Sunday, September 3, 2006
Crossing into Transylvania
11:00pm Sibiu Time
Dear Readers:
That cup of strong coffee with dinner last night was a mistake. I have a hard time going to sleep even with a sleeping pill, and the alarm rouses me way before I am ready to get started. Breakfast is enormous and delicious, and the double espresso helps to get me moving.
The day begins with a visit to the Palace of the People. Parts of the building are being used as offices, but large portions are considered a museum and are open to the public. I am absolutely astounded by the monstrosity of this building, and its enormous waste. It wasn't finished by the time of the revolution in 1989, and is still being worked on today.
The place has great potential, but needs a purpose. Our guide tells us that a competition is in progress to come up with a plan that will successfully make at least 80% of the building income earning. The competition has been going for something like eight years, with no clear winner yet. What do you do with a building almost the size of the Pentagon? Where are the Fab 5,000 when you need them?
Next we do a walking tour through the old portion of Bucharest. It surprises me how classically beautiful the buildings are, but so many are in desperate need of loving care and repair. We see the oldest in the city, and even tour the archeological dig of the old palace from the time when Vlad the Impaler ruled over Wallachia.
By 12:30pm we are heading north out of town to cross the Carpathian Mountains into the Transylvania region. We know it is going to be a long day on the road, and we opt to stop at a service station to grab pre-made sandwiches and drinks to eat while driving. We reach a point where our guide tells us we must make a decision-to carry on driving the main road to Sibiu and follow our itinerary exactly, or to take the longer but much more dramatic Transfagarasan Road through the Arges Valley up wild zig-zagging curves between the two highest peaks in Romania. With near unanimity the group chooses the longer, more scenic route.
One of our first stops is the Curtea de Arges, a beautiful Episcopal cathedral originally built in the 1500's. The current edifice dates from 1875 when a French architect was brought in to save it from its ruins. It shelters the remains of previous monarchs, including Queen Marie who died in 1938. I have long admired Queen Marie because of her acceptance of the Baha'i Religion, and it was an unexpected honor to be able to visit her tomb.
We continue further north and ever higher into the mountains until we come to the Poienari Citadel, a castle Vlad Tepes built in a strategic position to guard the entrance from Transylvania into the Arges Valley. It is considered by Dracula buffs to be Romania's "real" Dracula's castle.
It towers over the valley on a high craggy peak, and is only accessible by climbing nearly 1500 steps. We content ourselves to snap photographs from below, and then continue our wild and dramatic ascent up a region known as the Alps of Romania. I think the highest elevation we reach is about 8,000 feet. The road is torturous and the views staggering.
With stops at waterfalls and lookout points and a glacial lake, we don't actually roll into our hotel at Sibiu until 9:00pm. The property is quite tattered, but we are happy not to be in a lurching van any more today! Dinner at the hotel was quite good, and the live musicians played airs that had taken on a definitely more Germanic tinge than the folk music we enjoyed at the welcome dinner. I am cranking out this posting, then getting to bed so I can be better rested tomorrow.
Hugs to all,
Dan
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