Good’evening from Orșova.

Taking stock: I’m feeling better. Not “I’m jumping around in world history” …. Although I am doing that 😜 but I am “tight” and no longer so exhausted. To be on the safe side, we’re going to visit a pharmacy today to get something I can take longer than Imodium and to balance my electrolyte levels again.
But: It goes on 😀😀

Our last day in Romania. Apart from my dip yesterday, we’ve been really lucky over the last few days and made the most of our plans. The weather played along and in many places we had nature all to ourselves. Today was no exception. Our highlight of the day was the “Transvulcan” or “Pasul Vulcan”, a pass road starting in Vulcan in Hunedoara County, which begins with asphalt, 19% gradients and plenty of sharp bends. At the “Panteonul din Pasul Vâlcan” – loosely interpreted as a memorial in honor of the fallen soldiers and commanders of the First World War – the really interesting part begins for us. The scree and gravel road. But even up to this point, we were repeatedly spoiled with the omnipresent magnificent views of the Carpathians. On the left, bright blue skies and sunshine, on the right, everything was gloomy and thick rain clouds :-O Oh well, better not wait too long with the overflights, we know how quickly the weather can change here.

This route was relatively the easiest and also the shortest of our off-road tracks in Romania. There were a few prominent places with steps in the rock that were a little more challenging. But both the Vitara and Marco have got the hang of it by now 😀 So we slowly bumped down the mountain to the neighboring village and had to wait a good 20 minutes for a concrete mixer, which skillfully blocked the only road out of the village. Surprisingly, more cars wanted to go up than down. Why? There’s nothing up there anymore…

On the way to our accommodation today, we ended up on a freshly paved new asphalt road. Smooth as a baby popo mirror. No bumps, no potholes. Oh, how boring. The rest of the way was quite a drag, as it was all about making kilometers.

We have arrived at the Iron Gate in the Panorama Apartment with a view of the Danube. Hopefully we’ll manage to catch a direct view tomorrow. The drive through Serbia is tightly timed again :-O But for now we say good night!

Conclusion: The Transvulcan has some of the vibes of the Transalpina – but it is shorter, extremely steep and not overcrowded, as it is hardly known. Even “non-off-roaders” will get their money’s worth here, as the views on the paved part are breathtaking!