The damp air seeps beneath my rain jacket and leaves me utterly chilly, however my salvation lies forward: a carved picket desk and bench beneath a small picket roof.
Our climbing group shivered and huddled beneath a constructing, providing little safety from the wind, however the temper quickly brightened significantly.
We stopped at Popas La Cosma, which serves as a relaxation cease and lodging for hikers, deep within the Japanese Carpathians within the Bucovina area of Romania.
Shepherd Cosma Kračnak and her household are amongst round 500 hosts alongside the 1,600km-long By way of Transylvanica, offering meals and lodging to pedestrians.
Our group rapidly warmed up with the hospitality of a father and son carrying feathered hats. They introduced us preferentially “affinata”, a liqueur produced from wild blueberries, adopted by selfmade cheese and salami, lard, boiled eggs and loads of bread.
After scorching tea and selfmade donuts, we take you on a fast tour of the home and the hay barn the place hikers sleep.
What’s By way of Transylvanica?
Popas La Cosma is the proper introduction to By way of Transylvanica, a path that runs diagonally by means of Romania, designed and created by Tassurea Social.
The NGO achieved this superb feat with no funding from the federal government or the EU, simply its core workforce, volunteers, sponsors and donations.
The climbing route was conceived not as a vacationer endeavor, however as a social venture according to the affiliation’s core targets of constructing stronger communities and defending the setting.
The thought of By way of Transylvanica was to reinvigorate small villages and rural communities. It passes by means of 20 completely different ethnic and cultural areas and round 400 villages. Subsequently, its nickname is “the highway of unity”, which is very influenced by residents who transfer to town or overseas.
Popas La Cosma, for instance, hosted about 1,500 hikers final season.
This route continues to be improved and expanded. In 2026, the affiliation plans to strengthen sections of the Bukovina area, together with fixing some phases the place the path was broken by unhealthy climate.
We’ve got additionally rerouted some sections to make the path extra accessible and added a 200km extension to the historic city of Brasov in Transylvania.
“This has by no means been a tourism venture. It has at all times been about doing one thing significant for volunteers, younger individuals and the group,” Tashrea Social president Alin Usheliu advised us as we stopped by the venture headquarters.
Hikers are suggested to go to the headquarters close to Bistrica, which is surrounded by mountain meadows. There you possibly can eat scorching meals, keep in a single day, and often meet some volunteers.
We eat mushroom and bitter cream soup and a calorie-packed fried dessert referred to as “papanasi” to gasoline us for the following leg of our hike.
Mountain climbing within the “Switzerland of the East”
Led by tour firm Intrepid Journey, we’re exploring among the much less traveled northern phases of the path, in addition to among the phases that Tassureasa volunteers with and that Yulian Gabor, who helped create By way of Transylvanica, considers to be essentially the most lovely.
In three days winding by means of the Bukovina area, generally known as the “Switzerland of the East,” we discover deep forests of beech, oak, and spruce, huge sun-drenched wildflower meadows, and loads of encounters with bell-adorned cows.
Along with the orange T indicators marking the route by means of Transylvanica, there have been additionally frequent bear warnings after darkish. Fortunately we did not come throughout something, however there have been numerous birds, butterflies, lizards, just a few snakes alongside the best way, and even just a few horses pulling carts.
Each lunchtime, we overlook about boring, hydrated climbing meals and as a substitute bask in selfmade delicacies resembling Gigi Urs Chalet’s contemporary cheese and paprika jam accompaniment or “salmare” (cabbage rolls full of minced meat) from La Moara Bucovina restaurant.
One of many joys of those breaks is speaking with the homeowners, who take nice pleasure in entertaining hikers, and sharing an affinata or two with them.
These, in addition to guesthouses in villages and cities, are additionally locations the place hikers can obtain stamps within the traveler’s booklet as they full every stage. Traveler booklets may be picked up from greater than 50 places alongside the path, together with retailers, hosts, and cultural sights.
painted monastery and painted eggs
The Bucovina district on By way of Transylvanica can be ultimate for many who need to study Romania’s cultural historical past.
We cease at two UNESCO-designated pictorial monasteries in Romania: Sucevisa Monastery and Mordoviša Monastery. Right here, each the outside and inside are utterly lined in intricate, intensely coloured spiritual scenes from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
Within the city of Mordovicia, additionally, you will be taught in regards to the custom of portray eggs with equally elaborate designs on the home of Violitsa Semeniuc.
Alongside the climbing path itself, we additionally begin to sit up for seeing what carvings there are on the kilometer stone markers. Every sculpture was sculpted by an artist, that includes all the pieces from faces like Greek warriors and Picasso to topped frogs and majestic deer.
So, as Gabor summarizes, By way of Transylvanica is a social initiative, a terrific vacationer expertise, and maybe the world’s largest open-air artwork gallery.
Hosted by Rebecca Ann Hughes Intrepid Journeylaunched its “Mountain climbing Romania: By way of Transylvanica” itinerary in Might, making it the one international tour operator to go to the northern part of the path.
10-day packages begin from £1,616 (€1,872) and embody lodging, floor transport, the companies of an area chief, guided hikes, meals and different actions.
Tăřuleasa Social is a brand new associate of Intrepid’s non-profit group, the Intrepid Basis, permitting prospects to straight assist the affiliation and path growth.
