"You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown, you travel for the unknown, that reveals you with yourself."

- Ella Maillart, Swiss Writer

 Why Romania? Well, I have a Pinterest board of things to see and places to be that help inspire travel, and on there is a picture of a tiny cemetery near the Ukraine border. And my friend who was destined to be my friend, Leslie, is just the person to say, "A cemetery in the middle of nowhere Eastern Europe? Sure. Let's go." (Everyone needs a friend like Leslie.) 
 
So, with only knowing about Dracula and Nadia Comaneci, and after consulting a map (because really, where the hell is this country), we enlisting her college friend Joanne and soon we had tickets to Bucharest. A rental car and mandatory GPS later, we were off exploring this mysterious and fabled land of Romania. 

Romania is covered with 14 mountain ranges, and we started our adventure with a drive up and over the storied Carpathian Mountains. Small villages popped up every few kilometers with fruit vendors and colorful houses with incredibly ornate fences and gates lining the road. There was always a beautiful fresco-covered church, haystack pyramids, wildflowers, horses and short squatty dogs.

Into the woods we went and the thick green forests turn to high alpine mountain tops with herds of fluffy white sheep with bells dotting the steep slopes, always with two shepherds and their dogs keeping an eye out. At the 7,000 ft summit was Balea Lake and the Transfăgărășan Pass showed off its feat of engineering. This 90 km pass was built in 1970 by the communists as a military route for troupes in case of attack by Russia. It curves and bends and twists like that old fashion Christmas hard candy.
Today, the place was a freaking zoo. The narrow as it was road became a single lane nightmare lined with booths selling hanging sausages, crystals, and cars parked just wherever. Side mirrors, doomed. But it sure was beautiful. The serpentine road below was an impressive site. On the way down we encountered something of a sheep jam.

We entered Sibiu to ugly communist buildings and industrial factories, but soon turned into the medieval old town where a Romanian culture festival was in full swing outside our fantastic hotel on the main old square. People were in traditional clothes of bright colored layered skirts and embroidered white cotton peasant shirts, and head scarves. A look that screamed, "Kristin, embrace me!". A band played local jams, even busted out a Romanian Elvis impersonator, and stalls of local wares of pottery, rugs, and wooden bowls were endless. Perfect timing as the sun set and we chowed on tomatoes and pork, with a side of Betty Ice gelato before we called it a night.

Woke up to this crazy dream. We took a long switchback staircase 140 feet down into a deep tall cave with wet black and white swirled walls, felt like I was inside a marble counter top. On the cave floor was miniature golf, caged-in ping pong tables, and a Ferris Wheel. We rode it. And all over were these huge spiky Mad Max wooden orbs covered with tube lights that you could sit in and look up. So bizarre. I kept saying, "what the hell?", over and over and over. Even farther below was a dark salt lake inside a marble silo with people on little yellow and blue row boats. We got in one. Then there was a bride. Then there was a nun. 

Only, this wasn't some Ambien-induced dream, this was real. Salina Turda is a 160+ foot deep salt mine that's been used since the year 1271. It closed in the early 2000's and naturally became an amusement park at the center of the earth. James Bond would have a field day down there. One of the trippier highlights of any trip, ever. 

After we reemerged on the surface like moles tripping on acid, we headed north on the last of the "main roads," and into the rural countryside where we were promised a step back in time to the last of old world Romania.