Saturday morning, we left dusty Ranca and went up the Parang Mountains, winding left and right on the Transalpina. The road was climbing fast and we soon got to its highest altitude – 2145m. We were greeted with a rocky wall on our right (climbers working on securing the rocks with nets), a steep valley on our left (this road shouldn’t be driven at night..) and piercing cold weather.

The area was not as uninhabitable as I’d expected. Sheep folds were hidden in valleys, while shepherds and their sheep were crossing the mountains. We even came upon a pack of donkeys. They seemed cute and friendly, so my dad gave them his 2012 harvest (drought edition), without suspecting what such a simple and peaceful gesture might trigger. The donkeys viciously fought over the little watermelon and then they attacked us. We quickly ran for the car. They circled us, trying to block our escape. Thankfully, the tough Dacia Logan was too much for the simple-minded donkeys and we managed to get away.

Later on, we stopped at a sheep fold that embraced agrotourism. You could eat traditional food, the way shepherds used to cook it for thousands of years. There were some.. small questions regarding hygiene, but overall the people there created a very interesting experience.

In the afternoon, we reached Sebes, the northern stop of the Transalpina road. Just 10 km from it we found the historic city of Alba Iulia, where we decided to spend the night.