This post sees us officially exceed the 9,000km mark !!! It also sees us drive from Bucharest to Sinai via Salina Slănic Prahova (The “Mina Unirea” Salt Mine), Campina (Capela Hernea Church). This post also covers our visit to the mountain ski villages of Sinai and Busteni, both surrounded by the mighty Carpathian Mountains and Bucegi National Park.
The underground salt mine in the town of Salina was simply awesome and a first time for Paris and Leo since I have visited such a salt mine in Poland with Paul Pappas. This salt mine is massive. Special vans take visitors on a 10min drove underground to reach 208m below the surface. The mine operated between 1943 and 1970 and is now a tourist attraction run by the retired miners. It is the largest underground salt mine in Europe in terms of volume! At 2.9 million cubic metres it can fit 110 Sydney Opera Houses inside it !!! The mine stands 400 meters (1,312 feet) from floor to Ceiling. The total area of the salt mine surface is around 19 acres. This salt mine has the purest air on Earth, almost completely lacking radiation and pollution. The temperature is a constant year around 13C (55F). There is a sanatorium with 50 places, equipped with beds, chairs, and tables, where visitors with respiratory problems can spend a few hours just to relax and breathe in the air. A two-week treatment is recommended for people with lung problems, so the salt mine doesn’t attract only tourists from all over the world, but also people who come especially for health reasons. The salt mine is also equipped with sports fields, volleyball courts, tennis courts, carting and mini-football and a buffet are set up in the salt mine. So there is entertainment available for those who want to engage in certain fun activities. There are som carvings out of salt but nowhere near the splendour that Paul and I saw in Poland where we witnessed an Eiffel Tower and St Peter's Basilica carved out of salt !!! Depsite that, this is truly an amazing place.
Sinai (Pop 10,410, Elev 880m, Founded 1695) is a very picturesque ski village in the lap of the Carpathian Mountains. It has the best looking castle to date – The Peles Castle built in 1874 by the first King of Romania Carol I and used as a royal residence by King Ferdinand and Queen Marie until the deaths after 1914. I shall let the photos do the rest of the talking. Sinai also has two other castles and many stately homes. The highlight of our visit was catching the 1970 Milano-built gondola (or cable car) from Sinai up to Mt Furnica, 2,000m above Sinaia (also known as COTA 2000). The cable car takes 20min to cover the 2.1km journey via COTA 1400 rising from a base of 880m. My 11.7km, 140min trek the following day was magnificent in mainly forest but also taking in the views at Stancile Franz Josef and the COTA 1400 Panoramic View.
THE ROMANIAN PSYCHO HOUSE !!!
Busteni (Pop 8,894, Elev 880m, Founded 1695) is also a picturesque ski village just 12km kilometres from Sinaia towards Brasov and is the base for fabulous treks to the huge Carpathian peaks above it. Busteni township is not as nice as Sinaia but the mountains around it are simply stunning and more than make up for the town itself. Busteni is also the location for the hugely popular Romanian movie (bought by Netflix and captioned in English) called “The Father Who Moves Mountains” released in 2021 which tells the story of a father looking for his son and his fiancée lost in the heavy snows of the area inspired by several such rescues from previous years. I drove to Busteni for the day from Sinaia to execute a very tough trek to Crucea Caraiman or “The Heroes Cross”, a 40m high Crucifix sitting on a ledge 2000m above Busteni. It literally takes an arm and a leg times two to get here. When I arrived in Busteni at 0830 the cross and the entire mountain range above the city was covered in cloud. I consulted some locals who told me to wait until the cloud burnt off. I walked the town and had a magnificent Latter from “5 To Go” a vey popular coffee chain in the wall across Romania. I set out at 1030 on what turned out to be the 4th hardest trek of my life. Very steep, trail full of rocks and roots and 4 sections of cliff edge with chains to get you past. At the 3km mark and almost 1600m I met a bunch of Italians coming down who told ne that the top was under cloud with no visibility. They also told me I had 3hrs to go and that rain was coming !!! This was at noon and I calculated a return of 5pm and had told Paris and Leo 3pm so I decided to abort. I have never aborted a trek. It was my first and I was upset because I was on fire going up. I also realised that I stopped close to the end of the cable car line above me and that I could come back tomorrow and catch the cable car up and then walk the rest of the way having done the toughest bit. So down I went and arrived 1330 to my car. I had my drone on my back for the cross so because I had some time I decided to let it up in Busteni in a cemetery close to the mountains but free of people, trees, telegraph wires (there are heaps in Romania) and police !!! By 3pm I was with Paris and Leo again with a tale to tell…
It is official. I have a new favourite white wine grape variety to replace my current favourite Gewurztraminer – it is called TAMAIOASA ROMANEASCA. The reason I like it is that it is in the same family of grapes as Gewurztraminer being the Muscat Family which also includes many other fragrants such as Gruner Vetliner. The terrific wine maker Stephen Donnelly at Budureasca Winery (88km north of Bucharest) introduced this to me once he heard how much I like Gewurztraminer. Why do I like Tamaioasca better? Because it has a better nose of flowers and jams and first tastes like overripe fruit and immediately finishes drier than Gewurtz. I bought 6 of these and just finised drinking them to my shear delight…
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