Unremarkable views from the road to Sighetu-Marmatiei, Romania

Last summer I and my family planned this trip to my in-laws. It was a long 12 hours drive, with one stop for the night in Cluj city, a beautiful landmark in the Transylvania already beautiful landscape. We prepared to leave in the early hours of the morning, but, raise your hand the one with kids if you can relate, we actually left in the second half of the morning due to the getting dressed phase, eating, screaming, laughing, chasing thru the house with a piece of clothing, forgetting things and getting back for them and other "cool" related stuff to having two small kids.

But we did it in the end, exhausted we set sail. The first part of the road, until Brasov, was through the middle part of Carpathians mountains. The scenery, as one would imagine, it is beautifully abrupt. But boring for me, as a photographer, given the nature of all touristic towns, crowded and posing little interest.

First stop was in Sinaia, once known as the pearl of Prahova Valley ( Prahova being the river which pierces the central Carpathians, and also the name of the county hosting these towns ). I found it extremely boring and unworthy of this status. The traffic was pure hell, the sights were common. I managed out of a mere social obligation to snap some pictures. One cannot go in Sinaia and not take at least one thousand cheesy pictures.

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Sinaia

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_{Reflection of mountains and an old building in the windows of a former factory in Sinaia}

_{Classic boring scenery of mountains as see from a park in Sinaia}

_{A fail attempt at a black and white architectural frame in Sinaia}

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The road to Cluj via Sighisoara medieval town

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As we managed to pass the huge traffic jam formed on the Prahova Valley roads, between the towns, we headed to Cluj, where our stop for the night was planned. The road is much calmer, from Brasov onwards, as we were passing the Transylvanian plateau. We stopped in Sighisoara, a beautiful, relatively well preserved medieval town, for lunch. I would have loved to photograph more of the city and its corners, but unfortunately, we were on the clock. Managed to get some by-passing photos.

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Pitstop in Cluj

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So we stopped for the night in Cluj, a wonderful city which brings back a lot of memory to me, as it was my very own Paris while being in love with my wife, some 15 years ago. She was finishing her university studies there and I just moved with her with no clear plan in my mind, just with the certainty that nothing can go wrong when you are in love. :)

Didn't manage to get the full taste of the city, as my photographic needs would have required, as we arrived there exhausted, in the evening, and the next day we were scheduled to leave early in the morning. Of course, that didn't happen. Remember: two small kids. So I focused mostly on the things in my proximity, as we were staying at my brother in law, in a freshly under-construction neighborhood.

Anyway, even if I would have stayed in Cluj longer, my photographic style probably would have kept me away from presenting Cluj from a tourist point of view.

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Sighet, alas, at last!

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Sighet, if I remember correctly, is the most northern town in Romania, at the border with Ukraine. I remember it from back in the days when I was taking trips with my sweetheart from Cluj to Sighet, to her parents. It was more beautiful. Now I found it in a state of decay, somehow ignored and forgotten. To me, as a photographer, was a bliss, as I love decaying things. Be aware, that Sighet has its beautiful parts, but I was focused on something else, so don't judge the city by the photographs I took. We stayed in Sighet for three days until the road back to home.

Overall it was a fun trip. It showed us that we can handle long, time-consuming roads, especially on the Romanian roads, which are not very friendly, traffic and quality wise. We saw beautiful places, kids saw the birth town of their mother, but most importantly, we had super fun!

So I leave you with some corners from Sighetu-Marmatiei and with the promise that, if you dig this kind of adventures, I will post in the future more of these photographic trip diaries. :)

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_{All the photos were taken with FujiXT10 and 23mm f1.4 lens.}