Transfagaras Road

Of all Nicolae Ceausescu's brainless, monumental, money pit projects, only one remains useful and, dare I say, admired. I speak of the Transfagarasan Road, Romania's highest asphalt road, winding over the Fagaras Mountains, connecting Transylvania to Wallachia.

Billed by my own LP guide as "an unforgettable experience behind the wheel", the road was born not surprisingly out of one of Ceausescu's many paranoid episodes, wanting to secure a Carpathian crossing in case of Russian invasion (as had happened in Czechoslovakia in 1968). Ceausescu sent in the army to tackle job, which they did in just four and a half years (38 fall-down exhausted soldiers reportedly died in mishaps during construction), opening in September 1974.

Weather restricts access to the road to roughly May to October. The north (Transylvania) side is indisputably the highlight, twisting and climbing, passing little waterfalls and remote lodges while providing stupifying views. Soon after the tree-line starts to thin Bâlea Cascada (Bâlea Waterfall) appears - or not, as it is often enshrouded in a fog so thick and creamy you could mixed it in parmesan and poured it over pasta.

At the road's peak is Lake Bâlea (2,034 meters/6,671 feet) which is also often lost in fog. Keep an eye out for (pathetic) signage signalling your arrival or just pull over when you see a lot of parked cars and roadside vendors selling corn on the cob. The walk from the road to the lake is about 15 minutes. Or drive it, though with all the people wandering around driving is about as slow as walking and you run the risk of finding nowhere to park once you reach the busy lakeside challet/restaurant. Lake Bâlea is also the site of the Ice Hotel.

An instant after passing the Lake Bâlea turnoff, you'll plunge into a nearly one kilometer long tunnel, emerging on the south side of the mountain, which less striking to look at, but the upshot is that it's rarely foggy on this side. The drive down the mountain and through the twisting, deteriorating forest road at the bottom takes about 90 minutes all told, before you suddenly come upon Lake Vidraru Dam and Poienari Citadel soon after.

Further south are the villages of Arefu and later Curtea de Arges.

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