Sibiu and Sighisoara

Sibiu and Sighisoara are two medium-sized towns in the western part of Transylvania, a hilly area just north of the Transylvanian Alps. I traveled to Sibiu by train on Thursday, an almost six-hour affair, with no air conditioning and little to see outside the window for most of the trip. The land was green and flat, unfarmed and scruffy until we arrived at the half-way point of my trip, Brasov. Brasov is in the heart of the Carpathian mountains, so this segment was beautiful. However, I noticed that it did not take long to enter and exit the exciting mountain region, passing to the other side of the divide, which is green, rolling hills of farmland.

Sibiu itself is lovely...considering that most of the historic town center is under major construction. The town was chosen jointly with Luxembourg city to be the "Cultural Capital of Europe" in 2007, a first for an eastern European city. Donors are generous, and the town is getting a facelift. It is in the heart of Saxon Romania, where German settlers were brought in as laborers when the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. German and Hungarian are still spoken in much of the region. There is a lot of Baroque architecture, some neoclassicism and a wonderful Germanic feel to the old city. There is a good chance that this is where I will be staying for most of my time here in Romania, and I couldn't be happier about it. There's a "new town" for the essentials, a sports park where I can go running, and even an archaeological dig this summer at the old Lutheran church, where they are excavating an old cemetary before they repave the courtyard. And, if I needed any more of a sign, there is an honorary Luxembourg consulate here in town, to symbolize the union and cooperation between these two towns. Not to mention the local staffer, Cristian, is fun, and both he and the other part-time consultant, Octavian Rusu, have made many, many connections in this town, so creating new tourism products shouldn't prove too difficult. There is a lot of energy here, with all the construction, and pride, too, of the local townsfolk.

We also spent a few hours discovering the local village museum, created over 100 years ago by a cultural association to preserve the peasant architecture that is a large part of the country's heritage. Basically, it is a huge park just outside Sibiu, with buildings moved from all over the country. Many are over 200 years old! Here is a picture of the water mill, with some of the employees heading to work on another builidng in the background...not an unfamiliar sight in this country, I am finding. The ASTRA Village Museum is definitely worth a 1/2 day visit!

On Friday, Cristian and I drove to Sighisoara to meet up with Alan and Amit, another volunteer with CDC/CHF. We drove through the countryside; much nicer than what I had viewed from the train; I am thinking that the land near the tracks is not very desirable, which is why it is unkempt and unused. A little roll to the countryside here, passing little villages along the way. We drove through Medias, which is home to two glass factories that were supposed to be on the Glass Road I might be developing. Y---ech! Think more abandoned steel mills than tourist attractions. I am told that tour buses stop here on a somewhat regular basis; it's not for the look or smell of the place, that's for sure. I'm sure that the city center is much nicer, but you have to pass by these horrendous factories to get to it. Not a draw at all.

Needless to say, we didn't stay in Medias, taking our lunch at a restaurant a few miles outside of the town. Romanian food is very good; I think I had a Chicken paprikash that day. Very good, creamy, with what they called dumplings, but were actually spaetzle, a German dumpling-like noodle. And onwards to our pension in Laslea, where we were meeting our peers driving up from Bucharesti. The pension we stayed at was the only place we could find lodging near Sighisoara. There was a Medieval festival in town, and everything was booked (also the reason for us going to Sighisoara in the first place). The pensions was almost booked, too, as we were staying in what appeared to be our hosts' personal quarters. For the second night, one of our hosts actually camped out on the lawn, as there was so many people staying there. The food was good; 16 euros pp for lodging and two meals. Quite the deal. The scenery was gorgeous, as you can see from this photo taken from my bedroom window, being further up in the mountains, and they had a menagerie out back, with chickens, a noisy and fiendish rooster, 3 sheep, some bunnies, and a cat and a dog. And yes, I made a new furry friend. :-)

The medieval fair at Sighisoara was wonderful! Highly entertaining, with about a half a dozen different venues, and activities/presentations going on into the night. Hot, hot, hot, though. Our time in Sighisoara became dominiated by which cafes were cool or had A/C, and eventually headed to the car (which was air conditioned) to travel around the countryside until dinner. But Sighisoara is a wonderful town to visit; the old town, also Saxon, is built high on a hill, with the main church another 10 stories up at its pinnacle. Wonderful views of the countryside from here. The streets are cobbled, and wind around, with stairs now and then to allow pedestrians to pass through to other parts of the city more easily. In deed, there were a lot of people there; actually, this year had only 1/2 the crowds it normally received. Hard to believe, with the heat and small passageways that we had to push our way through.

More on our countryside travels and the town of Moiciu later...office is closing up. Ciao, everyone!