Welcome to uncle Joni's travel stories
I just finished a short trip report about an adventurous weekend that I had in the Făgăraş Mountains. I hope you enjoy it!
Snowy mountains look spectacular!
Last weekend we once again drove to the mountains around Brașov and had plans to ski and hike there for three days. The first day was cut a bit short because of the usual traffic jams between Bucharest and Brașov but we still had some time to test our new winter equipment at Poiana Brașov ski center. Inna learnt how to self-arrest with an ice axe and I tested my new mountaineering boots for the first time.
The second day we spent skiing in Poiana Brașov and found some pretty nice lines there. Inna's skiing skills are surely improving! Our plan for the third day was to hike in the Ciucaș mountains and climb the highest peak there but Inna wanted to turn around perhaps thirty minutes or an hour before reaching the summit because of very bad visibility. I can't blame her! Perhaps I'll have a second chance with the mountain before we move back to Finland...
A great view on top of Vârful Postăvaru!
Inna sent me to a three-day winter mountaineering course as a Christmas present. The original plan was to have two people plus the guide but in the end we had a group of 5-7 people. I don't usually like big groups but the Romanian people who joined us were really friendly and fun to hang out with so no complaints!
We spent the first day climbing Lespezi (~2516 m) in less than ideal conditions. It was snowing a bit, it was quite windy and the visibility was pretty abysmal towards the end of the day. We made it to the summit anyway and even had a dog to accompany us all the way up and down the mountain :).
The dog did its best to stay warm.
We wanted to see the fireworks here in Bucharest but weren't expecting quite so many people! We were in the city center well in time but just couldn't move close enough because of the humongous masses of people with apparently similar plans. The trip to the center wasn't all in vain though as we got to see Carla's Dreams once again. Inna likes the band a lot and I got to practice taking photos :). It's quite amazing what the small, cheap and light 40-150mm Olympus lens can do!
Hello my dear readers! There's yet another trip report for you to enjoy. Let me know what you think about it in the comments section!
Inna wanted to see mountain scenery with snowy peaks and trees in their autumn colors so we headed towards Brașov and its surrounding areas for the weekend. It was unfortunately a bit late to see trees in their best colors higher up in the mountains but the snowy peaks were there for sure! In addition to Brașov we visited Râșnov Citadel and Prejmer Fortified Church as well.
Prejmer Fortified Church
We spent a nice long weekend in Tuscany in Italy and in San Marino in October together with Inna and my father. The weather was even warmer than it usually is that time of the year and we enjoyed our trip thoroughly.
Not everything went according to our plans however as my father found San Marinese balconies so fascinating that he forgot to steer and broke one of the tires of our rental car! We were in luck however because the Rimini airport isn't all that far away from San Marino and were were able to get a new rental car from there even though it was Saturday afternoon. After the incident my father made sure to stop before marveling at architecture :L.
Florence proved to be a very beautiful city and much easier and more pleasant to navigate on foot than Bologna. The downside is that other people know about the beauty of Florence too and it was packed with tourists even in the end of October. I don't even want to imagine what the city must be like in summer...
This kind of cars they use to guide planes in Bologna.
Three colleagues (Harri, Henkka and Turo) of mine and I had a great hiking trip in the Triglav national park in Slovenia for which I decided to write a short trip report. On the way to Slovenia I had the chance to visit Belgrade, the capital of Serbia as well. I hope you enjoy reading the story!
Ominous clouds in Slovenia. How familiar is that?
We've lived in Romania for a bit less than a year and only now it starts to feel like we've seen at least the biggest sights here. Over the last month and a half we've visited Danube in western Romania, the Transfăgărășan mountain road for the second time, eastern Romania, Maramureș in northern Romania, the Piatra Craiului Mountains and one day I went to cycle in the Făgăraș Mountains as well.
I wrote a short story about our trip to northern Romania and a news piece about the weekend trip we had in western Romania as well. Enjoy!
Cycling in the Făgăraș Mountains
Just before Inna's father and brother visited us my father decided to pay us a surprise visit as well. During the long weekend we explored what western Romania has to offer. First we went for a boat ride together to see a beautiful gorge called the Iron Gates on the border between Romania and Serbia. The highlight of this gorge is, together with the stunning nature, the rock sculpture of Decebalus. Decebalus was the last king of Dacia and the sculpture dedicated to him stands over 40m tall.
King Decebalus
Comments
Let's hope the possibility for editing comments will make people comment more as they don't have to be afraid of mistakes anymore :).
Edited by Milton - 11.06.2011 12:25
Edited by Milton - 10.01.2013 21:49