From Avrig, we go on a day-trip to a few places, including Castelul de Lut (the Earth Castle), Casa Întoarsă (Upside-Down House) and La Vâltori (which I’ll cover in the next blog post). Located right beside Castelul de Lut is Povestea Calendarului, the Story of the Calendar with a station for each month. We don’t go in there, but for anyone who has kids, this would be a great place to go; it looks like a fairytale land.
Castelul de Lut is a sustainably built fairytale-type “castle” in a lovely little park with a terrace and food stand at the river. There is not much to do here except admire the quaint architecture and sustainable construction. The houses are built from clay and sand, so they are earth houses. Everything is as natural and sustainable as possible, and you can see that they’ve made an effort with the details. Unfortunately, there is no access to the inside, and there are also no signs in English. Still, I do enjoy seeing the effort, and it is quite tranquil to sit at the river and have some Romanian food. Be aware that the nice atmosphere comes with a steeper price tag; just outside of the fenced-in area is another food stand where you can get the same type of food for a fraction of the price. That being said, the hot natural apple juice with cinnamon is very good, as are the mititei (grilled skinless pork sausages, also called mici for short). It is a lovely spring day, and I enjoy my time here.
Within driving distance from Castelul de Lut is Casa Întoarsă, the Upside-Down House in the Brambura Park south of Avrig. You can see the idea on the photos, and it’s kind of funny to walk through the house, but of course it only makes sense when you take photos with people in the house, and then you turn the photos upside down. It’s a gimmick, good for a laugh for a moment. I can imagine that the park will be nice in the warmer months, especially for families. They also have a little zoo—I particularly like the cool alpaca; I can imagine him as a cartoon character. Notice in the background the gorgeous Carpathian Mountains—this stretch has been the most beautiful to drive through.
Very cool! Liked the sustainable houses and the upside down ones!
C
Agreed just Wow thanks for sharing & great to see that wonderful smile, clearly a joyous place to visit & yes anyone with a family will have a great time, lovely sunshine & beautiful mountains in the background just stunning, very jealous
Wow … how fun ! You look like Alice in Wonderland there!