Archive for landscape

Valcea Offroad Day – 24 January 2010

Posted in "Art" ??, Beautiful Romania, LifeStyle, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 26 January 2010 by Watcher Romano

On January 24th 2010, I joined the X3M Offroad Valcea crew for a relaxing cruise in the mountains near Valcea. We took a 7 hour, 50 kilometers long stroll in a completely untouched area. As you will see, the snow was pure, clean and shiny white. “The warm sun” we enjoyed refers to the white balance only, because the highest temperature we encountered was -8 degrees Celsius.

I will start off with a few pictures of ‘action’ but will end this post with much more pictures of the beautiful winter scenery we were lucky to encounter:

The official thread of this trip is posted here.

As you have probably noticed, some photos are in the 1080p full-HD format. I would be honored if you used them as wallpapers.

By now, any visitor of this blog should already be aware of the existence of technical methods to automatically receive new posts: the RSS feed or  via email.

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Pestera Village Surroundings

Posted in "Art" ??, Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 11 November 2009 by Watcher Romano

Prahova Valley has a bad rep because of the fact that it easily accessible by car and is therefore filled with buffaloes.  This is very unfortunate as the area is incredibly beautiful. To prove this, I submit to you the following pics taken in the surroundings of the Pestera Village, near Moeciu, Brasov, Romania:

Pestera Surroundings

Pestera Surroundings

Pestera Surroundings

Pestera Surroundings

The village also has a church under construction, but very well signaled (two villages in advance):

Holy Trinity Church in Pestera

Holy Trinity Church in Pestera

Should you be interested to see this village for yourself, you have to start in Moeciu, and, coming from Bran, turn right and climb on top of the hill. You could also come from Zarnesti, go towards Prapastiile Zarnestilor and turn left at Fantana lui Botorog. This alternative has the advantage of first taking you to Magura village, and then on some dirt roads up to Pestera (more softroading).

Given that this is actually a village, the roads should be cleared and maintained at all times, so it would probably be no problem to go there in wintertime too (which will give you even more interesting photo opportunities).

If you happen to like these photos or find interesting the places that I show, please feel free to get free updates via RSS or by email.

PS: if anyone knows a way in which I could share KML files with you on this blog, please inform me. It would really add value to the information…

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Amazing day in the Capatanii Mountains

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 5 October 2009 by Watcher Romano

Sunday Sept 27th I  managed to gather som4 cars from Bucharest, drove to Valcea where we joined the White Wolves (with some other 10 cars) and we all ventured high up in the Capatanii Mountains. As luck would have it, the weather was on our side, so we were able to enjoy nature’s greatness and take home some wonderful mountainscapes. This kind of imeages are what makes all the efforts worthwile. The serenity stays with you for days… If you say the teaser, the wait is over!

The beauty of the Capatanii Mountains

The beauty of the Capatanii Mountains

Ridge between Ursu and Balota peaks

Ridge between Ursu and Balota peaks

Mountainscape near Romani peak

Mountainscape near Romani peak

Panoramic view near Romani PeakPanoramic view near Romani Peak

Panoramic view near Romani Peak

I decided to post the scenery photos separated from the offroad specific ones, so stay tuned for the offroad pics tomorrow’s post.

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Paraul Rece Winter Fun

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 23 February 2009 by Watcher Romano

After a work meeting in the Paraul Rece area the weather was incredibly good so I could not miss the local offroad opportunities.

Starting on DN73A (from Predeal to Rasnov), at the bottom of the descent there is a small road to the right,  going “up” to “the priests”.  I firs took that road,  which was taken care of, almost completely cleaned of snow.

However,  I suggest wearing chains if you go on snow, because I did get stuck with the Simex tyres after one 180 degrees turn – the tires were polishing the icy snow and the car was stuck. I had a winch so I was able to move the car to get some snow under the wheels.

Here’s the track, the sinuos road to the left is DN73A (Predeal – Rasnov), after descending from Paraul Rece

Track to "a calugari"

Track to "la calugari"

It was fun for a warm up, and also a great opportunity to take some (nice?) photos:

Panorama shot from "La Calugari"

Panorama shot from "La Calugari"

Winter Tree

Winter Tree

Car Winter Portrait

Car Winter Portrait

Very quick we went back because the action until now was NOT (!) enough :-) For convenience we took the same road, did not bother to explore the possibility to go directly downhill:

Return from "La Calugari"

Return from "La Calugari"

Return from "La Calugari"

Return from "La Calugari"

Back on the DN73A road we turned right, and headed to Rasnov, where we were instructed to take “Drumul Glajeriei” up to it’s end, and then on a forest road to Tohanul Nou. I am having a rough time trying to draw this on the map (I can not find enough points and I did not have GPS with me), so I will only be able to show you the beautiful sites I encountered:

Unidentified Forest Road

Unidentified Forest Road

WCR - tracks

WCR - tracks

Emerging Victorious

Emerging Victorious

And just look at the glorious finish of the forest road:

Winterscape in HD

Winterscape in HD

If you like these pictures, stay tuned for more (RSS or EMAIL).

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More Autumn Colors – Culorile Toamnei din nou

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 4 November 2008 by Watcher Romano

These pictures did not make the cut in the Cetatuia post – although they were taken there, they did not add to the story. However, I think they are publishable because they illustrate the “Beautiful Romania” category:

Autumn Colors @ Cetatuia

Autumn Colors @ Cetatuia

Autumn Colors @ Cetatuia

Autumn Colors @ Cetatuia

If you like these photos, you could also be interested in seeing some more Autumn Colors or to see more pictures from this trip. Also, this is a good reason to subscribe to the blog (via RSS or email) and to let all your friends know about it ;-)

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Bears’ Cave Teaser

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 14 October 2008 by Watcher Romano

During the summer holiday I managed to reach the Apuseni Mountains, home to some incredible scenery and carstic formations. The most beautiful cave tourists can visit in Romania is the Bears’ Cave (Pestera Ursilor). I am working on a big post (15+ photos) from the cave.

Until then I thought I’d give you the last thing I saw before entering the cave:

Bears' Cave Surroundings

Bears' Cave Surroundings

If you liked this post, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the blog (either by EMAIL or by RSS) because there are always more pictures coming soon!

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