From Höfn to Seyðisfjörður

As planned from yesterday evening, today it has been the day to drive to Seyðisfjörður. The day started in the best possible way, with a lot of sun which gave us positive attitude and joy for the rest of the day.

As soon as we took the breakfast in Höfn, we went to the tourist information office to ask for suggestions about what to do around Höfn. However, we left from the information office with no so many options since the lady working there said she didn’t know much about the whole area, but she suggested we visit the glaciers in the direction to Vik, and do the one hour walk around Höfn’s coast; for more info about the attractions towards Seyðisfjörður she suggested we have to ask at info office in Djopivogur. We decided to do the walk, which proved to be refreshing with nice views.

After the walk we decided to go take off to our destination for today, Seyðisfjörður. We set the info in the GPS and there we drove. Although the route is neither very short but nor too long, just about 220 km, without detours, there are a lot of beautiful sights, that made us stop many times to take pictures or just to stare at the beautiful display of the nature.

The first stop we made in Djopivogur, a town in one of the stunning fjords on the southern coast of Iceland. There we went to the information office to ask about what can be done/seen from there up to Seyðisfjörður. There we got lots of booklets with info about the whole region. However, first we had lunch at a very nice restaurant inside a hotel called Hotel Framtid. The food is not the cheapest in the town but is very good and the place looks great. I highly recommend it.

We visited also the birds’ eggs expo but we were not impress. Yet, the whole town is very picturesque and worth a visit.

Then we decided to drive further, having in mind to stop also in the other towns from the other fjords on our way. Yet, the planned changed because the other town are very small and we didn’t see it was worth stopping; so the next and last stop was at the destination in Seyðisfjörður. Nevertheless we still stopped many times to take pictures.

On the way there were also two tunnels, and a unpleasant paved segment of the road (on the Ring Road) which is not possible to avoid; it has a length of few kilometers. Moreover, the last part of the trip, after exiting from the second tunnel, the road takes drivers up the mountains where at this time of the year is a lot of snow (not on the road though).

Furthermore the 25 km segment from Egilsstadir to Seyðisfjörður is a curved road up the mountain, after which is the down the mountain drive to the fjord. The view is amazing, though we caught a cloudy weather.

Seyðisfjörður is a small village but is has its charm. It is not much to do here but, a nice walk and very beautiful scenery justify such an choice. In Seyðisfjörður we are hosted at the old post house which is now transformed in accommodation under the name of  Hotel Snæfell.

Because we have already walk around all the village, we plan that tomorrow we are leaving early further towards the second biggest city of Iceland, Akureyri.

Lets sleep well and get ready for some more action waiting for us tomorrow.

Exploring New Zealand – Coromandel

Three days ago I arrived in New Zealand for the first time in my life, being ready to travel across it for 20 days; I am not alone, but with my girlfriend.

The first two and a half days I have spent in Auckland, and it was awesome. However, today we have got to the moment to pick up the car we have prebook it before our arrival here: a Toyota RAV4, from Budget. The staff from Budget in Auckland (Beach Rd.) were very nice and the car is almost new: only 11.150 km on board. However, whoever choose to come down here with a driving licence not in English, have to think twice. I had one issued in Denmark, but with everything in Danish, and they were about to cancel my booking. In the end they found someone to translate my driving licence; it took one hour and it costed 69 NZD.

Going further into my day, driving on the left side of the road was something not known to me, so it was full of fun…however I got it pretty easy. I was surprised though by two things:

• the limit speed in the highway -100 km!!! and,
• the design of some segments of roads. For example the one to Coromandel Peninsula…it has segments of road very narrow and very close to the edge of the steep edges of the road; moreover there are no parapets.

We drove from Auckland to Coromandel Town. The driving occurs mainly on the highway, but there are also the last 60 km that are dome on the peninsula and the scenery is fabulous. I stopped every few km to take pictures.

Once in Coromandel, we went to our motel booked before coming here. There are not hotels or stuff like that. Coromandel is pretty much like a village, but a very nice one. Moreover, the design of some of the houses and public institutions are very nice, remembering me of the ones seen in the american old movies with cowboys. So far here I have been to the beach and I “went out”. The beach is not covered with sand but with little stones; however, it is very nice the view and the driving to there.

For eating out everyone coming here must visit Mussel Kitchen; it is amazing. For evening I tried Pepper Tree…very good as well!

This was for today! Now I am going to bed, ready to take off tomorrow to the Waitome Cave, Hamilton and the settling at Matamata.

 

 

Two of Europe’s most dangerous rutes: Transalpina & Transfagarasan; the way I experienced them!

I left Romania circa four years ago following my dream to study abroad. However, since then all the time I travel back to my country I am very keen to travel around, more than I have ever done it while I was living there. Recently I have just finished a mini road trip where in a four-days span I drove ca. 1400 km, I crosses eight different counties and many-many cities and villages. However, the most attractive part of this journey was crossing the Carpathians twice, back and forward, on two very beautiful, breathtaking and dangerous routes: the Transfagarasan & Transalpina. I had crossed Carpathians several times using the Transfagarasan, but I had never driven on Transalpina. Therefore I am going to talk in this post about my experience driving on this routes; and I would take them one by one.

I have to mention that I followed this routes together with eight other great friends, packed in two cars: I was driving a Dacia Logan, having three other persons with me, while the rest of five guys came in a BMW, old model. However here’s the story.

TRANSFAGARASAN

Vidraru Dam

Transfagarasan has a length of ca. 90 km, and it is closed during the winter time, but also during any other period when it snows and/or occurs falling of stones, or for any other reasons which threatens the safety of the people. In my case, without any prior research, I found out that due to falling stones caused by heavy rain, the route has opened this year exactly the day I was on my way to cross the mountain! How lucky I am!? I figured this out at ca. three hours since we left our starting point, somewhere in Dambovita County, namely Darmanesti. From there we left at ca. nine o’clock in the morning following the route through Targoviste-Campulung-Curtea de Arges. The day was very beautiful, with a lot of sun and warm and perfect conditions for driving; moreover, it was not overcrowded (I was expecting it to be crowded because it is usually a popular destination for weekend trips). Once we passed by Curtea de Arges there was not possible turn back, so we started climbing slowly to the top of the mountain. In our way we stopped at Vidraru Dam, took plenty of pictures, climb to the iron man statue, took other pictures; got back to the car and continued our way.

View from the Transfagarasan!

From there the road took us through the forest for many km, and only at the base of the mountain the forest cleared and it made it possible to see the road and the mountain. The curves are very sharp, with little side protections, but with a great view. However, we didn’t stop until we reach the top; it was a hard decision because the sights were absolutely breathtaking, and I would personally like to stop at every meter. Once on top we enjoyed the sun and the amazing view. Then we got up in the cars, ready to drive into the tunnel that link the two sides of the mountain, namely Balea Tunnel (this is the longest road tunnel in Romania -it is ca. one km long). Once we arrived in the other side of it, the weather was totally different: heavy smog and chilly temperatures. We were all: wooow!

Balea Lake – the highest point on the Transfagarasan!

I felt it was all ruined, because I remembered from my prior experiences that from up there it can be seen the whole road opening in sharp hairpin curves down the mountain. Now the fog was so heavy that one could not see 100 meters up front. We spent like 10-15 minutes there (hoping the smog will go away) and then we decided to leave, disappointed. To our surprise we drove only hundreds of meters down,and we ended up under the smog, point from where the view I was expected to see all open in front of our eyes, and we all were happy like kids are in the first day of the summer holiday. What was next? Hmm: tons of pictures from all the angles and in all the combinations.  From there we drove happily and carefully down the awesome road, and enjoyed any sharp curves descending the mountain, having a humble and guilty feeling of a race driver.

Another amazing scenery on the northen side of the Transfagarasan.

After this wonderful experience, we spent three beautiful day in the cities like Brasov, Predeal and Sighisoara, and in the fourth day we turn back home, in Dambovita, following the road which led to Transalpina.

TRANSALPINA

Transalpina – picture shot close to the maximum high point of the road!

Getting closer to Transalpina made me feel more excited than ever; thinking of the feeling I might have after I arrive on the other side of the mountain, a feeling which I thought like a confirmation of my driving skills. This is because this route is considered to be one of the most dangerous roads in Romania. After the previous experience when I found out just on the way that Transfagarasan had opened exactly the day I was heading to it, this time I was nervous again, and searched for signs to inform myself about this. The road seems to be very long at the beginning: driving along the forest with no sight and moreover on a very bad road which didn’t allow me to drive with more than 30km/h. My concerns raised the more I drove and met no cars coming on the other side of the road, this made me think I might have chosen a wrong road, but all my concerns vanished when I arrived and passed by the two small dams which are on the way, and I had known about.

View from the Tau Dam!

However, after a long way which almost killed my enthusiasm, I came to the point from where the action usually begins…and then I start climbing, really escalading the mountain. The sharpness of the road could be understand when reading the traffic signs, and I understood that for only a km I was doing a longer time than usually; from where my conclusion: the curves are so sharp and vertically designed that it feels like not moving forward. Moreover, I was pressed by the wish to take some memories from there, so I was always looking to find the best spots for pictures with the road. The pressure was accentuated by the sunset that was just about to happen, and by the rain which just begun. After ca. three hours since we left the “civilization” we were able to reach the top of the mountain…and then pictures, a lot of pictures, hoping to capture the entire beauty my eyes were able to see there.

Another stunning view on Transalpina!

However, at a point we decided to go, thinking that we will just go down the mountain; but we were very wrong, because what we just thought it was the pick, was not the real one; the real one and the real “beautiful” curves were just in front of us. I enjoyed a lot this part of the real mountain road, while all the others in the car were afraid me not to crash the car, noticing that I was very excited about the beautiful scenery. The real pick of the mountain, and the highest point of the mountain has 2145 m, and it is the highest road in Romania and in the entire Carpathians. From there everything continued like in fairytales: the sun went down while we drove home happily to have seen such a beautiful scenery.

In sight the car I did the Transfagarasan and Transalpina with: Dacia Logan 1.4!

Now, that I have done both the Transfagarasan and Transalpina, I can say that the Transfagarasan is more beautiful in matter of sights and especially the sights of the curbs, and has more nice places to stop along the way; on the other side, Transalpina is more rustic, raw and authentic, with no so many beautiful sights (apart the ones in the top of the mountain), but with a higher offering for the ones looking for adrenaline and who enjoy driving. Anyway, if you visit Romania I recommend you to do both the Transfagarasan and Transalpina, and you will not be disappointed.

Enjoy it! For any questions feel free to comment/write to me.