view of the entire mountain area. The view was amazing and we were really happy we did the hike. A friendly old lady talked to us and we noticed that her hands were stained blue from picking blueberries and she had a gigantic bucket with her! She also had a special tool with wires that allowed her to collect the blueberries more easily as she scooped it across the bushes. We noticed a lot of people also collecting blueberries with the same tool on the way down and found out that they sell them (and the mushrooms they collect) to Italian companies. We had another nice dinner and watermelon for desert! Then, Charles invited us into their home to see the rest of the house, hear stories of how he acquired the land, and to see videos about other parts of Romania we would have to visit some other time. Charles was quite a good videographer, and we enjoyed watching his videos about the Nature Reserve area of Padis in Romania we hope to check out someday, which is famous for gorges, waterfalls, and ice caves. Monica and Charles also had a dog named, Bush, after our former president. He told us when his neighbors heard about this, they named their dog, Bin Laden. Awesome!

The next day, we got water from the fresh bubbling spring by their home and set out for Scrind. The road was gravel and paved most of the way and it was a nice transition back into mountain biking from our break the day before. We saw some very beautiful scenery including meadows, lakes, and valleys. After a very long downhill, we set out on a side trip to see a waterfall, known as the Wedding veil. It was up the road about 6km and was a very nice sight. We headed back to the main road, got some ice cream before arriving at our pension in Scrind, which was more like a hotel than a home stay. We read and relaxed the rest of the day and called it an early night.

On the last day of biking, we were headed back to Sancraui to complete our loop in the Alpusini mountains. We began by following a river upstream and then continuing to climb up a gigantic mountain, although we had no idea until we reached the top and received the great views! We some how got off the main road and ended up walking our biked up the side of an alpine meadow near the top of the mountain. The views were the best all trip and although it was very challenging, the scenery made it worth every second! We finally arrived at the town of Cabana Valdassa and it was downhill from there because we were at the top right by the ski lifts! Before we left, we verified our directions with a nice guy around our age who spoke perfect English (lucky us!) and had a wonderful picnic under a tree. We headed down on the bumpiest, rocky road of all time, only stopping from time to time to pick raspberries and for JJ to change his flat tire in record time. We finally arrived at the bottom and raced through a few of the neighboring towns (in order to avoid the Gypsies who we were warned about by multiple people, but we did not see them because it was probably too hot). The last stretch of the road was very beautiful. We arrived safely back at the guesthouse and were informed that we were smelly, dirty, and needed a shower, which we happily agreed to. After a great dinner and chatting with a very nice Italian couple that were staying there also, we headed to bed.

Now we are on our way to the Romanian city of Arad to catch the night train to Vienna, Austria. From there we will head to Salzberg, Austria! Will write more soon! Hope you are all fantastic! Lots of Love.