a journal

Romania

Ten days from Iași into the Eastern Carpathians, and back again.

16–26 May 2026

North-east Romania, with a week of via ferrata in the Eastern Carpathians at its centre and the city of Iași at either end.

The photographs and clips are the record of it. The notes alongside them are background, gathered place by place, for the pictures to hang on.

places, dates and figures, kept in order

the route, drawn in order

the city at either end

Iași

16–20 May · four nights

A former capital of Moldavia and one of the oldest cities in Romania, in the far north-east, near the border with Moldova. It opens and closes the trip: four nights here before the mountains, one more on the way home.

A wide plaza in central Iași with grass and surrounding buildings

former capital of Moldavia · in the far north-east

Its Palace of Culture, completed in 1925, is a neo-Gothic building of some 298 rooms beneath a clock tower of 55 metres. The Trei Ierarhi monastery church, consecrated in 1639 under Vasile Lupu, is carved over its entire façade and was once finished in gold leaf.

Trei Ierarhi monastery church, Iași — Trei Ierarhi · the three hierarchs · Bvd. Ștefan cel Mare

The Palace of Culture, Iași, with figures in the foreground

completed 1925 · architect I.D. Berindei · neo-Gothic on the site of the old princely court

Trei Ierarhi is listed on Romania’s register of historic monuments and on UNESCO’s tentative list. Every surface of its stone is carved in geometric and floral bands, unusual among the painted monasteries of the region.

the approach · *Mănăstirea Golia*, 19 May

Interior of an orthodox church dome with painted figures

Golia · founded 1564, the bell tower added 1660

Orthodox icon of Christ — three details from the chapel

An open service book — three details from the chapel

monastery walls and the scent of incense from the candle stand

The city has a botanical garden of some 100 hectares on the slopes south of the centre, the largest in the country. The greenhouses date from the 1970s.

A wide view across the Iași botanical garden

A tunnel of pergolas in the botanical garden

A figure walking through the pergola tunnel

The botanical garden's greenhouse, exterior — the long greenhouse

Greenhouse interior with cacti and tall trees

*Grădina Botanică* · through the glass

A monument silhouetted in the botanical garden

A ring close-up, held in the hand — a quiet detail

Outside the historic centre the city is otherwise concrete and panel-block, with the occasional pink-painted modernist intervention.

A brutalist tower behind a cluster of orange road signs — the brutalist tower behind the road signs

Traditional Moldavian shoes on display in a museum — opinci · traditional Moldavian shoes

A museum interior, mannequin in period dress

back in Iași · the closing afternoon, 26 May

Iași is also Moldavian cuisine — mămăligă with stew, sour soups thickened with borș, cozonac in the bakeries. The cafés around the centre run late.

A Moldavian table — dinner, somewhere off Piața Unirii

A slice of layered pastry — dinner, somewhere off Piața Unirii

A sunset reflected in still water at dusk — the last evening before the mountains · 19 May

south, the fifth day

The drive south

20 May · Iași to the red lake

About three hours by road, the last stretch through the Bicaz gorge on the DN12C. The Bicaz cuts a passage roughly six to eight kilometres long between limestone walls that rise to some 300 metres; its narrowest point is named Gâtul Iadului, Hell’s Throat.

A mountain road bending into pine forest

Along the rural roads the white stork is a constant. Ciconia ciconia nests on poles, pylons and chimneys across lowland Romania, returning each spring to the same stick nest, which can grow to a couple of metres across.

View through a windshield, driver concentrating, rural Romania — the driver's seat, somewhere south of Iași

A single tree by a roadside, soft afternoon light

a nest on a pole can reach two metres across and last for decades

The road passes Soviet-era industrial works in various states of abandonment — concrete, ribbed cooling towers, weed and birch growing through the slabs.

An abandoned industrial structure with graffiti — industrial decay, between towns

A pale rocky outcrop in soft afternoon light — the limestone announces itself

the climbing base

Lacu Roșu

20 May · 983 m

The Red Lake formed in 1837, when a landslide off Mount Ghilcoș dammed the Bicaz and flooded the valley, drowning the spruce forest where it stood. It sits at 983 metres and is the largest natural dam lake in Romania.

The road approaching Lacu Roșu through the Bicaz limestone

The drowned trunks still break the surface. The colour, and the name, come from iron-oxide clays carried in by the Red Creek. The lake lies within the Bicaz Gorges–Hășmaș National Park, and served as the base for the climbing week.

Wooden cottages at the edge of Lacu Roșu

A spruce forest drowned where it stood in 1837, its trunks still breaking the surface at 983 metres.

background · Bicaz Gorges–Hășmaș National Park

Two figures on the lakeside path — the first walk around the lake

the lake on arrival · 20 May

A figure on a wooden jetty as small birds skim the water

Looking out across the lake from the dock

A silhouette and a single bird above the water

iron-oxide clays carry the colour in from the Red Creek

The lake from the dam end, mountains in the distance

dawn · 21 May, before the first cable

Lake portrait — the same lake, half an hour apart

Lake portrait, looking out — the same lake, half an hour apart

Walking the lake path between the spruce stumps

On the rocks at the lake's edge, arms raised

A figure under a tree with its roots exposed at the path's edge — the tree at the trail · roots laid bare

A short walk on from the lake, the Red Creek meets a small concrete dam — the original drainage works, still in place.

A long concrete dam wall with water falling over its lip

A hairpin road carved into a gorge wall — hairpin on the DN12C

Wider view of the village with the limestone walls behind

A wooden stall of folk souvenirs at the lakeside — the souvenir stand

A large garden snail close-up — trail company

A moss-covered fallen tree stump — the forest record · everything returns to moss

A traditional wooden cottage in the village

the village is mostly cabin-and-balcony architecture, cedar shingle and tin roof

A friendly village dog on the road — the village dog · came over for a scratch

Several dogs gathered in a courtyard, late afternoon shadows

The food is mountain food. Polenta with stew. Bread bowls of bean soup. Mămăligă with cheese curds, a fried egg laid on top.

A plate of mămăligă with stew and a fried egg

A round of bread, hollowed and filled with stew — *ciorbă de fasole* · in the bread

four days, four routes

The limestone

21–24 May · four via ferratas

A via ferrata is a protected climbing route: a steel cable fixed to the rock, with iron rungs, ladders and the occasional bridge, that lets a climber follow exposed ground clipped in by a lanyard. Four were on the itinerary, climbed on consecutive days and worked roughly north to south down the Eastern Carpathians.

View from a wooden lodge balcony, mountains beyond

The base for these days was a cabin lodge above the lake, with a wide wooden gallery and a view down the valley. Breakfast on the gallery, climbing kit on the bench by the door.

Breakfast spread on a table by the window — first breakfast

Inside the lodge, a wooden room with traditional fittings

The lodge's wooden cottages and their mountain backdrop

the lodge had a woodstove and a dog called Ursu

A young fawn lying in tall grass — the fawn in the field below the lodge

The mouth of a natural limestone cave, climbing route running across the rock

A small figure at the foot of an enormous cave entrance — for scale

Climbers reading a route topo board at the trailhead — reading the topo

The cave entrance with climbing equipment laid out below

Thursday, 21 May

Astragalus

Cheile Șugăului–Munticelu, in the Hășmaș (Neamț)

The longest via ferrata in Romania. Six lines, graded A to D, share a single wall in the Șugău gorge; the main route runs 700 m of cable, 450 up and 250 back down.

grade C/D · 700 m of cable · 285 m of ascent

Friday, 22 May

Wild Ferenc

south wall of Suhardul Mic, directly above the lake

A short, steep line above Lacu Roșu. A grade D pitch, slightly overhanging, comes just before a suspension bridge; the route keeps a guestbook at the far end of it.

grade C/D · 200 m of cable · 173 m of ascent

Saturday, 23 May

Pericolul Caprelor

Kecskevész rock, Harghita Mădăraș

Two lines run from a single start and merge mid-route, joined by a Vietnamese bridge of two parallel cables, feet on one and hands on the other. The most moderate of the four.

grade B/C · 200 m of cable · 60 m of ascent

Sunday, 24 May

Șoim Călător

Cheile Vârghișului, on the Harghita–Covasna line

Opened in 2021, in the Vârghiș gorge. The line is mostly sustained B/C with a roof passage and a steeper pitch in the upper third, then a descent of around forty minutes through forest.

grade B/C · 240 m of cable · 120 m of ascent

route figures from via-ferrata.ro

*Wild Ferenc* · the line above the lake

A long suspension bridge through forest, two climbers crossing

Limestone forest from above, ridges rolling away

A climber standing on a small rocky summit

A climber raises an arm at the top of a pitch

On the summit, both arms raised against the sky

Two climbers at the top, helmets still on

A small alpine flower on the rock — alpine detail

*Pericolul Caprelor* · feet on one cable, hands on the other

the way down · 23 May

The descents go through pasture. Cows on the path. Cattle bells. The locals don’t get out of the way; the path goes around them.

The cow up close, deciding whether to move

*Șoim Călător* · the upper pitch, 24 May

The last climbing day finished early. The afternoon was the small reservoir at Mădăraș, with a single blue rowing boat against the green.

A wide reservoir with forested hills beyond

A couple by the reservoir, the dam wall behind

A wider view of the reservoir from a small jetty

A small blue rowing boat tied at the jetty — the same blue boat, two distances

The blue boat from further away, hills behind — the same blue boat, two distances

A long straight road through pasture, a motorcyclist in the distance — the road back from Mădăraș

A wooden platter of rotisserie chicken and sides — dinner

north again

The way back

24–26 May

The return ran north through the gorges to Piatra Neamț, a town below Mount Cozla with a gondola to the ridge and a princely court dating to the fifteenth century. From there it is about two hours back to Iași.