Worth Getting Out of Bed For
Bed? Who needs a lie-in when there’s a wonderland of glassine lakes, meadows rampant with wildflowers, valleys coated in pines and the most charming turn-back-time villages to discover. Granted, you may want to pause for a massage or a pilates session to limber up before setting forth into the wild, but like the bears, lynxes and wolves that prowl these parts, you won’t want to stay cooped up for long. You only need to decide how you’d like to explore – the staff can suggest several appealing ways of covering as much ground as possible. Say, hopping on a bike…the advanced cycling tour takes you to Mălâncrav to see its well-preserved church frescoes or the child-friendly beginner tour takes you on a gentle route through the surrounding forests and meadows (both include a picnic lunch). Cross-country horseback rides on Lippizzaner and sport horses from Villa Abbatis Equestrian Center are for experienced riders who are confident trotting and cantering across virgin landscapes, but a gentler equestrian pastime can be found in a horse-and-carriage ride through the valleys, with a stop in a picturesque meadow for a lunch of soup heated in a shepherd’s kettle, bacon to fry over the fire, freshly made bread and Transylvanian pastries. It’ll ease you into the languidly paced pastoral way of life that’s continued here for aeons, before you immerse yourself further into country living. With, say, a visit to the local ‘breite’ reserve with an ornithologist to spot the likes of owls, woodpeckers and buzzards alongside birds of prey and rare butterflies; or trying your hand at sheep herding with local shepherd Florin before touring his farm, trying his top-drawer produce and finishing up with a warming tot of brandy. You can also try your hand at catching Prussian carp, pike, bass and trout in the Dam of Zeta, a natural ‘fishing pond’, or in the mountain torrents on weekends. Come winter, strap on a pair of snowshoes to take a guided tour through the fragrant pine forests in the Harghita mountain.
Of course, it’s not all going off-trail, foraging in hedgerows, baiting glacier lakes, and wrestling bears (we may have made that last one up). This region is notable for its extremely well-preserved medieval villages and Unesco World Heritage sites. And – goths-at-heart will be thrilled to hear – Bran Castle (of Dracula and Vlad the Impaler fame) is just a two-hour drive south. Its connections to both the toothsome count and legendary tyrant are somewhat spurious, but with its top-of-a-cliff locale and many turrets, it is wonderfully cast as an eerie locus of nefarious deeds. Otherwise, there are several tale-as-old-as-time villages in orbit around the estate, and the hotel can arrange hiking or sightseeing tours (or loan you one of their slick 1960s or 1970s cars for the day). It would be rude not to stop by the family seat of Criş (it is just 200 metres from the Caretaker’s Residence) to admire Renaissance Bethlen Castle where Count Miklós’ father lived. Or stop by Mediaș (named for the cherry trees that line its streets) to see the pointy, 13th-century Tower of Buglers; see Sighișoara to bump up your Insta-likes with a background of cobbled-stone lanes and pastel-hued houses; or roam important cultural hub Sibiu, which has grand squares, houses that have stood for centuries and the art-laden Brukenthal Museum. Gastronomes rejoice, too: the Transylvanian forests are a hotbed for both black and white truffles and the hotel will happily arrange a trip out with their dogs to sniff some out in season (May through August and September to December), after which, the chef will prepare a meal with your dug-up treasures. And, take road-tripping to new heights by soaring across Romania’s two high-altitude roads Transfogarasan and Transalpina, which cut dramatically through the Fagaras and Carpathian mountains.
