I won't begin this post speaking in the past tense as I used you with because this time I'm not going to share a trip taken last year or a couple of months ago but actually, the journey I, along with my family and boyfriend enjoyed a couple of days ago.
While I have plenty of places visited that are waiting for me to write about them and share my experience, I thought that it won't have any charm to postpone the post about this quick and spontaneous trip we had.
We actually began the day by going to the usual place we visit whenever we want to take a walk in the woods, make a BBQ, or even just lay down in a hammock and read a book, but since the weather was so nice, my sister came with the great idea of visiting a place that we kept seeing from the distance both during the day and night but never made our way to it.
I'm talking about Gușterița Hill which is mostly known as a lookout point just because it takes you above the city from where you can enjoy mountains and urban life at the same level.

This place, is actually quite similar to Cetățuia Hill from Cluj-Napoca that we've seen a few weeks ago, but while that place is quite popular and it's hard to find a free spot where to sit down and enjoy the city view, the place from the current article is at the opposite, talking about a spot that is perfect if you want to relax and leave behind the crowd and traffic noise.

The single unfun part was reaching the hill because as soon as you let the road behind, you will be forced to follow a forest path for around 1,5km which even if it's quite decent at the beginning, there will be some challenging parts that could make you hit the ground with the car if you are not driving an SUV.
Therefore, I won't recommend visiting the hill during the winter or rainy periods because the slopes are quite steep at times, and ending up stuck in the mud in the middle of the forest should never be on someone's list, lol.

Still on the way to the top of the hill, we crossed a part that seemed pretty familiar to me just because last year I attended the opening show for The World's Toughest Hard Enduro Rally know as "Redbull Romaniacs", where the contenders had one of the challenges to get up on that hill which is a lot steeper than seems in the picture.

Last year, the show brought to a single place hundreds of riders from no less than 52 countries from all continents of the world, and they had lots of challenges in more parts of the county, the one from Gușterița Hill being a success for just a few of the professional riders. Unfortunately, back then I wasn't able to make my way to the hill and see them in action, but it was a pleasure attending the opening show and then follow their progress by watching the videos and LIVEs from the rest of the tests.

After spending a while seeing plenty of kids and adults training on that part of the hill which is a genuine playground for the Enduro lovers, we finally reached the top of the hill where we parked the car and started walking around.
The first thing we noticed was the tower known under several names such as: The Memorial Tower "Denkmalsturm", "The Falkenhayn's Tower" or "The Mușuroia's Tower", but which in the end, represents the single tower that resisted in Sibiu since the WWI.
Unfortunately, the tower doesn't represent a moment of glory but actually a memorial place for those who lost their lives during the war, in this part of Transylvania.
However, with the passage of time and more and more people looking for a chill place where to relax but still have a great view over the city, the hill turned into a lookout point and this led to moving all the graveyards dedicated to the fallen heroes to the church from Cisnadioara that we visited two years ago. You can read more about it HERE or at least check out the boards dedicated to former soldiers.

Either way, being used with plenty of towers visited so far, I was expecting to be able to enter it and perhaps get a few meters higher for a greater view over the city, but unfortunately, the door was locked and there was no chance to enter.

There was also some sort of informative board with a QR code that you could scan for more details about the tower but after I scanned it, I realized that it was leading to nowhere. So I guess the common boards with a short story about the place are better than the modern ones which in the end, make you google the name of the tower to find out more about it because the QR code wasn't set up correctly.

Following the same path, not far from the tower, you will find the cross which is more famous than the tower because during the night it lights up and can be noticed from any part of the city. That's actually the one that sparked our interest before figuring out the name of the hill and that there is actually something to be seen because even though the tower is illuminated as well, it's not visible due to the trees in front of it.

Happily, the cross is bigger and it's enough to look in the direction of the hill and you will become curious to at least find the story of the cross, if not to also make your way to it.

Either way, even if curiosity is what led us to make our way to Gușterița Hill, the view is what conquered our hearts the most and made us want to stay for more. Because there are plenty of spots where you can sit down with the face either to the city and the mountains or to the Enduro guys which made me feel like I could spend a whole day in the same place without getting bored.

Not to mention the fresh air, silence, and beauty that heal your mind from any problem or stress that is keeping you busy.

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In order to reach Gușterița Hill, you need to make your way to the northeast part of Sibiu to the neighborhood with the same name (Gușterița), from where you will follow the forest path indicated on the GPS that will lead you to the top of the hill. Currently, there are no indicators leading you to the hill while you are still on the road, but once you enter the forest path there will be around 2-3 marks written either on a wooden board or a big stone showing you the way.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾