[Valery]

TREKKING IN SINAIA, ROMANIA

In October, 2005 me and my colleague Ivo we went on a short exploration trip to Sinaia, Romania. We had to check the trekking itinerary that Penguin Travel offers in the area, to visit the local places of interest and to take photos of course.

The biggest concern I had about this trip was the worldwide spread bird flu, which appeared in Romania just 2 weeks before. But fortunately I have survived . Ivo was much more positive about the bird flu risk and even had a chicken steak once.

Romania is a country on the way of EU accession. But in my opinion the country is a little behind Bulgaria. Both countries are scheduled to join EU in the beginning of 2007 if the reforms go according to the plan.

From Rouse, Bulgaria, we crossed The Friendship Bridge (the only one connecting Bulgaria and Romania) to the other side of the Danube River. Then we passed through the capital Bucharest and headed directly further North to Sinaia.

We arrived in Sinaia early in the morning when it started snowing; we found a nice hotel with reasonable prices and went immediately to bed because we were exhausted from driving and traveling all night long.
Sinaia has the fame of being one of the most beautiful mountain resorts in Romania, which presents itself to the visitor with a past rich in cultural and social events. Sinaia is about 60 km North-West of Ploiesti and 50 km South of Brasov, in a mountainous area on the Prahova river valley, the altitude of the town varies between 767 m and 860 m. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery around which the town was built. The monastery is in turn named after the biblical Mount Sinai. Sinaia combines in a unique way the beauty of nature with the beauty of the architectural art. King Carol I of Romania built his summer residence, Peles castle, near the town.

So, in the afternoon of the same day we went for a walk in town and we visited the Sinaia Monastery and Peles castle, which are the 2 most interesting sightseeing places. I was strongly impressed by the very well preserved Peles castle with its fine architecture and beautiful gardens dotted with plenty of statues, ponds, fountains and so on.
The next day we took a shuttle to the neighboring village, got on the cabin lift (which operates every round hour) and arrived at the starting point of the trekking day at about 2200 m. a. s. l. in the Bucegi National Park. It was an extremely sunny day (I got a sun burn) and everything around us was covered with snow. It was so quiet, white and beautiful…Perfect for taking photos. There were quite interesting rock formations at the top as the Sphinx.

The landscape in this area is truly dramatic. We first went to the edge of the ridge where a giant metal Cross was standing about 1400 m. above Sinaia situated down in the valley. From this point, following the ridge and the oval landscape, we went to the second cabin lift, running up and down to Sinaia. All around we saw the ski runs which are quite short, an old chair lift and several drag lifts. As for ski facilities and hotels I could say that Sinaia resort is still too far away from an average modern ski resort. The facilities and most of the hotels are from the 60 - 70-ties. The most modern ski resort that Romania has is Poiana Brasov, about 50 km. away from Sinaia.
After several hours of very pleasant and easy trek we went down to Sinaia, took a quick shower, had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and proceeded to our next adventure – bear watching.
I was very exciting about bear watching because I’ve never seen a bear in the wild and I have always wanted to see one. A Bulgarian friend of Ivo

showed him once a video of bears made in Brasov. And he told him that it was very possible to see bears, especially in the summer time. So after a short investigation, we found where the bear place was. It was in the outskirts of the city where the forest meet the apartment blocks. There was a street lined with garbage-cans and garbage all over the forest nearby – the leftover from the bears’ hunt. We even saw a grave stone by one of the garbage-cans belonging to a victim of a bear…
So we went to the closest super market, bought 2 cans of fish and 1 big loaf and went back to our stalking spot. We made the bread in small pieces dipped them into the fish sauce and spread them all over the place. And then we started waiting and watching in the van…After almost 5 hours of waiting, at about 10 o’clock in the evening we saw… nothing . May be the Romanian bears have already went for their winter sleep. It was October after all.
Hungry and cold, but not disappointed, we went to a restaurant in Brasov and then back to Sinaia. The next day, before lunch we headed towards Bulgaria. I was very happy to come back in my home country.
At the end I would like to recommend Sinaia as a great place for trekking which offers enough marked trails, suitable for every hiker. Apart from the magnificent sceneries you would also enjoy the rich cultural heritage in the area.


Published with permission from Ivailo Nikolov and Kamen Panayotov, http://www.trekkingbulgaria.com