by Miron Huhulea

Created on: March 16, 2009

This summer escape the heat and take a trip into the historic and picturesque mountains of Romania. You can start with Brasov, a Saxon city in the Southern Carpathians that dates from the 13th century; but before you do that, you must first get into Romania.

There is only one (real) way in and out of Romania - for international and especially over-the-pond tourists - and that's thru Bucharest's international airport located just north of the nation's capital of 2,000,000+ inhabitants. If you want to linger in Bucharest there are things to see, but overcrowding, pollution, unbearable summer heat and the combination of lack of sidewalks and overabundance of homicidal drivers make it an undesirable place to be during the summer months. Best to use Bucharest as a starting point to hop a rail north into the Carpathian mountains and the wonders of Transylvania.

The first natural destination along this route north is the town of Sinaia just past the Carpathian foothills only 120 km (75 mi.) north of the capital. Sinaia, a town built at the foot of rocky peaks, is a combination of ski resort, natural wilderness and historic attraction in the form of Peles Castle. Take the cable car from downtown up to "Cota 2000," a peak 2,000 m (6,562 ft) above sea level (that's more than a mile up, higher than the elevation of Denver!). From here you can hike (or even mountain bike!) over the peak onto a vast expanse of mountainous terrain, most of it dotted only with the occasional cow or sheep (watch out for sheepdogs, they are large and very territorial and sometimes occur in packs, and wherever there's livestock there will also be dogs nearby). While in Sinaia don't forget to see Peles Castle - it's much closer to town and it can be hiked to by a different route (30-45 min. hike) - an engineering marvel built by Germans (mostly out of wood) in such a way that it has already lasted for more than 125 years.

Once your appetite has been whetted by this quaint gateway town continue on by bus thru mountain serpentines, for a long time, past several ski resort towns, and when the climb and descent of the serpentines end and you reach a huge, seemingly endless plateau, you'll know you've crossed over into Transylvania. An hour's ride north of Sinaia you'll enter Brasov, a town with a traditionally German town square, complete with Gothic church dating from 1477. You have to walk a bit from the modern center (train station, main boulevard) and up a slight incline to the old part of town

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