The summer is over, the winter is near 🙂 But this summer was a special one, with smiles, joy and lots of traveling. It was the summer with the most trips and hopefully next one will have more (we already have some places on the list).

I liked this summer because I rediscovered Romania. I haven’t been traveling in Romania for the last 10 – 15 years and I had totally forgotten what beauties this country hides. So, since I got a car this year, it was the perfect opportunity for a summer full of road trips. I liked each place we visited, I enjoyed being in the middle of the nature, I loved waking up in the morning and smelling the fresh mountain air and I took advantage of each trip just to get away from a crowded and dirty city and go to some quiet, calm and friendly places.

The summer started with us going for a weekend to the Black Sea at Vama Veche for Andreea’s birthday, where we just relaxed on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful sea. Here is a short story of that weekend and about this little village by the sea, called Vama Veche.

After Vama Veche, it was time for Transylvania and I went to the lovely Sibiu (the place I spent most of my weekends this summer) and where we visited the Village Museum. We only managed to visit about half of it, but I will surely go back and visit the rest as well. Maybe this autumn, as I am sure that the place looks amazing with all the trees changing colors.

Next, we felt like going somewhere in the mountains and just enjoy the surroundings and we chose Mount Cozia. It was a weekend in the middle of the nature, with hiking and climbing, with picking fruits from the forest and cooking dinner by the fire, with sleeping outside in a sleeping bag.

Turda was our next destination. There we visited the Turda Salt Mine, the Potaissa Roman ruins and then we went hiking the Turda Gorges. Great trip and it only took us one day. I guess traveling in two makes trips easier to organize.

In august, we took some days off from work and we had a longer trip around the country. Searching the Danube, that’s how I imagined it. We started from Sibiu, went to Transalpina, Muierilor and Polovragi caves, Baile Herculane and the Danube in the south of the country. This was the trip ending the summer, but ending the summer in the best way possible.

Andreea, who also likes writing from time to time, took some trips outside Romania, but from what she says, she saw places and people who just made her summer look brighter (although the sun made it bright enough).

First stop : Barcelona, where we actually went together, just that she went visiting, we went partying. Barcelona surprises everyone by its architecture and way of living. If you would want to visit all of it, you would probably need more than a month.

Next stop was in Lisbon, where she went with her best friend to visit and attend a Radiohead concert and where it seems that they found really cool places.

Last was a trip to Istanbul, where she went to finish a job project, project which allowed her to see all the corners of the city and to understand how modern culture interacts with the old and traditional.

So all in all, this summer was full of action, of discovering new places and learning to enjoy and take advantage of them. Considering the trips we took, one might  say that it was a long summer, but now, looking back (sitting in my one room apartment in Bucharest and getting used to the grey autumn), I can only say that it was a short summer and all the lovely things mentioned above happened too fast.

For the autumn we already have some trips planned to Vienna and Munich, and for next year we are thinking about Cinque Terre in Italy, Frankfurt, Berlin (for the 4th time ) and maybe the Nordic countries. And besides this, start again with the road trips around Romania and explore the Carpathians .

So stay tuned!