First Jurney - Transfagarasan

... in english you can read it Transfagarashan - which means going trough Fagarash Mountains - high and very impressive rocky mountains from Romania.

June 2008 - first time in my life going to see this unique road trough the mountains, absolutely overwhelming, the trip of a lifetime!

I didn't know what to expect at first, never been there, but knowing myself as being bad at cold, I took some pullovers with me, just in case... and they were welcomed! It was freezing in the middle of June! The snow was so high as I never seen before.

Now let's move on. Regular trip to Vidraru Dam. What's Vidraru Dam? From Vikipedia: "Vidraru Dam is a dam in Romania. It was built in 1965 on the Argeş River.

It is an arch dam built on a foundation of rock, and it was built to produce hydroelectricity. Its construction has also created a reservoir, Lake Vidraru. Dam height is 166 meters, arch length 305 meters, water accumulation volume 465 million cubic meters, having a total length of 28km.

Situated between Fruntii Mountains and Ghitu mountains, the lake collects the Capra, Buda and some other small afluents (Raul Doamnei, Cernatul and Valsanul, Topologul, Valea lui Stan and Limpedea), with a total flow of about 5,5 ml /s. The total surface of the lake is 3.930.000 sqm, 10,3 km in legth, with a maximum width of 2,2 km in the Valea Lupului zone - Calugarita. Normal level or water retention is 830,00 meters above the sea level (mdM).

Dam's construction lasted for 5 years and a half. It required 42km of subterranean tunnels, excavation of 1.768.000 cubic meters of hard rocks, out of which approximatively 1 million had to be extracted from the undergrounds, 930.000 cubic meters of concrete , out of which 400.000 cubic meters underground and required the installation of 6.300 tons of electromechanics equipment.

At the completion date, it ranked 5th in Europe, and 9th in the world. In a medium hydrological year it can generate an approximate of 400 GWh/year.

The Vidraru Hydro Power Plant has an installed capacity of 220 MW."

Well, yeah, this is Vidraru Dam, once there, you feel small, unnoticeable, like an ant... and the surrounding landscape is so impressive!



Get used, my posts will be full of images, I prefer to let the images speak...



At the enntrance of the 400m tunnel trough the mountains.



Ready to move on into the darkness :)



View on the other side:



Yeah, it's a road down there!!



The wonder after the darkness: Balea Lake



The Bâlea Lake is a glacier lake situated at 2,034 m of altitude in the Făgărash Mountains, in central Romania, in Sibiu County. There are two chalets opened all the year round, a meteorological station and a mountain rescue (Salvamont) station. It is accessible by car on the Transfăgărăshan road during the summer, and the rest of the year by a cable car from the "Bâlea Cascadă" chalet.

In 2006, the first ice hotel in Eastern Europe was built in the vicinity of the lake.

The beauty is overwhelming and the cold as well, but had to fix the luggage on the way down.



Seeing the end of this awesome road down there, Balea Chalet.



I was speechless after this trip, like I'm now, after seeing the photos again... too much beauty can't kill you, but can definitely leave you without words...