Făgăraş - Waiting for better weather

For Wednesday, September 20th, 2017, I planned to continue my journey to Fogarasch. So, contrary to my main travel direction, I will be heading west again. The reason for this is the Fogarasch Mountains, which with their many peaks over 2500m and the approximately 70km long main ridge is the largest high mountain range in Romania. After the positive experiences in the Apuseni Mountains, I have planned a ridge hike along the 'Transylvanian Alps.' Unfortunately, the weather for the following days is not good for the area, so I have to pass the time. While Rango is busy with his breakfast (1.5kg beef shanks), I pack our stuff, download a few maps for our tour, and use the hostel's oven at Kismet Dao in Brasov to bake bread. We check out around noon and an hour later we are already on the train to Făgăraş. We arrive at around half past two and make our way to a campsite marked on my map. Upon arrival, we find ourselves in a kind of leisure camp with a large outdoor pool. During the first walk around the area, no other campers can be seen, and the facility itself seems more like in hibernation. After a short conversation with an employee, I can set up my tent and stay for a reasonable fee (10RON per night). Then, Fatso and I go on an initial exploration tour of the city. The center is dominated by the Cetadea Făgăraşului and an impressive Orthodox church. We linger in front of the fortress walls until it slowly gets cloudy, and we make our way back. The campsite is about a half-hour walk from the city center, so the bad weather front arrives a bit faster than we do. Thanks to clever sheltering, we still arrive at the tent almost dry. We spend the evening in our shelter in the rain, and after a small dinner, I doze off early.

Except for smaller rounds with Rango and another trip to the Fogarasch Fortress on Sunday, I spend the next few days mainly in the tent, reading and writing one or two travel articles. Rango has made friends with the campsite dog and takes every free minute to romp around with 'Stinky.' As a thank you for interacting with Rango, the lady is allowed to spend the night in our awning. 'Stinky' even manages to snatch some food from Fatso now and then without it bothering him. So it's not so bad that the bad weather in the area lasts a few days longer than expected...