In April, win­ners of ENER­GETIX’s HAPPY FUTURE com­pe­ti­tion from the Nether­lands, Ger­many and Switzer­land took part in a train­ing trip to Tran­syl­va­nia and expe­ri­enced impres­sive land­scapes, medieval cities and leg­endary castles.

It all start­ed with the depar­ture on 19 April 2018 from Frank­furt to Bucharest, the cap­i­tal of Roma­nia, also known for its mag­nif­i­cent boule­vards and impres­sive build­ings as the Paris of the East. The par­tic­i­pants were able to explore the old town on a guid­ed walk. Many tra­di­tion­al pubs, cafés and bars line the nar­row alley­ways. The first evening was con­clud­ed in a very atmos­pher­ic set­ting – at the ‘Caru‘ cu Bere’, the city’s most famous restau­rant, which – with its two-storey vault and colour­ful glass win­dows – is more rem­i­nis­cent of a cathe­dral than a restaurant.

End­less expans­es and forests
The next morn­ing com­menced for ENER­GETIX’s busi­ness part­ners with a pro­gramme of con­trasts: the group left Bucharest to trav­el through the unspoilt nature of the Tran­syl­van­ian Carpathi­ans to Sina­ia, a small moun­tain resort in the Pra­ho­va Val­ley. Peleș Cas­tle, King Car­ol’s for­mer sum­mer res­i­dence, is sit­u­at­ed near here. King Car­ol, who was born a prince of Hohen­zollern and who was lat­er crowned King of Roma­nia, built one of the most mod­ern cas­tles in Europe in the sec­ond half of the 19th cen­tu­ry – with lots of light and an indoor lift – and so took a piece of his home with him to Romania.

The trip con­tin­ued on to Brașov, one of the largest cities in Tran­syl­va­nia, where the group stopped off at the tra­di­tion­al Rhein Vine­yard in Azu­ga – a for­mer sup­pli­er to the court. This is where Roma­ni­a’s old­est sparkling wine that is made using the cham­pagne method is pro­duced. The tast­ing also helped our busi­ness part­ners get into a prop­er sparkling mood before they set off again towards the south east.

A small chal­lenge await­ed the group in Brașov: it was divid­ed into four teams, which were tasked with find­ing the city’s sights, speak­ing to local res­i­dents and buy­ing small sou­venirs. Every­one rose to the chal­lenge and were so lat­er reward­ed with choco­late medals at dinner.

Fabled and full of mys­tery: Bran Castle
The next day start­ed with a trip to the coun­try­side where ENER­GETIX’s team was giv­en a warm wel­come by a local fam­i­ly and treat­ed to typ­i­cal local spe­cial­i­ties from the fam­i­ly’s own gar­dens. Lunch in a small vine­yard built up the group’s strength for a spe­cial high­light of the trip: Bran Cas­tle, where, accord­ing to leg­end, the famous vam­pire Count Drac­u­la is said to have struck ter­ror into peo­ple’s hearts. The for­mi­da­ble cas­tle, built on steep cliffs at the old bor­der between Tran­syl­va­nia and Wal­lachia, attracts many tourists and vam­pire fans from all over the world.

The final farewell meal gave the par­tic­i­pants the oppor­tu­ni­ty to swap notes with oth­er part­ners both about the eeri­ly beau­ti­ful trav­el impres­sions and busi­ness mat­ters in a relaxed atmos­phere before their return to Frank­furt the next morning.
Per­haps you’ll be join­ing us on our next trip? ENERGETIX express­es its grat­i­tude towards its suc­cess­ful busi­ness part­ners with extra­or­di­nary trips around the world.

This way to more photos.