Sheep.

The other day we went on a run along the one road which winds from Lupeni to the next town in the valley, Uricani.  This is the only road -- the highway, really -- and the only way to get to Uricani from the eastern side of the Jiu Valley (the western side is filled by the mountainous Retezat National Park, so you can't really get there from that way either).  I mention these details just to point out how amusing the following picture is: sheep, all over the road.

(Needless to say, we stopped running.)

This actually happens a lot here.  Today we drove to Horezu and Târgu Jiu, a few hours south of Lupeni, and almost had a front-end collision with a rather assertive bull who was, again, walking down the highway amongst a herd of cows.  The bull probably would have won in a scrap with the old van we were in, so we were rather relieved when he moved at the last minute. 

It happens with goats, sheep, cows, dogs... animals are bold in Romania, apparently, and the men and women who accompany them are similarly brave.  It's amazing to me, considering that most Romanian drivers swerve around the roads at incredibly high rates of speed, jerking from side to side to avoid the potholes -- but I haven't seen a single accident here in the last few months, so apparently it all works out!