We now have arrived in the Brasov region. Not far from there is the famous Dracula Castle of Bran. This is probably one of the reasons why the region is a lot more touristy than the north of Romania and you can see that in the prices. We book a tour for the castle, because it is actually so well fenced that you hardly have the opportunity to take a good picture of it from outside the castle garden. But in the end we find a good spot.
We then continue to the mountain village of Magura, which is located in the middle of the Transylvanian wilderness. The village kiosk is "the place to be" and we enjoy a beer with the locals.
Buçegi National Park, however, has much more wilderness to offer. We have planned a 3-day hiking tour with overnight stay in mountain huts. However, at the beginning of October most of the huts in the Carpathian Mountains are already closed. So we shorten it to one overnight stay and a slightly shorter route. After a lot of rain for a few days, we can finally start. The trailhead is in Busteni, in winter also center of a ski area. Our destination is Cabana Malaesti, a mountain hut at around 1,700 m. In this area at least there are signposted hiking trails. However, these do not look heavily frequented; sometimes they are overgrown and we have to climb over countless fallen trees. After a few hours we reach the mountain hut. The accomodation is very simple. Bunk beds with wool blankets. There is no light or heating in the dormitory. Well, then we'll just warm up in the lounge. Noway! It's not warmer there either. The oven is not burning. I kindly ask the hut manager if he'll light a fire later, but I only get a sullen answer that it's not worth it with the few guests. Oh dear! The only warm things now are the vegetable soup and a cat that hugs my lap. We are a bit spoiled by the comfort of the Italian mountain huts.
The night was cold ... so what. The pass we have to take heats us up again. We head for the Cabana Omu, the highest mountain hut in this national park at 2,507 m. The ascent is steep and the path is hard to find again. It's almost zero degrees and the wind is whistling, but the impressions are breathtaking.
It's hard to believe that the Omu hut is hosted. We strengthen ourselves with a hot cocoa and warm up.
We then continue on the ridge towards the Busteni mountain station. And from then on the terrain is getting easier. It's the weekend and we meet masses of hikers! We head for Cabana Caraiman, from which one there is a great view of the Busteni valley.
The calm of the first days however is gone. We had planned to take the cable car down to the valley. But we quickly get away from that looking at the queue. The gondola also seems quite old and only has a capacity of about 10 people. We walk a bit further to a large parking lot and organize a transport to the valley. After the cold, windy days at high altitudes, we first need warmth and look for a cozy campsite where we can recharge our batteries.