South of the town of Cugir, the land rises into the Șureanu mountains, a sprawling range of beech and spruce forests, high meadows and rounded summits in the heart of the Southern Carpathians. This is the country of the Dacians, the people who ruled much of present-day Romania before the Roman conquest in the early second century. Their capital, Sarmizegetusa Regia, and a ring of mountain fortresses lie in the Orăștie mountains to the west, and they are listed by UNESCO as the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains. Bătrâna, on the high ground above the Cugir valley, belongs to the network of ancient sites scattered across these hills, where Dacians and Romans watched each other across the ridges.
The mountains are wild and lightly populated. Shepherds bring their flocks up to the high pastures in summer, and the forests are home to bears, wolves and lynx. The rivers are clear and cold, tumbling down rocky valleys, and the views from the summits reach across the Transylvanian plateau to the north and the Jiu valley to the south.
For riders, the big attraction is the Transalpina, the highest paved road in Romania, which crosses the Parâng mountains from Șugag, through the Lotru valley, to Novaci, reaching more than two thousand metres at its highest point. It is a spectacular road, with hairpins, long climbs and views over endless ridges, but it is open only in the warmer months, usually from early summer to autumn, and the weather at the top can be cold, foggy and windy even in July. The surface is generally good, but watch for sheep, dogs, cows and gravel, and the road can be busy with tourists on weekends.
Services are scarce in the mountains. Petrila, about twenty kilometres away in the Jiu valley, is an old coal-mining town with fuel and shops, and Șugag and Cugir have basic services. Fill your tank before heading into the hills, and carry water and warm clothing. Mountain huts and guesthouses along the Transalpina serve grilled meat, cheese and polenta, and the sheep's cheese, fresh from the shepherds, is delicious.