After a tiring work week, let's make a little day trip out of the city again. This time I'm on a little Transferoviar train to Slanic, which seems relatively empty compared to the packed trains going to the coast.
We have departed!
The first 50 minutes or so is the railway line to Ploieşti, the main south-north axis out of Bucharest on which I have travelled too many times for it being anyway near exciting. Let's just pretend It's Tuscany and my yuk Starbucks coffee is Italian, and it gets a bit better.
Ploieşti, Romania's oil city. Basically the local equivalent of Houston or Aberdeen! This train is unusual because it stops at both the southern station of Ploieşti Sud (where it reverses) and then back to Ploieşti Vest on the mainline north to Braşov.
Just after the station of Buda, we get off the main Ploieşti-Braşov line and on the branch line to Slanic.. never travelled on this part before!
Sunflower fields, rolling hills, dense vegetation taking over the railway track like it's the Malaysian jungle line.. Lovely ride!
Approaching Plopeni station..
Plopeni Sat. Ten minute delay while we wait for the train in the other direction to pass on this single track railway.
There it is..!
And off we go again!
Some more snaps from my carriage (ex-Dutch 'wadloper' train).
The foothills of the Carpathians.
Arrival at Slanic - the last stop of this train and the end of the line!
The main sight here in town is the salt mine. Pretty cool sight! You enter by minibus, going deeper and deeper under the ground by tunnel through endless twists and turns until you reach the mine which is open for tourists.
Some more pictures of this underground Moria.
Some more impressions. Cool communist hammer and sickle still visible up high! There is a small cafe (for those who like 7 Days croissants and bake rolls..), sports fields (football, basketball), miniature golf and a bouncing castle for kids underground.
Out of the mine! Time for a proper Romanian lunch at a local restaurant. Staro for 1.1 EUR/pint will certainly do on a hot day like this.. the food at 4.7 EUR isn't bad either. Add in 7.7 EUR for a return train ticket from Bucharest and you have an a great, affordable day trip!
Let's hike off some of the calories and climb to the top of the hill!
Not bad, not bad!
This town is also famous for its natural pools. Unfortunately I don't have time for a swim, so another refreshing beer it is before I need to head back to the railway station.
Slanic. The only station in the world where you can buy a plastic swimming pool?
In this bloody hot weather it's quite tempting I have to say, certainly because the station has a free water tap. If I would have missed my train I might have bought one to kill the time! But here is the train for my ride back - on time.
Here we go for the ride back to Ploiesti Sud, where this train terminates.
I'm now facing the other (eastern) side of the line for a change of view. The train is getting close to capacity with currently some 70 percent of the seats taken. A remarkable difference compared to the outbound journey!
View from the train! Open windows to hang out from, lots of honking and general noises of the rickety railway track. Train travel at its best.
Arriving at Plopeni Sat. Even small stations like these have a statiom chief who exchanges paperwork with the train driver!
And we are joining the mainline again at Buda station. Not as grand as Keleti Palyaudvar, but for a simple countryside junction station it's not bad.
Arriving at Ploieşti Vest. One stop more to go to Ploieşti Sud.
And that's Ploieşti Sud, where I have about 30 mins to change trains and to buy some much-needed fanta and water..
As it's on the railway line to the north east (Moldavia), this is Ploieşti's most important and historic station. Ploieşti Vest (on the line to Braşov) was historically less important as only after WW1 did Transylvania join the (then) Romanian kingdom!
The last train ride, in another ex NS (Dutch Railways) 'wadloper' to Bucharest. As the train came from Buzau, it was already quite full when it arrived at Ploieşti. And it's HOT inside. Half of the older female passengers brought a fan with them. Smart.
And back in Bucharest after another fun day trip!
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.