How not to get on Transfagaras highway

One of the most beautiful roads in the world, which was built for the military, but was useful to autos and fans of breathtaking views. The track, which attracted even the reckless trinity of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May of Top Gear - they really came off on it! And Jeremy in a fit of heart even called her the best for driving sports cars. Only 2 months of the year are allowed here and only during daylight hours! When you drive along this road in one direction, then you have only one desire left - to drive in the opposite direction.

It is located in Romania. The miracle road has its own name - Transfagaras highway, it is Transfagarasan, it is Transfagarasan, it is Transfagaras, it is DN7C - as you like. This is a mountain road in the Carpathians, connecting the Romanian regions of Wallachia and Transylvania and passing through the Fagaras massif, piercing it with a tunnel at an altitude of 2034 meters.

This is the highest road in Romania, which is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world and is a landmark of the country.

The highway was built in the 70s for military needs. Nicolae Ceausescu, who was then the president of the Socialist Republic of Romania, looking at the invasion of the Warsaw Pact countries in Czechoslovakia in 1968, was seriously scared of the same fate and decided to hedge his war along the Fagaras pass. The construction was carried out by forces and means of the Romanian army and required huge costs. Only one dynamite was spent about 6000 tons. Not without casualties - about 40 people died on the construction of the road.

As a result, Ceausescu was shot anyway (only a little later), and the road from a strategic object turned into a local attraction. So on it we decided to ride from Transylvania to Wallachia, with a stop at the Vidrara dam and back. We left Sighisoara and by lunch were already in Kartishoara, at the very foot of the majestic Carpathians. A single road led away to the mountains by a snake, it is simply impossible to make a mistake here. “There are no cars, beauty!”, We thought and, enjoying the views from the road, we went upstairs with cheerful music.

Everything was perfect until they buried in concrete blocks blocking the road. At first they decided that on the eve there had been a collapse and the blocks themselves fell to the ground. But looking closely, they realized that they had been laid by a crane here.

While getting out of confusion, two more cars with strange numbers drove up. The guys went out, and by their appearance it was clear that they were no less surprised than us.

We met, talked: the guys were traveling from Greece, they have an off-road expedition to the Balkans. Like us, they didn’t know why they closed the passage, although further on everything seemed fine.

We decided to go back to the stalls to find out from the locals at least something. But the fact that we no longer fall on Transfagaras was already clear.

In the distance, they saw something similar to a cable car, which by all indications worked ...

At 100 meters from the dead end there was a small island of civilization with trade tents and mini-hotels.

The tents worked, and it was possible to buy local food there: smoked meat, pies, cheese, bacon and bacon and some homemade drinks. From the sad faces of the sellers, only one thing could be understood: not the season.

Gestures managed to find out that the road was blocked due to some problems in the mountains. But the good news is that you can get there by cable car. The Greeks also clung to this opportunity to visit the mountains, albeit without cars. Together we found a building where a small trailer for 10 people departs from.

Price. For 60 lei (1000 rubles) you can rise and go down. The coordinates of this place: //goo.gl/maps/dqjkYLfPdS...

The trailer is not driven empty, so you need to wait until the group is typed. Together with new Greek acquaintances and a couple of other tourists, we just got 10 people. Dressed warmly, as intuition suggested that it would not be so hot as below ... All the warm clothes and shoes that I planned to use on the mountain Rila Lakes in Bulgaria came in handy.

The car will move, the platform will remain. At first it was a little scary to hang over the abyss, but quickly got used to it. Moreover, you forget about everything from such species! It’s a pity that the cabin glass has been scratched over the years so that you won’t normally take pictures through them.

It turned out that the cable car passes exactly over the highway, and we still managed to make out! Here are some sections to introduce:

Some dilapidated buildings along the road.

And here is the reason for blocking the road - snow! Later I read that Transfagaras is a seasonal road and it is open from July (sometimes June) until mid-September, and only in the daytime. In general, whether the road is open or not depends primarily on the weather and the will of local authorities. All the rest of the time, avalanches and drifts block the asphalt, blocking the approach to the top, where a kilometer tunnel is broken into the rock.

The final station of the trailer: we go out and admire the valley along which the highway is laid.

The weather in the mountains is very variable, and in minutes it may already be like this:

Due to snowfall, the cable car may stop moving and you will remain at the top until the next weather window (20-30 minutes), as happened to us. But this time has something to spend.

At the top there were a lot of people: someone arrived here on previous flights, but someone generally lives here.

Here is a whole tourist complex with three-star hotels, ski rental and a cafe. But all this works either in the winter or in the summer season. Although the winter season here lasts until May, while there are fans of extreme sports.

Fans of alpine skiing hourly climb up the almost steep slopes, so that they slide down in 3 minutes.

In summer, you can sit here on the shores of the beautiful mountain lake Balea, but now it is under the ice. I walked on it several times, not knowing that it was below me :)

Snow fell intermittently every 5-10 minutes. It was very unusual for me to get from summer to winter. I did not regret that I put on all the clothes that were in my luggage :) And I looked with pity at the young couple who came here in shorts and sandals :)

And here is the same through tunnel punched into the rocks.

Now it is closed with metal gates, and littered with snow.

Its length is 850 meters: you can walk right through the pitch in total darkness, as it is not illuminated. For the winter, shopping stalls are cleaned in it, where in summer you can buy the same cheeses, sausages and souvenirs.

There is nothing more to be done upstairs (unless a snowman is sculpted) and you can return.

We had a snack below with hot Romanian potato pies, bought some tasty cheese and meat on the road, talked a little more with the Greeks, exchanged souvenirs. We gave them a bottle of Ukrainian beer and dried fish, which we were treated to on the train, and they gave us all sorts of tasty things: a bottle of homemade Greek brandy, dried tomatoes with spices, homemade rose petal jam.