G_E_K_O Expedition
Observer
Hi everybody
First, I apologize for my approximate english. I've nothing against it
We did this little trip last summer, in August. The goal of this trip was to do a reco of new tracks and areas (to me) in order to organize a new tour for a group of enthusiasts in August 2014.
First a few panoramic pictures (1920 px wide)
So we left Switzerland my wife and I in our Nissan Patrol. Romania is at about 1600km from our place. This is an easy and pretty boring stretch of mainly highway, except the last 150 km on little country roads. We have to enter Austria first, then up to Germany, then Austria again, then we have to cross Hungaria from west to east. There is usually 2 routes to choose from when coming / going from west to east: western Austria, on little regular roads with speed limits of 80 km/h with lots of tunnels (it's a nice stretch of road in the mountains) or the big highways up to Munich in Germany… The first one is better, as the highways around Munich are most of time saturated (chi va piano va sano e va lontano )
In Romania, we explored mainly 4 mountainous areas:
- Apuseni, with its sweet undulating hills, vast forest and very preserved rural life
- Southern Carpathian mountains: higher mountains ( up to 2544m ), with the highest concentration of wolves and braun bears of Europe. This is also a paradise for berries pickers.
- Maramures, near the border of Ukraine, high mountains and a lot of forests.
- Bucovina, land of rolling hills, famous for its painted monasteries.
This trip confirmed me that I love this piece of land (do you say "neck of the wood" ?) and its inhabitants. The landscapes are very peaceful and wild.
Romania's backcountry is still in the 19th century for some aspects. Some kind of self-sufficient areas… untared trails are everywhere. Horses are still widely used everyday for work. There is still vast areas where only 4x4 vehicles can go ( or horses ).
This is touching to meet people there, far from the "modern life". Those are simple, but so friendly and generous. And yes, relaxed most of time... timbers to cut and bring back to the villages with horses, some sheep to watch, the garden to take care of, some jams to do... I feel better knowing there is still such places in our world, no too far.
Well, that was a great trip, exploring both location and time.
We drove about 3200km in Romania, and about 2000 of them where off-road. That was a 3 weeks trip.
Here is the first little movie
All the best
Nico
First, I apologize for my approximate english. I've nothing against it
We did this little trip last summer, in August. The goal of this trip was to do a reco of new tracks and areas (to me) in order to organize a new tour for a group of enthusiasts in August 2014.
First a few panoramic pictures (1920 px wide)
So we left Switzerland my wife and I in our Nissan Patrol. Romania is at about 1600km from our place. This is an easy and pretty boring stretch of mainly highway, except the last 150 km on little country roads. We have to enter Austria first, then up to Germany, then Austria again, then we have to cross Hungaria from west to east. There is usually 2 routes to choose from when coming / going from west to east: western Austria, on little regular roads with speed limits of 80 km/h with lots of tunnels (it's a nice stretch of road in the mountains) or the big highways up to Munich in Germany… The first one is better, as the highways around Munich are most of time saturated (chi va piano va sano e va lontano
)In Romania, we explored mainly 4 mountainous areas:
- Apuseni, with its sweet undulating hills, vast forest and very preserved rural life
- Southern Carpathian mountains: higher mountains ( up to 2544m ), with the highest concentration of wolves and braun bears of Europe. This is also a paradise for berries pickers.
- Maramures, near the border of Ukraine, high mountains and a lot of forests.
- Bucovina, land of rolling hills, famous for its painted monasteries.
This trip confirmed me that I love this piece of land (do you say "neck of the wood" ?) and its inhabitants. The landscapes are very peaceful and wild.
Romania's backcountry is still in the 19th century for some aspects. Some kind of self-sufficient areas… untared trails are everywhere. Horses are still widely used everyday for work. There is still vast areas where only 4x4 vehicles can go ( or horses ).
This is touching to meet people there, far from the "modern life". Those are simple, but so friendly and generous. And yes, relaxed most of time... timbers to cut and bring back to the villages with horses, some sheep to watch, the garden to take care of, some jams to do... I feel better knowing there is still such places in our world, no too far.
Well, that was a great trip, exploring both location and time.
We drove about 3200km in Romania, and about 2000 of them where off-road. That was a 3 weeks trip.
Here is the first little movie
All the best
Nico
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