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.
After years of hiking mostly in the Făgăraș Mountains (as they are very close to Sibiu and easy to reach for us), this summer we decided that it’s finally time to try something new. We chose 5 days at the beginning of August, hoping for a good weather after a quite rainy May, June and July, to spend in the Retezat Mountains National Park and hike the area.
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.
We were planning such a weekend for a long time, but each time we were considering of actually doing such a trip, we always said that we can leave it for another time, as these places are very close to home and we have some other options further away.
But finally, at the beginning of April, we said that this is it, we are doing it. We wanted to go somewhere with the baby, as the weather forecast was expected to be very good. As it’s still a bit difficult to go on long holidays with the baby, some short weekend road trips, with not too much driving are a good option to spend some time outside the city and explore the world 🙂
Here we are, at the end of another great year for us… It’s the holidays, the baby is already sleeping and the glass of wine that I’m drinking, relaxed on the couch, listening to the IFM Top X, made me decide to make a review of all the places that we managed to see this year.
According to Lonely Planet, Transylvania is the number one region to visit in 2016, so start packing everyone.
We left the house on the Sunday morning planning to go up to the Bâlea Lake with the cable car. Is was winter and quite a heavy weather down in Sibiu and we tought that for sure there will be no one planning to do the same thing as us. But we were very wrong, the line for the cable car was incredibly long…so we had to give up our plans and just have a nice walk to the Bâlea Waterfalls. Nothing to fancy about it, but mountains with snow are just amazingly beautiful. 
It’s been a year and a half since I ran away from the busy and sometimes exhausting life that Bucharest had offered me for about 8 year and finally moved to Sibiu. First thoughts were that it will be hard to get used to not living always on the run. Of course, the fact that you have to make changes and get out of your comfort zone can sometimes become a painful experience. But not in my case. Of course, there were some personal and family reasons that made me decide to move to Sibiu and that helped a lot in actually adapting, but the reason I am writing this is because Sibiu has become my favorite place in the world and there are more than one reason for that.
photo credits : http://www.vulcu.ro
2014 was for sure an amazing year for us! Most of our weekends were busy and we were most of the time on the road to some new destination. We took the time, more than ever, to discover Romania and its beauties. Mountains were in the top, as we went hiking as much as we could and as much as the weather allowed us to…and sometimes even if the weather didn’t necessarily allow us to. Here’s how 2014 looked liked in between the borders of Romania.
The Chocolates Of Life 