Sibiu - Busteni

Before we started

Today is the day. We get in the car early in the morning, the newly rented car, and by 8:15 we're on the road. The GPSs (both of them) take me through town where I face my Nemesis: the roundabouts, a whole bunch of them; but I had training yesterday and I am pretty positive I had dreams last night of perfect exits from them, so I manage to get out of town with my nerves intact. Once on the highway I am fine, the road is good, surprisingly good and the traffic is 10 times better than I expected. We pass through seemingly deserted villages, and by various fields; the views are nice, the day is perfect, nobody cursed at me, so I feel great.

A typical village

I decide to take a slightly shorter route that leaves the highway and goes through local roads. The reason is to be able to go slow and bask in the Motherland's beauty. But it's hard to do that and watch the road for potholes at the same time. And let me tell you, the road I take, although beautiful, is like Swiss cheese and I keep breaking and swerving to avoid those darn caverns in the road. We come around a curve and in front of us is the prettiest green hill, with the prettiest houses on top of it, with the prettiest sunlight on it, and while I point it to Mikey I run through the "prettiest" pothole in the road. Pssssssssssssssssssssssssss..... I hear the air coming out of a tire, and I push the car really hard to get around the next curve and pull on the side. But there, lucky me, on the deserted road, there is an old gentlemen pulled over to pick up mushrooms. So he lends me a hand, and half an hour later, we are back on our way on the spare tire. By now I demand complete silence in the car and I don't take my eyes off the road, cause I can't afford another flat tire. We make it to the next town, where we find the only place that deals with tires, and they say it's too badly damaged to get it fixed. So we get back in the car, heading towards Busteni, hoping that I will not need another tire this trip.

Just out of Rasnov

We go through the mountains, and I try very hard not to look left or right, just ahead of me. The road is much better now, but there are plenty of curves and the traffic, although not bad at all, is crazy because apparently people don't like to stay in their lanes. By the time I reach DN1, we get into the slow traffic everyone warned us about, and it takes us almost an hour to go less than 10 km (that's about 6 miles). Once we reach Busteni I feel better, and I manage the very tight road and gate into the hotel's parking, where I vow 1: that the car will stay parked and we will walk or take the train while we're here; and 2: that after this trip I will not drive again in Romania. I am a basket of nerves.

However, the hotel owner is so nice and friendly, and she encourages me. She offers her husband to take the tire in somewhere else to get it fixed, and gives us ideas about what we can do in the afternoon and affordable places to eat in town. The room is nice and clean, the yard is beautiful, and we have the nicest view of the mountains from our room; it's been raining today, and the view is not that clear but you can almost guess their majestic outlines through the curtain of mist and clouds. I feel better.

View from the front terrace: Caraiman Peak in the Bucegi Mountains

We eat something quickly, and Mikey is getting ready to settle in the room in front of the TV. Surprise! We're not staying at the hotel, little boy, we're going to see something. So the temper tantrum starts because we "always go see things". I try to explain to him that this is exactly the reason why we go places, to see things, and do things, and learn things,  and have new experiences... but he's in a stubborn mood so I let him be. We walk downtown for a bit, then past the train station. I have seen this little train station many times in my life on our way to and from Bucharest and my grandfather's house, but we never stopped here. It is now just as small and quaint as I remember it, but maybe not as busy. Somehow I feel trains are becoming a thing of the past here too....

Busteni train station

Anyways, past the train station, round a curve, over a bridge, on top of a hill...  and we reach the Cantacuzino Castle.

Cantacuzino Castle

Built in 1911, it boasts a beautiful garden with fountains, a grotto and modern art as well as an art gallery on the second floor. We opt for a tour of the first floor only and the gardens. Because we're 45 minutes early before the tour starts, we walk around a bit, snap some pictures and get some coffee. Mikey enjoys the view, runs around with me, and gets thrilled to instantly recognize a statue of Artemis.

View of the garden from the terrace

Artemis

Before the tour, we stare at the genealogical tree of the Cantacuzino family (I didn't know it's traced back all the way to the 12th century!) and have a nice conversation about genealogy. However, the second the tour starts, the boy's temper tantrum starts too. After 10 minutes of negotiations in the main hall, we reach an agreement: he does not have to like it, but he will let me enjoy it. For me, it's a deal!
The tour is short, we see the main hall, a couple of small rooms, the ballroom with the impressive balcony, and the dining room. Most of the rooms are not furnished, but they have beautiful decorations: hand carved and detailed, hand painted oak ceiling beams; amazing stained glass on all the windows and interior doors, with a rich symbolism related to the Byzantine origins of the Cantacuzino family and to the Romanian monarchy; marble fire places; intricate flooring; and especially the wall paintings. When the castle was built, the whole walls were covered in murals, but later on most of those were repainted in some pastel oil paint, which took away the beauty (the castle was turned into a tuberculosis hospice during communist time). Now you can only see a strip of the old decorations towards the ceiling, and this is enough to give you a glimpse of the beauty that once was. The architectural style is neo Romanian, a sturdy type of building with beautiful round arches and columns. While inside, we are not allowed to take pictures, so I can not showcase it's beauty. We were only able to snap a few pictures from the balcony. All in all, it was a nice visit to a nice place rich in history and art. Mikey is still not ready to embrace such places and go there open minded, but I hope that these experiences are just building blocks for him and he will ultimately learn to appreciate such things.

From the balcony, with the mountains in the background

The door and window of the ballroom leading into the balcony

After the castle tour, we walk back and stop for dinner at an expensive place with average food. But we're good now, Mikey is in a good mood, he confesses he was really really really really hungry, and we start making plans for tomorrow. The clouds are lower now, we can see the top of the mountains, and I hope and pray for a day with no rain. The boy thinks he earned a day of "chilling" at the hotel. But I think otherwise. We shall see tomorrow.

Caraiman Peak. If you look really carefully you may be able to see the Cross on top of it. 

July 23, 2018