Blog of Romania

How does a promising trip start? Not by waking up at 6 a.m. and still missing your train. But we nonetheless managed it.

‘We’ means a Romanian (i.e. me) and an American (i.e. Lerri [say it like Marie with an L; NOT Larry], freshly arrived from Ukraine), who had known each other for about 4 years but had only met face-to-face 4 days before. The Romanian should’ve known better than to assume that 7 a.m. traffic is much better than at 9 a.m., or she could’ve at least thought about the construction works on the way. She didn’t, so they both arrived at the train station in time to see the empty tracks where their train had been 5 minutes before. Change ticket, pay the difference, go back home and sleep until the next one.

As it turns out, it wasn’t such a bad thing after all. Switching from an Accelerat to an Intercity meant we got a table. So, we spent the next ~4 hours playing Spite & Malice (cool American card game). I won at first (beginner’s luck), then started losing; then the guy sitting in the chair across us (who I swear I knew from somewhere… maybe last year’s Artmania fest) joined in and proceeded to kick our ass repeatedly. Luckily we got to Sighisoara before being humiliated too much…

There, my lovely friend Silviu was waiting for us and he gave us (amazing) shelter, then took us to a place which had food (mmm. pasta.) Because it was dark, and sightseeing is difficult if you can’t actually see anything, we proceeded to a bar (then another, then another - they close way too early), where we and his friends got involved in intercultural drinking, jokes, sex tales, swearing, police stories and anything in between.

The next morning, tired and slightly hungover, we got into tourist mode and started a walk around the city. I had only seen it during the medieval festival (read: overcrowded), so it was very weird seeing empty places which last summer were teeming with people. But my conclusion after comparing the two: deserted city is muuch better for tourists than drunken rockers all over the place.

Sighisoara is beautiful. You go from the new town to the old citadel (still inhabited) on a long stairway (not exactly to heaven, but close) and end up in a square. On the right, the Clock Tower, almost no one in sight (cue memories of the throng of people waiting to go up during the festival). So, of course, we started climbing. What I didn’t know is that the tower also contains the museum of history, which had awesome stuff like a model of old Sighisoara, objects from each of the craftsmen’s guilds and - my favorites - a couple of old medical kits (amputation, gynecology, surgery) full of creepy metal things (I was very glad I’m living in the modern age). Climbing further up the narrow stairs, we got to the room of the clock, where you can see the mechanism in action and wonder just how the fuck does it work?

Even further up, you get to the top of the tower and you can enjoy a great view of the city and the cool markers showing the direction and distance to several important cities (and the poles). Towers rock and these German towns seem to have a lot of them.

We walked around some more afterwards, saw the Roman-Catholic church, a couple of new hostels and B&Bs, places undergoing some sort of demolishing/repair work and a lot of adorable little streets (plus a souvenir shop with a very nice saleswoman - last on the left as you’re going towards the staircase, it has some mannequins in front).

Next up, climbing the next set of stairs - this time, the covered staircase (which, as the name implies, is a staircase with a roof). A lady was playing folk music on the stairs, so we had a little entertainment while climbing and discovering exactly how out-of-shape we were. The first thing you see on the hill is a high-school. I’d have skipped many more classes if I had to climb for 5 minutes to get to school… these students should get a medal.

Next to the high-school there’s the Biserica din Deal (the Church on the Hill), which we didn’t visit because we’re not so crazy about churches. What we did see was the cemetery, which was very beautiful. Sad, of course, but very beautiful nonetheless.

After this short interlude with the dead, we stopped in a bar for everyone’s (non-alcoholic, this time) drink of choice, then hurried back to Silviu’s home for a great home-cooked meal from his mother and quick packing + leaving for the train station, as we weren’t planning on missing anymore trains.

Of course, the train was late this time, but about that in part two.

[Read part 2: Sibiu.]

Jen takes care of BlogofRomania and wants to travel as much as possible. Feel free to invite her to visit.
Post written for BlogofRomania.

I’ve been meaning to go to Histria for a few months now; still, I only managed to get there last Sunday. I had visited the ancient ruins about 12 years ago and, since the only vivid memories of that trip were of my father chasing a lizard, I thought it might be time to create fresh new ones. Luckily, the weather was not as windy as predicted, nor was it cloudy (at least, not all the time), so I was able to shoot decent photos, which can be admired at the end of the article (do not scroll down yet, interesting information following!).

Moreover, my classmate’s brother, who currently studies History at the “Ovidius” University in Constanta provided me with some ‘expert’ information regarding the construction of the fortress. One thing he told me concerns the color of Roman bricks, which used to be bright orange, brighter than nowadays actually, which explains why they still look so jolly, despite being about two thousand years old. Also, it seems that the Greeks were very smart fellows, as they would build the citadel walls to resist earthquakes – first came a layer of stone, then 3-5 layers of brick, followed by another layer of stone and so on. Apparently, this system had first been used on the walls of Constantinople, because a wall completely made of stone would have been too sensitive to such extreme phenomena.

Unfortunately, dogs aren’t allowed into the museum, so I had to skip that part, but that didn’t make the trip one bit less enjoyable. So, if you ever get the chance, visit Histria!

Original post: here (RO).
Ela is 18 and very talkative. In fact, she is so talkative many people have told her to shut up. So she started blogging. Now she can ban those who tell her to shut up.

The city always looks dark at sunset. The metal skeletons of the electricity poles try - unsuccessfully - to hide the blood-red disc. The entire horizon is dowsed in the sickly red light and the polluted breath of the city. This doesn’t make me appreciate it any less. It makes me feel powerless in front of a sick man I cannot cure. With each sunset, my city dies a little more. It eats up the dead rays of the sun only to be reborn, even more noisy and full of life, with the next sunrise…

Original post: here.
Dan is a 27 year-old from Bucharest who lives to read, write, take phots and discover the new and the old.

The first time I visited Sibiu was a long time ago, so I don’t remember much. However, I was very pleasantly surprised by the way the town made me feel,when I came back to Sibiu in November. I was on a mini-trip after a real team-building with my then-co-workers.

Here are some photos that speak for themselves:

Being from Sibiu, Ciprian knew where to take us. I left with one thought: that I want to see Hermannstadt again as soon as possible.

The return

The opportunity would come sooner than I’d wished, honestly. After conversations that lasted from August til’ mid-December and after B&B owners and friends changed their minds, my gang kind of “split up” and we were forced to find alternate locations for spending New Year’s. Of course, I thought of Sibiu, and after trying to find easier alternatives (read: closer to Bucharest), I tried to find accomodation in Sibiu. After repeated failures, I got lucky after a friend gave me a helpful tip.

And here I was, on Demcember 29, in Sibiu.

Decorated with Christmas lights and a bit of snow, the town lay still and waited for the new year. I was used to the crowd of the capital city, so I thought at first that the locals felt it was simply too cold to go out. I heard too many words with a Bucharest accent, so I concluded that only tourists from Bucharest were walking across the beautiful pavement downtown. Which wasn’t that far from the truth, as you’ll see.

I noticed a couple of really cool things in this town, beside the atmosphere. These people have a lot of respect for the brand. However weird this sounds, it must define the people in Sibiu since it impressed me so much. The town itself benefited from an ad-hoc large-scale branding campaing that was pretty effective, and people who own a restaurant, a product or a service which is active on the local market and has competition have very good promotional materials. The marketing industry is also helped by the high-quality print shops in Sibiu. To quote the tagline of the most preeminent such print shop: “We print you on anything!”…

And speaking of restaurants…

The restaurants

We were received - with warmth you very rarely find in a restaurant in Bucharest, be it fancy or not - in several interesting places.

By far, the best food in Sibiu was, to me, the one in Crama “Sibiul Vechi”, a restaurant I’d known from November and which proved to be a paradise for the food lover (category in which I definitely fit in).

We found an interesting atmosphere and an excellent Irish Coffee in Kulturcafe Sigi, we found pretty good food at Bufniţa Restaurent, but the pleasant surprise came from the only real chocolaterie in Sibiu, Bur Chocolat. Belgian chocolate of the highest quality and an intimate space to savour it in, in case you want to try the pralines on the spot or taste some hot chocolate (100 mg was enough for me, it was that sweet!). The owner received us in the dining room with a glass of mulled wine on the house a couple of hours before the passage between the years, as he saw we were all frozen from the cold. We got to talking, and he told us how much he liked it in Sibiu. He had moved there a few months ago, from Bucharest. For good. An initiative I only now understand perfectly, after my friend Aurelian has decided to try the same thing this year.

I’m sure there are a lot of other good restaurants I didn’t get the opportunity to see, so please give me some tips!

Original post: here (RO).
Viorel is a web developer, has been coding for 8 years and making a living out of it for two. He’s been playing around with a D80 for a year and with cameras in general for 4. He is interested in marketing, branding and image.

…being surrounded by fog, a few meters above the earth, clueless about where you are heading. What goes on in your head?

BorÅŸa was a beautiful place to visit, since it made me reflect upon some personal issues. The thick mist reminded me of ‘Bleak House’, while also making me think about Hell. Yes, for a moment there, I thought that is how Hell must feel like: freezing. And this comes from a person who usually loves cold and fog and, generally speaking, gloomy stuff. Anyhow, it was an incredible experience, the walking and the climbing and the snowflakes which made my hair look as if I was born during World War One. Note to self: if you ever learn to ski properly, go back to BorÅŸa.

Gastronomically speaking, the place was not a bit less surprising than the rest of Maramures county (in Sighetu-Marmatiei the pork-brain sauce, liver and dill seemed to be pretty common pizza toppings): pork fries were high up there in the menu. And, although apparently they’re actually tasty, I didn’t have the “balls” to try them.

Finally, as I was saying, the place made me think a lot. I thought about mistakes, about sins, about regrets. And this is what I tried to express through the pictures I took. A place so beautiful and so quiet I felt even the slightest sound I would make could harm its exceptional beauty.

(Click to enlarge)

Original post: here (RO).
Ela is 18 and very talkative. In fact, she is so talkative many people have told her to shut up. So she started blogging. Now she can ban those who tell her to shut up.

The blog of the city of Constanţa said, on January 11, 2008

What is a flash mob?
A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief period of time, then quickly disperse.

We will meet on Sunday, January 20, 2008, at 2 P.M. (sharp), on Åžtefan cel Mare street, in front of the Tomis Mall.

There you will find a person with a cap, sunglasses and a newspaper in his hand, who will be facing the passage under Mihai Viteazu street. Tomis Mall will be to his right. We shall stand in line, in random order behind him, and we will follow him. We will enter Tomis Mall, we will climb the first escalator up to the last floor and we will come down on the other escalator until ground floor, and then we will exit the store and disperse.

The important thing is to follow the person in front of you.

The aftermath, January 20, 2008.

Ohh yes! ConstanÅ£a didn’t sleep this Sunday.

Our city was brought out of its idleness by the enthusiasm you showed at this flash mob.

“We have gathered here on this historic day to show the world that…” Do you know what we proved with this crazy thing of today? For me and for Mr. Olaru it was a proof that we still live in a world with people like we hope them to be: without complexes, ready to face an awkward situation and very similar. We were hoping for at least 50-70 “rebels”, but it looks like you’ve manage to exceed our expectations.

The escalator broke down because of our weight. The guards didn’t know how to react. The people who were in the mall were “woken up” and brought out of their Sunday routine. The clerks were probably happy that something was finally happening. It was the best walk through Tomis ever. It was a demonstration that we exist and that together we’re damn strong. We “said” so much without saying anything.

It’s time to face the stupidity. We promise that this type of free expression will become a tradition and that in the future we will not be discouraged by all that is happening around us and we will make a stand.

Thank you, and we hope to see you again.

Photos from the flash mob can be seen here and here.

Original posts: here and here (RO).

This week [note: post originally published on June 1st, 2007] I got to Câmpulung, in ArgeÅŸ country. Câmpulung - the city where the lights really go out at night, the heaters are already cold (explanation: no heat since ‘96, cut off from the heating system, cast iron, metal collecting center, going out for a drink, human needs). Although the poor neighbourhoods give a stark image to town, there are however a couple of areas of the town and its environs: Negru Vodă Monastery, Flămânda Church [Hungry Church] (also known as Mireselor Church [Church of the Brides]), the Vidraru dam, the Heroes’ Mausoleum in MateiaÅŸ and others.

Among the town attractions you can see the Pardon Boulevard close to the park. The boulevard is divided in two by a pedestrian walkway, so the locals have (unofficially) name one side of the road Merci. [Pardon and Merci - Sorry and Thanks]

I, for one, saw the Heroes’ Mausoleum in MateiaÅŸ and the Mireselor Church.

The Heroes’ Mausoleum is located on the Câmpulung - BraÅŸov road, 15-20 km from Câmpulung, close to the limestone quarry. The mausoleum is “dedicated to the heroes of the National Unification War in 1912-1918″. It costs 2 RON to visit the museum and the ossuary. The museum has evidence of the battles in the Muscel area, reconstructed (static) war scenes, maps of the fronts.

Above the marble plated ossuary inscribed with the fallen soldiers’ names rises a gazebo from which you can see the hills surrounding the area. In the tower of the gazebo there is a metal repository with the bones of the soldiers. The entrance to the ossuary and its hall are done in mosaic.

Photos (click to enlarge):
1. The Heroes’ Mausoleum in MateiaÅŸ (exterior) - The National Office for the Cult of Heroes
2. The Heroes’ Mausoleum in MateiaÅŸ (interior - ossuary) - Bogdan Morar

Mireselor (or Flămânda) Church rises on the hill with the same name and it was started by Dimitrie Rosetti and, after repeated collapses and attempts of partial rebuilding, it was designed by the well-known architect George Matei Cantacuzino in the Moldavian style of the Muşatin family.

You can see a collection of photos took on this trip to Câmpulung here.

Original post: here (RO).
Petrus is 25 and lives in the city we all love to hate, Bucharest. He blogs on ProfilVirtual (RO) and DigitalGuide (RO/EN), the latter a blog about tourism, a spinoff of a category of the first blog. He writes less often because personal and corporate life don’t leave him much time.

Last weekend took place the Ravasitul Oilor Festival (Sheep Scattering) in Bran village located in Braşov County. Before we reached our destination, Platoul Inima Reginei near Bran Castle, we saw how the festival increased the traffic in the area. Also, the barbecues’ smoke could be confused with a thin fog… sandwiched between layers of air. The old Bran Castle (recently available for sale) walls powerlessly watched the joy of the festival’s participants, natives or tourists.

Being a shepherds’ festival, the main attractions were the cast-iron kettles (necessary to prepare the corn mush/polenta for the bulz, a shepherds’ food specialty), the green ewe cheese, the grilled pemmican and the unfailing traditional dances, like Brasoveanca. The local boozers danced in the front of the festival stage, keeping the rhythm with the local folklore band. The participants could admire the skillfulness of the local hatters and furriers and, near to the Bran Castle street entrance, they could buy the delicious Kürtös kalács.

Unfortunately, Sunday we could not make it to the sheep exhibition, but we visited the Dâmbovicioara Cave, in Piatra Craiului Mountains.

The cave is located between Câmpulung and Bran Village. Following the road from Câmpulung to Podul Dâmbovitei Village, I was surprised to see that all the houses, even the ramshackle ones with broken-down fences, had Boom TV & Digi TV satellite antennas. To enter in the Cheile Dâmbovicioarei, you must pay an entrance tax, a hand with all the fingers bedecked with golden rings asking you 1 RON for each person if you want to drive your car in the area. To visit the cave you must pay 5 RON.

Although the cave is poor in karsts forms, the main attraction are the guides, all of them very young. Only the cave’s first 250 meters can be visited, half of them arranged with a metal platform for walking.

After you visit the cave you can admire the beautiful landscape in Cheile Dâmbovicioarei or you can relax making a barbecue near the river.

Original post: here.
Petrus is 25 and lives in the city we all love to hate, Bucharest. He blogs on ProfilVirtual (RO) and DigitalGuide (RO/EN), the latter a blog about tourism, a spinoff of a category of the first blog. He writes less often because personal and corporate life don’t leave him much time.

A student from another university contacted me for an interview she needed to take for her class on cultural differences. Her overarching question was what about America shocked or impressed me when I arrived (almost three years ago) and what is different in my country.

I found myself telling her about how I love that people are smiling in the streets and they greet me even if they don’t know me. I also appreciate how important family is here. I’m afraid my comments might have made her think that I come from a country of cold, grumpy people who would sell their mothers if they could. For some reason I forgot about how big the trucks and SUVs appeared to me, about how much a visit to the emergency room cost me, about what a big role institutionalized religion plays in people’s lives compared to what I’m used to, or how I found racism in the most unexpected places. Instead I told her about growing up under communism, about the revolution, about the eternal transition, about the disillusioned young generation who flees the country and the nostalgic older generations, and even about La trecut, a Romanian webpage that brings together bits and pieces from my contemporaries’ past.

I guess I just opened a vein and let it bleed. I don’t know how much she understood and she seemed a bit overwhelmed, especially because she knew close to nothing about my country. When she arrived in my office all she knew was that I was a foreign student. Sure, I told her many more other things but I’m still left with a feeling that I didn’t do justice to any of my two worlds. I comfort myself with the thought that one cannot explain one’s cultural background in 20 minutes.

Original post: here.
Raluca is a 27-year-old PhD student, born and raised in the mountains of Romania, making sense of life in the swamps of hot Louisiana.

“Evil death, so pitiless came to take me with a scythe”

The title is a more or less accurate translation from the Romanian “Moartea rea ÅŸi nemiloasă a venit ÅŸi cu o coasă”, one of the many rather nonconformist inscriptions on the crosses in the Merry Cemetery of SăpânÅ£a. Having passed the opportunity of visiting this unique place a few years ago, I didn’t think twice when the occasion was presented to me again. We were supposed to go to SăpânÅ£a on the 5th of January and yet, due to very well-founded reasons (”I’m sleepy, we’ll go tomorrow!”), we postponed our trip for the next day. Believe me when I say laziness is a gift from God! For the next day (January 6th), Orthodoxes celebrates the baptism of Christ (Boboteaza) and there is no better place to admire tradition than in a small village. Young girls and boys, aunts and uncles with their nephews and nieces, grandparents with their grandchildren, parents with their kids, everybody set off to the church to listen to the sermon then followed the priest to the river banks for the customary blessing of the water. Even for those less religious, the simple beauty and the hospitality of these people are impossible to describe, so I’ll let the pictures speak.

Original post: here (RO).
Ela is 18 and very talkative. In fact, she is so talkative many people have told her to shut up. So she started blogging. Now she can ban those who tell her to shut up.