I put the alarm clock to ring a little earlier than Giorgos Z. I would love to find time to write in my diary as the previous night I was very tired. So it happened. However, Giorgos Z woke up and started to organize his things.
We departed from our accommodation at 10:30 a.m coming across busy streets. The weather fortunately was rainy, but the cold had made its presence. We started our trip towards the airport on the way to Brasov.
We had decided, or to be honest I had to decide-not to follow the standard route through Sinaia, but a parallel mountain road, which crossed through the village Cheie. Driving to the highway Ploiesti, we traveled 60 km until the signs to Brasov (1A). The path followed an the eastern route (14km) around the city of Ploiesti, which is known for its refineries.
The road was in moderate condition and narrow. We met several trucks. Eventually, we arrived at the junction of Valenii de Munte (1A) and turned right, moving on a path with enough traffic that passing through small villages. There were few moments when I thought I had taken the wrong decision to follow this route and not the one that goes through the village of Sinaia.
I changed my opinion completely 15km after the town Valenii de Munte, after the village Maneciu - Ungureni. From there an extraordinary journey (35-40km.) began that crossed a wooded area of tall trees. The trees in many places hid the little sun of this sunny day. In many places the road followed a river, making the landscape more spectacular! Shortly before the peak (1263m.) we passed the village of Cheia, which is a famous tourist resort. The only negative of the trip was the presence of several trucks. As we learned later, the reason is that the curfew that exists on the Sinaia road, has increased the traffic in this route...
Approximately 20km. before Brasov, the road crossed a plateau. Having crossed the beautiful part of the journey before the last km before the city seemed boring. Beyond that, we waited 2 Romanian friends’ motorcyclists, Mihai and Florin, which increased our impatience to get there.
At 5pm in the afternoon we had parked the motorcycle at a gas station at the entrance of the city waiting for our friends. Soon they came. Their joy was painted on their faces. Immediately we went to park the bikes in their garage and get a ride to the city.
It was then the first time that I heard a noise coming from the rear wheel of my bike Varadero. My friends wanted to pull out the wheel, and the garage has almost everything, to check the status of the wheel. A little later, our fears were confirmed ... the bearing was starting to wear out. It should be replaced. Florin, after a few calls, he found a garage that could make the replacement for the next day. After that I calmed down ...
Florin gave us his house to stay. We changed and with Mihai, we began to wander the historic city center. Before that we took the road to Poiana Brasov, from where you can enjoy the magnificent view of the city and especially the historical part.
Then we visited the castle (citate) of the city. So many times I had visited in the past-the-town and did not know its existence. Fortunately, the recent years have placed signs to inform you both about its existence, and its location. The truth is that because of dense vegetation in the surroundings it is not visible.
As soon as you cross the gate of a small castle, immediately you see the abandonment of the area. As we were told by Mihai, previously, was full of life and the spaces were turned into restaurants and bars, making it the most popular place for entertainment in the city. Over the years it was abandoned, the only remaining signs indicate the old glory. On the occasion Mihai told us stories from his adolescence and the years of Communism.
It got darker; so we headed to the historic city center. The place was very nicely lit, and created an atmosphere which referred to older times and perhaps in another country. There have been several reconstructions of buildings and walkways changing the appearance of the area for the best. First we walked around the walls to reach the paved roads.
Initially we met Biserica Nearga (Black Church), the name of which came from its color. It is said that originally covered with gold leaf. When the city was conquered by the Turks it was burned to melt the gold and take it. Mihai told us another story about this: During its construction, one child aged 15 years or so worked there. His intelligence verging on genius. He learned very quickly, resulting in starting to provide solutions and to improvise in architectural and technical issues. The master builder seeing the evolution of the child was afraid of losing his position. So one day, he pushed the boy from the roof and killed him. The guilt of his action drove him to build a statue depicting a small child to be bent up to the roof and looking down. I do not know if the story is true; however, the existence of this statue does not fit to the rest of the decor...
The tour continued in the main square, Piazza Sfatului, known by the existence of the imposing yellow building, which today operates as a museum. Formerly it was the town hall. Then we encountered several churches of different religions, a sample of the diversity of city residents. We reached the little alley strada Sforii, which is one of the smaller roads in Europe, measuring 83m. and a width of 1.82 m. Arriving by Mihai jokingly said: "Warning! The bus will come out!"
Our wandering finished by reaching a restaurant where Florin and a friendly couple Marcel and his wife Bianca both "crazy" motorcyclists, were waiting for us. The restaurant had traditional flavors. The food was delicious. We sat there for a long time discussing stories for motorcycles and future trips.
Later Mihai’s girlfriend came. The evening continued with conversation and a lot of wine. The main topic of discussion was the upcoming trip to Greece.
We returned home by taxi ... as they had planned to drink, so they didn’t get their cars with them.
