Without even realizing it, our route takes us on what Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear regards as “the best road IN THE WORLD”: the Transfăgărăşan Highway in Romania, and naturally, since Jeff has claimed the driver’s seat in Tehran, I’ve instantly claimed this bit before he can get his grubby little mitts on it……..(EDIT: since this was originally posted, he now proposes two trips down this stretch… sounds like a plan to me! 
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Originally built by the Romanian military between 1970-74 as a response to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the Romanians wanted a route that would allow quick military access through the mountains should the Soviets try something similar in Romania. Using over 6,000 tons of dynamite, resulting in the lives of 40 soldiers lost, and costing more money than any of us can likely fathom, the highway dips, twists and climbs over 90km with difference in altitude of 2,034m. Due to the constant bobbing and weaving around hairpin turns, mountain cliffs, dams, waterfalls, lakes and towns, the reported average speed of around 40km/h is just PERFECT for whatever little micro machine we manage to drive on this little quest of ours. Just keep your fingers crossed that we don’t run into bad weather though because they shut the highway down if things get too hairy (and during the winter months from October – June).
If you’re keeping track of our map of on the route page, it’s been added with a yellow pin. We’re trying to point out literally every cool spot on the trip, and because we’re from North America where there’s no REAL “history” in comparison to seeing Europe for the first time, there might end up being a lot of pins.
Here’s the clip from Top Gear for you to watch in all of it’s HD glory:
I’ve added a couple pics of the spectacular scenery and crazy roadways:
