Road of legends: Romania’s Transfăgărășan on the cover of Cyclist mag

The high-altitude local road Transfăgărăşan is featured on the cover of the October issue of the UK magazine Cyclist, Stirileprotv.ro reported.

A snapshot of the winding road is presented with the headline “Road of legends. Cyclist goes in search of riding perfection in Transylvania.”

The road, inaugurated 45 years ago, became famous worldwide after British TV show Top Gear shot an episode in Romania in 2009. Former Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson then called it “the best road in the world”.

Still, while the fame of the road crosses the country’s borders, the amenities for drivers and cyclists are few.

“Almost nothing was done in these 45 years. There are areas with a real danger of rocks falling and even degradation of the asphalt,” Dumitru Grecu, president of the Transfăgărășan Tourist Association, told Stirileprotv.ro.

Eurovelo, the European network of cycle routes, has 15 tracks across the continent but barely reaches the country. Tourist arriving here do not find enough tracks and signaling for cyclists, prompting them to choose tracks elsewhere.

Tourists from Canada and New Zealand interviewed by Stirileprotv.ro explained that they would have liked to see more public toilets, also in the cities that can be reached by bike.

“We have seen many sheep and cows! And what they leave behind, you need to pay extra attention to the road. And, of course, we have seen locals in carts and others driving luxury cars. It was interesting,” one tourist explained.

“We are aware that this type of tourism is new in Romania. So maybe, in time, you will have more public toilets also in cities that can be reached by bike,” another said.

(Photo: Gutescu Eduard/ Dreamstime.com)