As lots of our traveling plans got cancelled this year and considering the social distancing, we ended up to spend one week at one of our favorite chalets in the Făgăraș Mountains, Cabana Suru. It was something we were thinking of doing for a long time, to go there and spend more than one weekend, like we usually do. So here we are, world pandemic giving us the chance to finally do it.
The Suru Chalet is definitely our favorite chalet in the Făgăraș Mountains and with good reason: very nice hosts, always friendly and smiling, excellent accommodation, clean and comfy, delicious food, kids friendly place, a perfect view, and small enough to feel like you’re actually visiting your family. We’re visiting this place at least once a year because of all the reasons above, but also because it’s quite close to Sibiu and easy to reach for us. This year we went up there again to spend a sunny and warm September weekend with friends, while helping in preparing a dinner with ingredients found mainly in the mountains area.
At the beginning of September we took over the Suru Chalet in the Făgăraș Mountains and turned it into the headquarters of one of the coolest events we have been to this year. The 3 days spent there evolved around a old shepherd’s recipe that takes a lot of time to prepare and a lot of team work to get to the final result.
We’ve been to Suru so many times now, that we’re considering of calling it our second home, up in the mountains. We always enjoy the time spent there and after a perfect New Year’s Eve, we planned another weekend here at the beginning of spring, hoping to see the crocus flowers in full blossom.
Going to the Suru Chalet for a nice one day hiking trip is a good option if you have a free day and some good weather. Especially if you do it somewhere in June when the mountain peony is fully bloomed and everywhere you look you see purple spots.
Winter this year took a longer time than expected to show its face in the city and at lower altitudes in general in Romania, so it left us no choice but to put our hiking boots on, gather warm clothes in a backpack and head towards the mountains, in search of some proper snow.
Since I wrote about our 2018 travels outside of Romania, it seemed legit to offer Romania its 15 minutes of fame and have a summary of the places we checked out in the country last year. We’re mostly traveling around the country during the weekend, except for a more extended seaside trip and a 4 – 5 days hiking trip.
Horse-riding is not necessarily a very common activity in Sibiu or even in Romania. There are people who are passionate about horses and horse-riding, there are some well known stud farms, but sometimes people are reluctant to try this sport.
That we love Sibiu is no longer a secret. Neither is that we love the whole county of Sibiu, with all its history, culture and diversity. And what’s not to love about it – beautiful landscapes, traditions that are still being kept, houses with old and well preserved architecture, villages with so many stories to be told around the fire, rich and diverse cuisine, rural life at its best. In a world that’s going too global, these villages keep to their local diversity.
We started 2018 up on the mountain, in our beloved Făgăraș Mountains and it was sooooo perfect, that the moment we had a day off with a good weather forecast we took our hiking boots and up we went back to Făgăraș. This time we chose a new trail that we have never done before, up to the Valea Sâmbetei Hut.
