Transylvania Trek, Romania

This past week I spent on a DIS Adventure Trip to the Carpathian Mountains in Romania.  Let me just say this trip put all other adventure trips to shame.  Seriously though... this was the most intense, thrilling, breathtaking trek I have ever and probably will ever experience.  I was seeking a city escape, and what I got exceeded my expectations in every way. 

Saturday, October 19:

Our group consisted of 20 DIS students and 2 group leaders - a bunch of strangers that once again became really close each day.  We met at the airport at 11:30am in time for our scheduled 1:20pm (but delayed) departure to Bucharest.  Once we landed, a bus and guide picked us up for our 2 hour drive to Hotel Casa Iris in Sinaia.  We got our room assignments, were served a delicious 3 course dinner, had a group meeting to detail the next few days (since we were the first DIS group to go on this trip and had no idea what to expect), and went to bed.  I was still a little sick which lasted through the entire trip, but it wasn't too bad thankfully.  

Sunset Drive to Casa Iris

Sunday, October 20:

In the morning, we received backpacks to pack what we needed for the next 3 days of hiking because we will have to hike half way up a mountain to reach our next place of residence... yes it is that secluded which is awesome!  After breakfast, we headed to Peles Castle - the summer residence of the royal family (by the way there is no more royal family in Romania, so now it is just a museum).  I've seen a lot of castles in my life, but this was the most beautifully unique castle I've ever seen.  We got a tour of the inside (and couldn't take pictures) but I was in awe.  After the tour, we went back to the hotel for lunch and to throw our bags on the bus.  There we were told they planned a special surprise, and on the bus we found out we would be repelling down a rock wall and doing archery!  Coolest surprise ever!  We spent around 3 hours here, and this is where we met Vlad and Dragos our awesome ecoxtreme hiking guides.  We then drove about an hour to the start of our hike up to Curmatura Chalet.  However, at this point the hike was pushed back so much by the surprise that we had to hike through the forest in the pitch black.  Good thing a few people brought head lamps and there was a full moon and clear skies.  Also it was freezing!  But all of us ended up stripping off all layers and just hiking in t-shirts for 3 hours until we finally reached the Chalet at 9:30pm.  We stayed in rooms of 11 people each and were served dinner before we went to bed.  

Peles Castle

Merida takes on Romania

Repelling

Monday, October 21:

This is the day we've all been waiting for - the beginning of the Transylvania Trek.  Little did we know what was coming at us full force though.  After breakfast, we began hiking at around 10am.  The first half hour was straight uphill forest hiking, not too bad yet - just tiring.  Dragos asked us if we wanted to do an additional "optional" hike up a parallel mountain (Piatra Mica Peak) to the planned North Ridge of Piatra Craiului Mountain.  Of course we all said yes.  This is when we realized how seriously intense these hikes were going to be.  We literally were hanging on to rocks for dear life and climbing straight up rock faces with shear drops.  After this mountain was conquered in an hour and a half, we were back on track and started the trek up Piatra Craiului.  We all scrambled up rock faces and scaled the side of the mountain for 3 hours until we reached the very top.  Talk about challenging!  And never-ending... around every turn and rock, it was just more vertical rocks to haul up or shear drops to avoid falling over.  Thinking back on it, it was actually really dangerous, but SO AWESOME.  Once we trekked up to the top, we had 3 hours of hiking along the ridge with ups and downs of jagged rocks and shear drops on either side of you.  Casual.  The view was absolutely stunning since we were above the clouds.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  We finally reached the end of the ridge as the sun was setting, then had another 2-3 hour hike back down, scrambling over loose rocks on an extremely steep slope.  I'm pretty sure everyone fell at least once it was very unstable ground.  When we finally reached the forest hike down, it was almost pitch black again, so I slammed my shin into a rock.  Ouch.  By the time we reached the Chalet 10 hours later from when we started... it was such a feeling of relief and adrenaline rush at the same time.  I can't believe what we did was real life.  Amazing.  We had some hot wine, played card games, ate dinner, and got some much needed sleep.  Oh yeah, there were also no showers and only porta pottys - needless to say we were all looking (and smelling) goooooooood.

The start of Piatra Mica Peak

The top of Piatra Mica with Piatra Craiului ridge behind

Tried to capture some of the hike up Piatra Craiului

On the ridge

Half way there!

The destination peak

Above the clouds

Tuesday, October 22:

We had breakfast at the Chalet and packed our things to start our descent down the rest of the mountain in the morning.  3 hours of painful hiking through the forest later (every single muscle in my body was so sore), we reached the bus at the bottom.  The bus drove us to Brasov for lunch and a 2 hour treasure hunt around the city.  By the way, the food on this trip was overwhelming in itself.  Every meal included 3 courses, and always had cheese, white bread, soup, meat, and was usually fried.  Welcome to Romania.  The treasure hunt was really cool we got to see a lot of historical buildings - and my team rocked it!  The treasure at the end was a medal for everyone.  A 2 hour bus ride later, we got to a hotel and had dinner.  I wasn't feeling too great so I went to bed after. 

The start of our hike down

The main square of Brasov

Wednesday, October 23:

We had breakfast at the hotel and then walked up to a Citadel which was really cool to see.  We drove into Sibiu and walked around the city before lunch.  After, we drove 2 hours to Bran and just made it to Dracula's Castle in time before it closed.  There, we got the strangest tour ever.  There was a group of maybe 50 of us, all speaking different languages from Germany and Japan and I don't even know where else.  It was a mess.  But Dracula's Castle was interesting to see!  Right down the road we stayed in Hotel Transylvania Inn for the night and had a couple hours off to just relax before dinner.  

Citadel

Sibiu

Dracula's Castle

Courtyard in Dracula's Castle

Thursday, October 24:

Today consisted only of traveling home.  After breakfast and packing, we drove about 2 1/2 hours to the airport, got awesome t-shirts, said bye to our lovely guides, and our flight took off at 2:20pm.  If I had to sum up this trip in one word (which is kind of impossible) I would say EPIC.  What an experience.  I can't believe it's over already! (Although my muscles are still recovering)

BUT GUESS WHAT!!  My best friend is coming to Copenhagen TONIGHT and staying until Wednesday morning.  I'm so excited!!  We have talked about traveling together our whole lives since we are both obsessed with it.  She is studying in Morocco this semester and I'm so excited to see her and share stories of our adventures.  I haven't seen her in 5 months and it's about damn time!

 CAN'T WAIT