FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Transfagarasan, Hunedoare & Alba Iulia

Fagaras Mountains, the highest in Romania

Today it was time to conquer a mountain, the Fagaras, the highest in Romania. This may seem simple enough, but we had an ex-communist infrastructure to navigate. Reaching the base of the mountains with our minivan was easy peasy. On arrival, we were greeted by a musty, dirty and tired looking cable car building. There was already a small line of people geared for a multitude of snow activities. The cable car was meant to open at 9am but by 940 there was still no staff member in sight...Finally one appeared and stated that it was windy at the top and that a test run needed to be performed. They did the "test run" with the first 7 people in line! Egad!!! After "clearing the ice" with first car (egad!!) the second car moved a lot of faster. Our guide wisely opted to keep the whole group in the 3rd car together rather than splitting up. If we were to perish, we would at least perish together.

We were packed like sardines into the cable car with 3 other passengers. Taking photos with limited limb movement was a feat. So please enjoy the shots...Despite the coziness, it was difficult not to appreciate the scenery which turned white dramatically as we ascended quickly to more than 2000m. Below us was the famed Transfagarasan Highway, featured in Top Gear, which linked Bucharest to Transylvanica through the Carpathians. Built by the communist dictator Ceaucescu partially because he was told it couldn't be done...the Highway literally took an army to build. Unfortunately for us, the road was only open a few months of the year, so this was the only way to see it.

Once at the top, the condition of the building we arrived at was no better than the one below, with couches that looked like it had been sitting in an attic for 30 years... The children didn't care, running out into the snow with wild abandon. The grandparents did well, trudging through to make it to one of the chalets for some well deserved hot drinks. There is usually an ice hotel here every year EXCEPT this year! Argh!!! All we could do was do walk around Balea Lake, the source of the ice for the hotel. Again this was literal, we walked around it and that was it. We couldn't even see it as the lake was under snow...

Nonetheless, the group had a fun time with our morning adventure. We descended down the mountain uneventfully and moved on to our next destination, Hunedoare Castle (also known as Corvin Castle).

We waited in the cold until our car arrived

Our cable car

Balea Waterfall

You can see glimpses of the Transfagarasan under the snow

The height of chalet chic in 1973

A building. Surely there is something warm in there

Hot chocolate time

Snow bandits!

Hunedoare Castle is a 15th century Hungarian Castle. Impressive on the outside, it was unfortunately the recipient of "fanciful" restoration, with many features not true to its gothic origins. It was still amazing to walk through the large Castle with original sections being apparent. Some random interesting facts...Nicholas Cage rode in on a motorcycle and stopped here in the movie "Ghost rider". Bill Gates hired out the castle for a function...

With strict rules about driving times, we overnighted at the town of Alba Iulia where King Ferdinand and Queen Marie were crowned. As has become routine, George took us on a walking tour of the city before leaving us to wander. As it had started to rain, we decided to have an early dinner at Dante. The children declared the food to be excellent! So a win! Our hotel Ave Alba, didn't look like much on the outside, but was cosy, comfortable and super clean with friendly staff.