After Fără Asfalt 2025 where I did my warm up, it was time to go to Bikeathon 2025 Făgăraș.
This one took place in Făgăraș, Brașov county, and it was perfect timing with an extra bank holiday allowing for an extended weekend so we could enjoy the surrounding area called “Țara Făgărașului” (Făgăraș Country).
Our plans were to go do the race and after that start visiting around and see the Cave Monastery at Șinca Veche, the Brâncoveanu Monastery from Sâmbăta de Sus, the Lipizzan Horse Stud Farm from Sâmbăta de Jos, the Rucăr belvedere point, the Cistercian Abbey from Cârța, the Clay Castle in Porumbacu de Sus, the Brukenthal Castle in Avrig, the Transfăgărășan and the Bâlea Lake.
It seems like a lot of places to cover in a few days, but it’s a pretty short drive from Făgăraș, where we were staying, to any of these places.
Bikeathon 2025
I entered the Bikeathon on the Long Race, which is a 47 km mountain bike ride with a 1200 m elevation difference.
To be fair I didn’t enter by myself, I was signed up to the race. I guess I needed a little push to go bike more often.
First of all I’d want to say that the race was really well organized with tons of volunteers at the start/finish to help you, but also along the 47 km to cheer you, check that you arrived safely at checkpoints and provide you with beverages, snacks, etc.
There isn’t anything to complain about when it comes to organization.
But man it was hot that day! To make it worse, I didn’t realize how much time it would take me to complete the race.
In my mind I was like “Oh! 3 hours should be plenty” given that I finished the 32 km a week ago in 1 hour and 43 minutes. What I didn’t take into account was that the previous race was at the seaside with almost nothing when it comes to elevation changes.
Here it was a totally different story. The climbs were killing me, a good amount of them I said “Fuck it!” and walked uphill. At least I wasn’t the only one. My only goal was to not stop too much, because it will be harder to get going again, and not finish dead last.
The downhill parts were a pleasure, I enjoyed all of them to the max, even the few more technical parts where you had to pay a lot of attention not to end up in a tree.
4 hours and 49 minutes later, I finished the race and I wasn’t the last one.
YAY! Now I don’t want to see the bike anymore.
Will I go again next year? Maybe, let’s see after a few more weeks when I forget the pain. It was fun and I enjoyed a good amount of the race. The heat was the biggest problem for me.
Făgăraș
I didn’t take a ton of pictures in Făgăraș this time. I’d already been there a few times and I was too tired to focus on finding any subjects.
But you should totally visit this city and the citadel that’s in the middle of it, it’s in great shape and looks amazing in person.
Check some aerial photos online to see what I’m talking about.
The Cave Monastery
We arrived here on Pentecost and there were many more people than I expected.
The complex where the cave monastery is has the old part (the actual cave) and some newer buildings as well that are part of the hermitage making in an active place of worship. All those people were there for religious pilgrimage, while we wanted to see this old monastery built inside the the rock wall.
It might not seem like a lot in the pictures, but when you think it was all done by hand and people lived and practiced Orthodox rituals there in a time when they were forced to convert to Catholicism, it gives it a little more context.
The Brâncoveanu Monastery
Very pretty!
The Lipizzan Horse Stud Farm
We got to visit this horse farm that raises Lipizzan horses, we walked a bit through the stables, saw some of the horses up close and after that spent some time on the stud to see them horsing around.
The Clay Castle
Unfortunately, this was a bit of a waste of time. The Clay Castle at Porumbacu de Sus is no longer an open to visit attraction. It’s turned into a restaurant and accommodation where you need to place a reservation and so on.
So the only picture is from across the road. Enjoy that.
There is a bench right there, I mean the Google Maps location is named “The Bench with panoramic view”, so yeah…
The Cistercian Abbey
I was pleasantly surprised by this stop on our tour of Făgăraș Country.
I didn’t know what to expect (side note, this is a good approach in general, not to over-hype something and get disappointed), and I also didn’t know anything about the Cistercian Order not to mention that I had no idea they arrived so far including Romania.
Yeah, I was pretty clueless. Thank God for all the info panels.
The Brukenthal Castle
I was a bit disappointed with this place.
I would say it’s a bit much to call it a “castle”, maybe a nice villa with a garden? Even “palace” would work better.
Anyway, the gardens are okay, the domain itself could look better, but there was a very strong difference in how the restaurant, the accommodation and all the other amenities that are designed to host events looked compared to the actual historical buildings which housed some museums.
The focus was clearly on cashing in from all the events that can be hosted there.
The Transfăgărășan and the Bâlea Lake
No much more to say about this, it’s a beautiful road and you can even see it showcased in one of the Top Gear episodes from a while ago.
We got to see 8 bears in total, as we got on the other side of the mountain descending to the Vidraru Dam and Lake. Which is a high number and this is a serious problem in that particular region.
