Our first visit in Romania was in Timisoara, where we stayed before, and our next destination city was Sibui, also a place we’ve visited, but it was such a long distance we had a “stop over” in a small village called, Hateg. It was hot that day and we were tired and frustrated trying to find a room on the fly, but we found one and it was also unique in that it had a POOL! Just what the doctor ordered and we cooled off there for just one night but realized that there was yet another castle nearby, so on our way we took a slight detour to Colvin Castle, AKA Hunyadi Castle or Hunedoara Castle. I’ve shared our castle experiences and how we get jaded with yet another castle, but this one WAS unique and special. It was built in the 1400’s near the (now) city of Hunedoara, but over the centuries went through many rebuilds, modifications, and name changes. Its one of the largest castles in Europe and seems to be under continuous renovation, but they are doing it right, and not spoiling the original architecture.

From there it was on to Sibui through relentless wind (!) which makes for a interesting bike ride, and on to one of the nicest rooms we’ve had in a while. We’re right in Old Town, about a 5 minute walk to eateries, coffee, and anything we want. There’s a large square in the center of town and there is a Folk Festival going on, so we have live music every night! We have three nights here and then on to Brasov, a city we loved in 2019, and we’re mulling over crossing the border into Moldova, just to say we’ve done it.

In Brasov we reconnected with our good friend, Paul, a fellow nomad, who is also in love with Brasov and he will be there for 90 days. That’s a strong commitment, and this is his second time staying in Brasov! The elevation is such that you really don’t have to worry too much about summer heat, but it is still eminently affordable compared to many other places. The biggest challenge as a nomad is, “Where do you stay in winter when it’s cold, and where do you stay in summer when it’s hot, expensive, and crowded?” So we are looking for multiple solutions to have the flexibility to go to different places.

Before we got there, we went through one of the most impressive mountainous areas in the world, called the Transfagarasan Highway. I will be posting a video specifically on that, but here’s an example of some of the roads that we went through. Kathleen, like always, was a rockstar, and took some great videos while we were driving!

After our weekend getaway in Busteni, we are returning to Brasov for another three days, and get to know it even better. It’s hard to believe, but our summer journey is almost to an end, with only 10 days left before we return Eragon, our BMW bike, to Bucharest. We’ve been to seven countries since the end of May and have ridden over 5300 km, about 3300 miles, so almost the distance from the east to the west coast of the US. The bike has been awesome, and except for 20 minutes of rain that I ran into on DAY ONE before I picked up Kat, we have had no rain but for occasional sprinkles! We are thankful every day for our good fortune.

Over the years we have seen countless castles and I keep thinking we’ve seen enough, but every once in awhile, including now, one catches my fancy and makes me go WOW!. This castle is not as old as many, but it has so much character, with statues and artwork spread out throughout the large estate.

We came back to Brasov, and reconnected with some friends who we met four years ago, Mihai and Georgiana (above). They were our Airbnb hosts, and we all connected, so much that we were invited to their house for a barbecue and a wagon ride through the hills of Romania. That experience still stands as one of the most unique and outstanding experiences over our 5 years of travel. We met them again yesterday, and it was though we had never been separated by 4 years, we all just reconnected again, and I know that we will be back to see them. I also hiked to the top of the tram to see the Brasov sign. I was proud of making that hiking about 1 hour!

We are now on to our next to last stop, the small village of Sinaia, which is on the way to Bucharest. It’s a little bittersweet knowing that we only have one week left on our trusty steed, Eragon, and then we will be moving on. To say it has been a fantastic summer would be an understatement, and we live in gratitude for every day that we get to experience this nomadic lifestyle. Sure, we sometimes miss some of the luxuries of a stable home and living in a country where everyone speaks English, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We spent two days in the small town of Sinaia and visited the main attraction there: Pele Castle. It was strange, on my Facebook memories I found out that we were there exactly four years to the day, 1461 days later. What are the odds?? We had a nice room there that was a throwback to Romania from 30 years ago, but it had its charm. Almost all the places in Romania have their own identity and sense of charm. We also went looking for an attraction called Rock St. Anne, which took us up a narrow winding road. We never could find The Rock, but there were other cars on the road so we thought, “let’s see where they go.”

It took us to the top of a ski lift, and 20 minutes later we got off the bike and took another chair lift to the very, very top of the mountain. It was spectacular, and once more proved that sometimes the roads that are mistakenly taken work out for the best.

Now we are in Bucharest, we have an awesome apartment right near Old Town, but our fascination with Old Town has diminished. The restaurants are overpriced and a quality of the food is not that great, but we found just a block or two away an area where all the streets were closed and people were walking around listening to the street musicians. Magic! It’s like we visualize when we think of Europe sometimes.

In a few days it’s on to our final European city: Paris. This will also be the 30th place we will call “home” since the end of May. The only reason we picked that is because they had well priced flights back to the United States. It’s strange, neither of us is fascinated by Paris, and we will do just a few tourist things, like re-visit the Eiffel Tower, (if we can get tix) and I will probably go to the Louvre museum, since I missed it the last time. Thank you press pass!

We are now in the process of packing, bringing everything into carry-on size! There are things that we need, things that we don’t, and others that we have to make that decision. I got a new backpack, much larger than the last, and Kathleen has a more comfortable one too. We avoid check in luggage, which greatly reduces the stress! It’s been an eventful summer, and now we’re ready for the next chapter. Stick around for that since it’s taking us to the US, Hawaii (including Maui), and onward via a repositioning cruise to Sydney, Australia.