Postcard From Romania

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday September 20, 2006

Katherine Gregory

This Eastern European enclave is both stylish and superstitious, writes Katherine Gregory.

Scrambling and scratching my way across a glacier, I quietly curse the two Romanian hikers who recommended this "quite easy" hike through the Bucegi Mountains in the Transylvanian Alps.

Perhaps I'm soft. However, walking over muddy, slippery paths with 1000-metre drops on each side and climbing almost vertical rock faces with nothing but a flimsy chain is not "quite easy". Nor is crossing massive blocks of ice in pelting rain. Passing by numerous graves on my way up isn't exactly comforting either.

Being duped seems to be the running theme of my travels in Romania - I struggle naively through mountain ranges or try to ensure I am not charged double in restaurants and hostels.

To rub salt into the wound, as I reach the summit, I pass a local family with small children and a baby, tottering effortlessly down the cliffs. Now I feel like a tourist!

My death-defying climb has its rewards. The scenery is spectacular and exceeds the stereotypical images of dramatic, jagged mountain peaks, waterfalls, fir trees and stormy skies that Dracula stories conjure. And as the sun starts to descend behind the mountains, I find my home for the night: a cabin overlooking a luscious green valley. There are two toilets for 50 hikers, no showers and a hostile owner, but I am overjoyed to be here with a cold beer and a plate of fried pork and mashed potatoes.

When a group of pilgrims from a Bucharest monastery offer me and my friends a "special massage", we think all our Christmases have come at once. They treat us to back and neck cracks while talking about their pilgrimage to the mountain. "We have come to see the Bucegi sphinx which has spiritual connections to the Egyptian Sphinx and the ancients," they say in halting English. "This mountain is part of a great cosmic magnetic field."

We look apprehensive, so they drag us out into the icy mountain winds to view the massive rock formations. We are struck with wonder at the strange configurations that, in the light of the moon, resemble a face with distinct lips, cheeks and large eyes beneath a wide forehead.

"The Americans have satellites monitoring the sphinx's spiritual activity," one of the men whispers. By now, we've had enough so we mumble excuses about being tired and cold and escape to our room.

Romania is undergoing big reforms so it can join the European Union next year. Hefty foreign investment ensures that its capital, Bucharest, is engulfed with scaffolding and the sound of drills and machinery. Larger towns have enormous empty holes in preparation for the construction of train stations.

With a giant digital clock in central Bucharest counting down the days until Romania joins, the race is on. But our experience on the mountain is comforting proof that whatever the future holds, Romania is not about to leave behind its legends and mystique. Or its jaw-dropping natural wonder.

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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