Ștefanu sheepfold is a place you cannot miss if you arrive on the highest road in Romania. I even dare to exaggerate and say that you have come all this way and endured so many twists and turns almost for nothing, if you don't stop here. Located 18 kilometers from Rânca and 10 kilometers from Obârşia Lotrului, the barn is the family business of Mărioara and Gheorghe Babu, local shepherds from Novaci, who take care of 600 sheep. For six years, they have been welcoming tourists to their place and serving them lamb pastrami in a cauldron, lamb stew, polenta with cheese and cream, cottage cheese, jintita (mixture of whey and curd), mixed fir bud syrup with spring water. You can also buy bee products here, as well as jams and sweets. At the entrance you are greeted by the shepherd dogs, Gilda, Doca and Tarzan, and you are immediately drawn to the huskies sitting in a circle around some sticks and a basket of bells. Mărioara and Gheorghe understood that tourists love to take pictures the most, so they provided the necessary props for visitors to leave with authentic souvenirs. The dining room is decorated with dozens of traditional costumes more than a hundred years old, wipes, pots, rugs, shepherd's items, and even a loom. And how could your food be served in such a setting, other than in clay pots with wooden spoons? To the left of the steaming tuci cauldrons, there is a panel with photos of the Babu family with celebrities who have visited their fold, and to the right, a room - museum with beds, ii, carpets, sheepskins and wipes.
When you leave, you remember that the shepherds are still modern people, as you deduce from the contacts written on a wooden plate, and that you can find them on Facebook, on their mobile phones or on their website.
