Wildlife and Culture of Romania Tour: Carpathians and Danube Delta Cruise

Bucharest is big and bustling, a capital city that’s not always easy on the eye. Like other major European cities, you have to look beyond the initial impression and seek out the places of tranquility, especially those in the very heart of the city. Pedestrianized lanes start to dominate here, winding between monuments that once gave Bucharest the monicker of Little Paris. Colorful townhouses juxtapose with quiet cafes and flamboyant architectural works, soon every turn brings a little surprise.

It’s hard to judge the energy levels after a long flight, especially if there could be some jet lag, so nothing is planned for this day. You have a boutique hotel in the city, a peaceful haven for sleeping and relaxing after the journey. The guide will meet you at the airport and accompany you to the hotel. An orientation tour is provided, at a time that suits your mood. Rather than visit the sights, it’s a short walk and an introduction to local customs and the streets around the hotel, a chance to feel comfortable with the country you came to explore. The hotel is built and defined by a French neo-classical style and its restaurant is one of the best in Bucharest, an easy choice for evening dining.

Bucharest is a city of contrasts. The Arc de Triomphe stands alongside rows of communist apartment blocks. An extravagant concert wall faces onto cultivated gardens, yet faces the other way to bustling streets of small arcade shops. The monumental palace of Science of Culture fills multiple city blocks while some city blocks are so haphazard you get lost in seconds. Admire frescoes in Kretzulescu Church, listen to stories at Revolution Square, and take a glance inside the Royal Palace, then take a late lunch at a cafe in the middle of Little Paris.

This afternoon you depart for Transylvania and Brasov, one of the cities founded by German Saxons back in the 12th century. Back then the Saxons would guard mountain passes and their legacy is left behind through fortress-like cities, with crumbling walls encasing the medieval lanes. Check in to your boutique hotel, and then set off through the town walking to the glamorous Gothic Church checking out the legend on Council Square. They say that the Pied Piper enticed children from Hamlyn in Germany; these children vanished only to emerge on Brasov’s colorful city square. This Saxon city is a huge change of pace after Bucharest so enjoy a serene evening where there are many local restaurants to choose from.

Colors swirl across Carpathian mountain slopes, the forests changing hue with every season. Walking trails meander beyond the horizon, sometimes emerging from the trees to provide endless views over the valleys. Bears and wolves live here. Their populations are stable and amongst the highest in Europe. There’s a chance you’ll come across them in the wild, especially as your guide introduces the basics of tracking spoor. It’s not just the evidence that the big mammals were in a certain place, but analyzing when they passed through and which way they traveled.

First, you drive to the foot of Piatra Craiului Mountain and then set off on a slow walk through some of Europe’s wildest mountains. Wander the foothills and take in the views before visiting the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project. Here you’re guaranteed safe encounters with these impressive carnivores, most of the animals protected here as they’ve been forced from their traditional lands elsewhere in the mountain range. Picnic in nature and spend the afternoon walking down through the lush valleys of Pestera and Magura, the length of your journey dictated by your own interests. You might return to Brasov at 7 PM after a long hike, or be back in the city by 4 PM, where al fresco terraces await on the city squares.

Another day in Brasov and it can be tailored to your mood. The surrounding mountains contain hiking trails that can occupy you for months, from adventurous summit climbs to leisurely journeys through the foothills and forests. One option is to hike between small villages, where the locals introduce you to cheese making, wool weaving, sheep farming, and shepherd life. This could also be a day to go in search of wild bears and wolves, although these animals tend to show up when you least expect them, even if you’ve been following the spoor lesson from yesterday. Transfers and a guide are provided but you may also choose to spend the day in Brasov, wandering through the streets of colorful houses.

Count Dracula has nothing to do with Bran Castle, but the legend lives on and the castle is quite a sight, a vast palace of stone and pointed roofs rising out from the forest. Perched upon a rock Bran Castle lives up to its legend, ramparts and towers, and Gothic features seeming to come from a realm of fiction. It may not have been Bram Stoker’s inspiration nor been home to a vampire, but it’s still a remarkable architectural work in the realm of nature.

Visit the castle, then travel east down through the mountains to Buzau Pass and then Berca, where it appears as if you’ve stumbled upon the moon. Mud bubbles and craters burst open. The smell of sulfur hangs powerfully in the air. These volcanoes explode and the mud cascades, creating ripples and pools and cones some seven meters high. Get too close and a pocket may split open, sending the cool mud across your clothes. This lunar-like spectacle is safe to touch. Spend an afternoon here, it’s heaven for photographers, then continue a little further to Buzau itself, a quaint town to spend the night in Muntenia region.

In the morning, you leave mountains for the lowlands and the Dobrogea region. The Danube extends here, Central Europe’s famous river splintering out into a web of waterways and wild reed-fringed channels. Your houseboat waits in Tulcea, a floating hotel for a maximum of 16 guests. It travels slowly and serenely, this first-day chance to get away from manufactured life and into the untouched realm of nature. You should reach Maliuc tonight, the waterways narrowing as you travel further and further away from civilization. Dinner is served on board and you drift off to the sound of birds, listening to some of the species that call the Danube Delta home. While it’s a long day of moving – on land and water – when the sun crosses the horizon you’re surrounded by the quietude of Romania’s mostly unknown nature.

Choral songs wake you, the birds rising with the sun. Their orchestral sounds extend through the morning, a sporadic soundtrack to go with breakfast and coffee. The still post-dawn hours are particularly beautiful out here, with many of the cormorants and other birds active at this time. After breakfast, you travel on a smaller motorboat, traversing the Delta’s tighter canals and waterways, getting much closer to the birds. White pelicans nest, clearly distinct from rare Dalmatian pelicans; red-footed falcons fly overhead; pigmy cormorants and kingfishers rest above the water, while glossy ibis pokes their beaks into muddy shallows. Whiskered terns nest while black-necked grebes breed in large numbers, alongside the egrets, herons, and black-tailed goodwits.

Through the summer months, this is Europe’s premier bird-watching destination, mainly due to the migratory species that arrive from distant lands. The Delta’s latitude and ecosystem attract those arriving from the north and those escaping the heat of the south, meaning there’s often a strange juxtaposition of sightings when you travel the canals. After the motorboat, you return to the houseboat for lunch, usually dining outside under shady cover. Now the boat moves, a floating hotel floating to another part of this vast UNESCO World Heritage biosphere. Lakes are on the itinerary each day, Fortuna, Ciobanica, and Baclanesti all renowned hotspots for the region’s nesting birds.

Pelicans are the unmissable throughout these days, icons of this blue and green land. There are amongst 350 bird species living here from May to September (only half of them stay all year round). The afternoon follows a similar pattern to the morning, drifting off to nature, searching for rare birds, appreciating the solitude, and exploring one of Europe’s most magnificent natural areas. As day turns to dusk new colors paint the sky. There are new sounds as well, insects adding their chirps to the soundtrack. Dinner is served, usually beneath the stars, a day in the Delta coming to an end.

The exact itinerary and program is flexible and will be adapted to water levels and weather conditions. Along the way, you’ll visit a WWF project and see how protected areas are helping bring endangered birds back to sustainable levels. Letea village offers an insight into the life of delta-dwelling people while the Letea forest contrasts the wide-open landscapes notable throughout the rest of the Delta. For the most part, it doesn’t matter where you go; it’s always a serene ride through nature and an easy escape from the rest of the world.

Remember the final morning on the Delta because it won’t be long before you’re back in the real world, where the man makes the noise and birds are often conspicuously absent. Traveling through the Delta, you take in final impressions of the aquatic realm before meeting a driver and transferring back to Bucharest. You have day room use at a city hotel before transferring to the airport.