Chris Solo Central Europe, Wed Jun 21, 2023

Sibiu → Brașov Romania via Transfăgărășan (day10)

Ride Log

Expected to ride with Daniel, but something came up and he couldn't leave early.
But then he left later and just went highway, over the top, and found me buying cheese at a roadside stand.
We rode together well, took lots of pictures at the top, and had lunch at Albota, Trout Farm/resort/restaurant.  Very good.
Looking forward to another trip to Romania, perhaps with Romania Motorcycle Tours.
"Non stop" = "open 24x7"
Met a large Albanian gypsie family on 4 large carts each drawn by two horses and loaded with random stuff heading to a flea market down the road.
At the flea market, there was a lot of random crap and a LOT of old bicycles.
I stopped and got a picture of one of the carts and the kids swarmed me saying "ban, ban, ban".  They had maybe 2 words of English and the kid said ban, food, ban, food.
So I opened my tailpack and gave them a liter of yoghurt.  Then I tried talking to the driver of the next cart.  He said Albania family and money for food.  I gave them 100 Lei which is about $20.
They didn't stop bugging me, so I gave the woman with the yoghurt 50 Lei, then put my helmet back on and rode off. They seemed pretty happy.
Up the south side of Transfagarasan, the view got really intersting with very steep streams coming from the last of the snowpack.
Daniel said he was up there Fri, Sat, and Sun and the road wasn't open yet.  Today is Wednesday.  They just opened it Monday morning.  What incredible luck I've been having on this trip.
At the top, the lake freezes and they build an ice hotel on the lake.
Lot of dirt on the road, traffic hasn't swept it away yet.
Daniel said "You are pretty fast and a very good rider".  I was staying with him on the descent and after a while he waved me past.  He dropped back a few 100m.  I was pushing just a little bit but still being very careful with the road surface.