Riding holidays in Transylvania - Itinerary
A Sample Itinerary, "Worthy of kings!"
Day 1 (Sunday) – Arrive at Lunca Ilvei in the afternoon, where your hosts, Julian and Kelli, will welcome you and take you to meet the horses. Dinner, and a night’s rest in a local guesthouse.
Day 2 (Monday) – “Sheepfolds and farms”. We start off our ride setting off eastwards across high pastures. After stopping at a sheepfold, we descend into an area of spread out farmsteads. Nearby was the setting for the great Romanian novel "The Hanging Forest" by Liviu Rebreanu - "the Romanian Kafka". We arrive in the village of Poiana Negri (passing many attractive folkloric wooden houses) to spend the night in the new Poiana guesthouse.
Riding time: 5 hours.
Day 3 (Tuesday) – “Travelling to Dracula’s Borgo Pass”. Today we ascend westwards through the deep forests of the Dorna Valley, where much of Romania’s excellent mineral water originates. We travel along a quiet forest road, alongside which bears’ tracks are sometimes seen, including sections in virgin forest where some good canters are available. We pass through a nature reserve that harbours interesting carnivorous plants, insect and reptile life. Coming out of the forest, we reach Bram Stoker’s Borgo Pass where we spend the night at Hotel Castle Dracula. As well as a good restaurant and a bar with a spectacular view, the hotel boasts a small museum about the fictional vampire (don't let the hotel worker disguised as Dracula alarm you!) You have the chance to visit a small monastery on a hilltop overlooking the village. The horses stay on a local farm for the night.
Riding time: 5 hours.
Day 4 (Wednesday) – “The real Borgo Pass”. Return to your host’s village of Lunca Ilvei along a succession of gentle peaks and saddles, formed from ancient volcanic peaks penetrating softer sedimentary rock. Views stretch up to 50km. We cross a surviving Roman road and pass a monastery chapel at the hamlet of Ciosa. At our high lunch stop, views spread around in all directions as we survey a land of farmsteads and forests, peaks and valleys. We emerge onto a high ridge before dropping down to our guesthouse in Lunca Ilvei for dinner and a night’s rest.
Riding time: 5 hours.
Day 5 (Thursday) – “The path of kings in days of old”. We ride northwards over a high ridge, descend through ancient beech forest (home to wolves, lynx, foxes, deer and other animals) and into a silent forested valley, then climb up to the pasturelands of Poiana Persa (“Persa Meadows”). This “obcina” (bare mountain crest) covers several square miles and is, in summer, home to up to one hundred mares and foals enjoying summer grazing. There are fine views from here over a high, secluded region of alpine pastures called "obcinas" where shepherds spend six months of each year without machines or electricity. A few remains of First World War trenches are to be seen too – until 1918 this was frontier territory. From here we follow the “Plaiul Moldovei”, the medieval riding route between Transylvania and Moldavia. Now a quiet trackway used by shepherds, this path was ridden by the kings and merchants of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. We descend the Plaiul Moldovei, past the remains of two medieval fortresses, down to the village of Sant where we spend the night in a local guesthouse run by the Grapini family.
Riding time: 6 hours.
Day 6 (Friday) – “The routes of Empress Maria Teresa”. We return to Lunca Ilvei by a different route, stopping for lunch at the site of Habsburg fortress with fine views of the three 8,000 feet Rodna mountains, carved by glaciers from hard metamorphic rock. We travel along a Habsburg military road, now a little-used grassy track, but in the late 18th century important for defence of Empress Maria Theresa’s growing frontier. From here the view is immense, and there is a tangible feeling of remoteness. Nearby, only one hundred years ago, a gendarme post existed to protect travellers against highwaymen! We arrive on a ridge overlooking Lunca Ilvei and descend sharply to arrive in the village. Back to our guesthouse for a final night, when possible including folk music played by two local musicians.
Riding time: 5 hours.
Day 7 (Saturday) – Depart after breakfast.
Please note that there are three itineraries available – a regular trip (nr 1) and – on request - more adventurous one-week (nr 2) and two-week (nr 3) trips. It is possible to arrange special itineraries for groups, and to arrange alternative activities (and often transport to the same night stops by horse-drawn vehicle), for accompanying non-riders.
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