We eventually left Brasov around 11 o'clock, with Victor driving us there. Two stops during our journey: first a short stop for lunch and then another stop in the medieval town of Sighisoara, for a visit in the Tower Clock.
We then continued our journey and finally arrived in Cionesti in the evening, being quite tired and anxious not knowing a thing about the place we are going to stay in.
Very nice surprise at the arrival: the place is totally remote and absolutely beautiful.
It's hard to believe that a couple of hours drive can take you away from the world and get you so near to the total peace of the mountains.
The elder son of the family, Marius, was going to be our guide for the next days. Mrs. Maria, our host, cooked the dinner, in the meantime Marius began his guiding role and took us to the local museum, organized by the village locals. Returning home, we met with the other guests during the dinner and they put us on the right track with the attractions in the area.
First thing is exploring the Ionele cave (used in the past as shelter by an ex-convicted guy called Ionel). It is not a very spectacular cave but the climbing to the cave entrance is very nice as it's along countless springs and miniature waterfalls on a carpet of fresh green grass.
Later on, we start climbing through the forest, towards the Scarisoara glacier. The weather is perfect, sunny, blue sky and the scenery is stunning. Arriving at the glacier we realize we have to go a long way down into the heart of the Earth. A stair of steep wooden and iron steps spiralles around a huge shaft until it reaches the bottom. And there is the glacier. With 100.000m³ it is said to be the second largest ice cave in the world. Impressive are the spectacular 3-4 meters high ice stalagmites in the second room. The cave is very cold, the paths are very difficult to go. It is essential to use warm clothes and good shoes.
We seamed to be relieved to climb back to light and go for a lunch with pies and milk at a local guesthouse. Grills and drinks in the evening on the terrace, exchanging impressions of the day with our new friends. David is strongly underestimating 'tuica', the Romanian traditional drink.
It dwells an extraordinary range of stalagmite and stalactite formations varying in size and forms as well as a lot of like marks and fossils of cave bear - Ursus Spelaeus - which disappeared more than 15,000 years ago. David wasn't very impressed by the cave, I thought it is spectacular.
Hard to believe the story ( which is a true one, by the way) about how close they were to dynamite the cave in order to continue the extraction of the stone in the area. I found the whole place quite impressive.
In the way back we stopped a couple of times, first to visit a local museum then just near the road to pick some berries. I think we've been lucky to have the inspiration to climb the steep side of the road and so we discovered a beautiful scenery of flowers and crickets songs. This was the place we took my favorite photo of the trip.
Another stop at an old church on top of a hill.
For the afternoon, we've planned seeing the Ruginoasa Hole - a huge rusty natural shaft between the mountains. The climbing was quite challenging but it was definitely worth going. Marius was great to offer to carry our luggage. Lots of blueberries in the forest too.
A short stop to meet a local peasant which gave David a short training in grass cutting - afterwards we found out he was the Vice Mayor of the village.
After that, we arrived at the Fefeleaga's house - the famous character of Agarbiceanu's book - the place is run by the Fefeleaga's nephew (Vetalau) - it was a great stop to get cold beers and mineral water. We are continuing our journey through the forest - feeling the cold air seeping through the ground from hidden glaciers - then 20 minutes of steep climbing on top of the columns.
The Detunatele region is a geological reservation formed by two peaks of volcanic basalt, the columns have a height that goes until 200m. The top provided us with splendid views. We continue our journey by descending the mountain through other people gardens and fields - which was not a nice thing to do but the fields are great - full of flowers under a strong sun and a deep blue sky.
We had to stop at a pharmacy in Albac to get some sun cream as my skin was already frying like a tomato.
Next place we were heading was the Snail Hill. It's a natural paleontological reservation with a lot of fossils (thousands of snails that remained there from the cretacic warm seas, almost 65 millions years ago) on the 1 ha surface. It is one of the richest fossils reservations of Romania. We've been offered a snail by some other tourists which were digging them out with the tools from their car tool kit (outrageous). In a couple of years it would be nothing left there probably.
Across the road it's a beautiful path towards the Bride Waterfall. We spend an hour around there then heading back to base, already starving.
For the morning we thought we might visit the Roman galleries in Rosia Montana.
The gold seemed to have been the curse of these mountains during the centuries, now the hole valley looks very near to be destroyed by a foreign exploitation which is using cyanides to extract the gold. Who would believe that this can be possible in our days? - still the plans have been approved.
Arrival in Alba Iulia is around noon - it is boiling hot. The route back home is through Sibiu - we stop for lunch and bought some very nice Romanian traditional costumes to give as presents for people at home.