Bucharest – Sinaia – Transbucegi – Piatra Arsa Chalet
It will be a great pleasure for me to accompany you on the tour we will do together. I’ll be happy to come and pick you up from the hotel where you will be staying in Bucharest. So, I’ll be there at 8:00 a.m. to start our lovely day.
The first on the list is Sinaia, on Prahova Valley. We’ll continue the road by car on Transbucegi, a mountain road that goes to Piatra Arsa Chalet. I specify the place is on the top of the Bucegi mountains. There is a big parking lot. So, we’ll leave the car to start hiking. It will take us about 1 hour to reach Babele Chalet. There we’ll admire the Sphinx and Babele (The Old Woman). It’s a very interesting place. That’s because we’ll be impressed by natural rock formations in the Bucegi Natural Park, at 2,216 meters (7,270 ft). The shape resulting from erosion is produced by wind over a long period.
There is another way to reach the chalet, going to Busteni (not to Sinaia). After that, we’ll enjoy the cable car. It’s easier, it is for people who are not in good shape for climbing mountains. It is a little more expensive because there is a cost of the cable car for about 80 lei per person. And sometimes it’s a long waiting line.
After all of these, we’ll start “walking” on the top of the Bucegi Mountains going to Caraiman Cross. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this is “The tallest cross in the world raised at 2,300 m altitude”. The monument was built between 1926 and 1928 on Caraiman Peak (2291 m) in memory of the railway heroes who died on duty in World War I, by King Ferdinand I and Queen Mary.
Originally, the cross housed an electric generator, which operated 120 bulbs of 500 watts, distributed on the perimeter of the cross. Nowadays the Cross is connected to the national power system for 300 bulbs of 500 watts each.
The cross itself has a height of 28 meters (92 ft) and two arms of 7 meters (23 ft) each. However, the entire monument, including a pedestal of concrete clad with stone, is 39.30 meters (129 ft).
The place is gorgeous to admire the entire valley, from the top.