It was so hot that day. By the time I finished my coffee and got out of the hotel, it was 9:30 and the scorching sun of May (crazy weather!) was making it feel like it was August. Having to smoke outside got me sweating already. Good thing we had the car parked under a shaded area so we wouldn't cook like in an oven until the A/C manages to cool the cabin. They always told me that I should never drive and keep my windows down if I care for my A/C unit but damn, those first 2-3 kilometres have to be like that because the air is like steam inside those vents. You just have to create that suction and throw that overcooked air outside before some nice and cool breeze will come from the pipes.
The road in the sun
While driving towards Stana de Vale we managed to get somehow into the Western Carpathians. The road goes parallel to the actual mountains but that means that you're already through the hills. So a couple of degrees less should come in handy. Still that Sun will not leave; no pack of clouds in the sight for miles.
30 kilometres later and a lot of those 30-32 degrees outside, we had to part the main road and take a left, on a secondary one that is crossing some plains connecting the hills to the mountains. Didn't understand why the hell the road from Oradea goes through the hills and not on these plains: easier to build, easier to maintain, shorter distance. Well, that's the authorities in Romania.
But here it was. The first pack of clouds, with enough rain to look like a damn storm. We had to reach THOSE mountains (first picture), the only ones in sight with a cloud above their head. Well, it sure was going to be cooler up there.
While moving through these flat fields, which together with the mountains and the storm formed a beautiful sight, we found some herds of Romanian Buffalos. Not a lot of the farmers decide to move their care to these animals instead of the usual cow but its milk has a lot more fat and the cheese you can make from that is delicious. they didn't seem to agree on our presence a lot and that contributed, together with the thunders falling around, to our short stay with the buffalos.
Down the road, we met also the boring pack of cows in the middle of the street, something quite typical for the side roads in Romania. The herd might or might not have a herd keeper. This time it had one and his red sweater contrasted well with the yellowish green of the pasture around.
Thr road continues through a village, a final, lonely settlement before you hit the woods, the bad road and the serpentines. Not before passing through another field where quite a big number of horses were just having their afternoon gathering.
We were not welcomed here either.
And what a pack of curvy, bending road we had, on top of it being totally torn down. You can recognize the roads that have suffered from the typical case of logs being dragged on them and heavy machinery roamed going up and down. The holes in the ground are big enough to engulf all your wheel and the chances of having a flat tire here are big. So think twice if you are going to venture yourself to Stana de Vale when you are in the "Apuseni" (that's how we call the Western Carpathians - "Apus" = "place where the Sun sets").
You get to wonder on these curves for more than half an hour though the distance is not more than 35 kilometres. It's not a fast journey if you're looking for one so brace yourself with patience and the ability to look over your car possible damages. It's a normal thing to do my friend if you wondered so far from the main road in Romania. This is not Switzerland you know? All the way up, we were seeing the sky only on 30% of the sundial because of the thick canopy rising above us. Still, a thick forest in spite of all the deforestations the bastards did all these years.
As a final obstacle, after we drove our way up through the thick forest was the challenge of going down a pretty steep ramp. Yeah...you kill your clutch all the way up, where the vultures have kids, only to go down abruptly in the end. I don't know if this is reachable in winter I tell you. You have to have nails in your tires in order to stick on the road while going down and not skating your way to the bottom. That's because Stana de Vale is placed inside a small bowl between these mountains.
The shady arrival
When we got there it was raining cats and dogs.
The whole feeling of the place is that of a secluded place, so if you're into that kind of thing, packing up your tent and finding remote places (with some souls around), Stana de Vale may be for you.
We found a settlement of cabins and a hotel, all gathered around a monastery I guess, becoming in time a destination for tent lovers and deep nature seekers. The fact that it was raining pretty hard making it impossible for us to have a walk around. We came for an hour or two, in order to enjoy the fresh air as in Oradea was incredibly hot and dry but we managed to spend 30 minutes in the back of our station wagon, in the parking lot of the only hotel around, taking pictures and sitting away from the rain. Not the experienced I was looking for, especially because the small settlement is totally destroyed in terms of deforestation.
Apart from the intrusion of men, cutting down the heart of the forest in order to get away from the eyes of the tourists, I think the place has seen some wind. Along the small river that goes along the road, there must be a terrible draft sometimes (if my grandmother would be alive to read those words: "draft"; she would put another sweater on). But not only on the river bank. I guess high winds caused the fall of a multitude of trees around and now, the forest exploitation companies are like vultures on a dead carcass. The fact that it was raining and it was already muddy all around, didn't back up the scenery which was destroyed in some areas by the log-dragging the lumberjacks practice.
All around the place, there were only two things to be remarked: fallen trees and lumberjack footprint. I hate that job.
The place would be deserted during the colder period for sure. At least that's how it looked to me. With the exception of some mountain bike renting place (that for me it was pretty cool) and a snowmobile on the grass, the place looks terribly bad for a place that should attract tourists. A lot of abandoned places and cabins that should be there for decades.
While going back (and taking full nose the steep ascent now) I noticed some communist relic that most probably is the children camp around these parts. I pray to God that it doesn't function anymore. Who would send his kid to that place? It was like a sad goodbye to a day not tottaly lost, but almost.
