Gorgeous But Dangerous - Food, People & Views of the Transfagarasan Highway | Romania Travel Guide

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With pitch black tunnels, 80 hairpin curves, and 2,000m elevation, this is the most dramatic road i've seen in Romania. But there's more to it than that.

More than 150 kilometres long, the Transfăgărăşan Highway is Romania's most spectacular and best known road. In 2009, it was the spectacle of a famous Top Gear show (season 14, episode 1) in Romania, where it was crowned "The World's Best Road".

Transfăgărăşan is Romania’s highest asphalted road and boasts an exhilarating drive filled with hairpin bends and a scenic mountainscape of sharp cliffs and heavily wooded forests.

It also has a lively market at the top of the pass selling trinkets, hand-woven clothing, and food. This offers a vibrant glimpse into local Romanian culture.

Many people take a day trip to visit Transfagarasan pass to enjoy the fun drive up, stunning views, a taxidermy display with a giant brown bear, and grab a bite to eat before going back down again.

Its history is also fascinating. Transfagarasan road was originally built in the 1970s over the course of 4½ short years by Romania's Dictator, Ceauşescu. 6 million kg of dynamite was used by soldiers and engineers to blast out rock to form the road, with 40 dying in the process. Ceauşescu was worried about an imminent Soviet invasion from the north, and built the road in order to connect the country between Wallachia and Transylvania in case he needed to mobilise troops.

Today, the road is one of Romania's top tourist attractions and makes for a great day trip in Romania. By the way, Top Gear was right about this epic road in Romania - this has got to be the most thrilling to drive in the world!

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