Weekends at the Suru Chalet are for sure becoming a tradition for us. We keep saying that for us it’s the perfect mountain escape, especially when we travel with our daughter. 2021 had quite a good kick off for us – we are in the mood for being active and enjoying nature and since snow refused to show its face in the city, it left us no choice but to head towards the mountains for some proper winter scenery.
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.
Cabana Urlea was, until it got so deteriorated, one of the most important access points to the Făgăraș Mountains Ridge, when hiking from East to West. Now it’s just a ruin, but hiking there is still a pleasure, so we planned a day trip beginning of June. It was just after the COVID state of emergency was over, so we were desperately looking forward for some proper hiking.
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.
After visiting Rîu Sadului for the Burduf Challenege event, beginning of July, we paid this lovely village another visit one weekend later with a main purpose – to spend two days at a shepherd’s cottage up on the mountains surrounding the village and to get in contact with their daily routine and to enjoy the beautiful view around.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Chocolates Of Life 