Rășinari, Romania · Western Romania

Rășinari

All 38 photos in Western Romania

Transfăgărășan, Transalpina, Maramureș, the Apuseni and Hunedoara · 2020 – 2026 · 38 photos

This series gathers trips through the western half of Romania, west of the Rucăr–Bran corridor. Photos from the same place stand together, so the same mountain roads appear in different years. In late spring, in the evening, the road climbs from Rășinari toward Păltiniș. In early summer, the Transalpina crosses the Parâng Mountains and reaches 2,145 m at Urdele Pass, the highest point of any road in Romania, passing the Rânca resort. In another summer, the Transalpina returns under a completely clear sky.

Rășinari

Meadows and scattered houses on either side of the road, under clouds tinted by sunset.

Rășinari, Romania

Transalpina

The road with its guardrail on bare ridges, alpine meadows and peaks fading into the horizon.

Transalpina, Novaci, Romania
Transalpina, Novaci, Romania
Transalpina, Novaci, Romania

Rânca

The alpine plateau, with the road, a rock with a trail marker and heavy clouds over the mountains.

Transalpina, Novaci, Romania
Rânca, Novaci, Romania

The road passes Lake Colibița, near Bistrița Bârgăului, then climbs into Maramureș. In Săpânța, the Merry Cemetery carries on a tradition begun in the 1930s by the craftsman Stan Ioan Pătraș, and then comes the village of Breb.

Lake Colibița

The water shining between wooded hills, with boats and red umbrellas on the shore, on a clear day.

Lake Colibița, Bistrița Bârgăului, Romania

The Merry Cemetery

The carved wooden crosses painted blue, with verses about the lives of those buried there, in front of the church.

The Merry Cemetery, Săpânța, Romania

Breb

Haystacks in the village meadows under a gray sky, with the hills in the distance.

Breb, Romania

The Transfăgărășan, built in the first half of the 1970s, is seen from the north, then, on another trip, from higher up, toward the Făgăraș ridge. In late autumn, Bigăr Waterfall, a few months before much of it collapsed in 2021. After dark, Corvin Castle in Hunedoara, rebuilt in the 15th century by John Hunyadi. The series then crosses into the Apuseni Mountains, to Posaga, and in autumn comes the open-air ASTRA Museum in the Dumbrava Sibiului forest.

Transfăgărășan

The wooded valley, with crags and clouds clinging to the ridges, then the hairpin bends climbing through mist.

Transfăgărășan, Cârțișoara, Romania
Transfăgărășan, Cârțișoara, Romania

Bigăr Waterfall

Water falling in thin threads over a dome of moss and travertine, below a wooden bridge.

Bigăr Waterfall, Bozovici, Romania

Corvin Castle

The Gothic towers and walls, lit up, with the moon above them.

Corvin Castle, Hunedoara, Romania

Posaga

Limestone walls above broadleaf forest, an old thatched hut in a meadow and tents at a campsite.

Apuseni Mountains, Posaga, Romania
Posaga, Romania
Apuseni Mountains, Posaga, Romania

ASTRA Museum

Thatched peasant houses painted blue, in a meadow at the edge of the forest.

ASTRA Museum, Sibiu, Romania

In winter, the road climbs from Șugag toward the Șureanu Mountains, and in another winter the series reaches the ski slopes on the Petrila side. In autumn, the range is filmed by drone. In spring comes the Red Ravine near Sebeș, and in autumn Arpașu de Sus, at the foot of the Făgăraș.

Șureanu Mountains

Snow-laden firs along the road, rounded white ridges under a clear sky and, in the clips, the same ridges with yellowed grass.

Road to Șureanu, Șugag, Romania
Șureanu Mountains, Șugag, Romania
Șureanu Mountains, Petrila, Romania
Șureanu Mountains, Alba, Romania · Video
Șureanu Mountains, Alba, Romania · Video
Șureanu Mountains, Alba, Romania · Video
Șureanu Mountains, Alba, Romania · Video
Șureanu Mountains, Alba, Romania · Video

The Red Ravine

Steep walls of red clay and sandstone, carved by erosion into columns and gullies.

The Red Ravine, Sebeș, Romania
The Red Ravine, Sebeș, Romania
The Red Ravine, Sebeș, Romania

Arpașu de Sus

A clear pond with fallen leaves and a small wooden house on its bank, among trees in autumn colors.

Arpașu de Sus, Romania

In Maramureș, the road passes Săcel and Bârsana Monastery, then climbs into the Rodna Mountains, the highest range in the Eastern Carpathians, where the Horses Waterfall drops about 90 m. In the Trascău Mountains, the series reaches Râmeț, and in late autumn comes the Olt valley at Călimănești. The series ends in Cluj-Napoca, the city where Matthias Corvinus was born in 1443.