An interesting blog entry from Mike Nork, about the Romanian Revolution in 1989.
On Friday of last week I went to a presentation given by Dorel Jurcovan, a man who had first-hand experience with the events of the Romanian Revolution. He talked a bit about life during the last days of communism and showed a video about the Revolution from 1990.
Read more on the original blog.
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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.
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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.
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From Bukresh blog:
“John Squier and his partner went on an Eastern European car journey in 1985. These are pictures of Piata Unirii which was demolished a year later in 1986. They stayed at Hanul lui Manuc and the first picture in these series was taken from the window of room 113.”
Click on the link to get a glimpse of the Bucharest of 23 years ago.
Although traveler’s checks are widespread in the US, in Romania they’re almost unheard-of. Peace Corps Volunteer Mike had a little adventure with a Visa traveler’s check in Timisoara.
You can read the whole entry on his blog, here.
If you like vintage photos, check out this impressive collection of old pictures of the town of BraÅŸov. Click on the sample to get to the original post on JustPixel (RO).
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 Vechiâ€, 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.