Sibiu, the city in Dracula's Transylvania that does not try to use the fame of the world's first vampire to promote itself, is part of a short list of places to visit first in Romania. It doesn't use this simple way of promotion because it doesn't need it, this city in the center of the country, located near the Carpathian Mountains, has many other attractions that bring a lot of tourists, primarily foreign tourists.
After a break of many years since I last visited the city, I managed this year to be a traveler there twice in the last four months, with the hope that in a couple of months I will be there again.
I think a question is now creeping in, namely, why is this city so sought after and visited, regardless of the season?
The answers could be these...
Sibiu was and still is one of the most important and flourishing cities in Transylvania, being one of the main centers of the Saxon settlers in the area. The city was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania between 1692-1791 and 1849-1865. In recent years it has experienced a significant economic and cultural revival. Sibiu is currently one of the cities with the highest level of foreign investment in Romania. In 2007 it was the European Capital of Culture, together with the city of Luxembourg.
Source
I think the historical heritage is very important, the fact that the city was founded and developed by foreign settlers, Saxons who left the German civilization and way of life. Then the fact that the city is cosmopolitan. Three nationalities live here together: Romanian, German and Hungarian, each with its own influence, it was and is a mix of cultures, openness, and tolerance.
Sibiu
The Old Town is the main attraction, as it is in all major cities of the world. The Old Town is like an island in the middle of the city. It is made up of the Upper City and the Lower City, a little further down, of course. I don't want to dwell on these aspects now, because I will have the opportunity. Now I want to show three places and a short route I took in search of a place to have a good coffee...
One more thing. The Old City is also called the City with Eyes. If you look at the picture below you will understand why.
The old houses of the town, some built in the 13th century, most in the 14th-15th centuries, have windows on the roof like eyes. They look like attic windows but they are not, they are just windows for ventilating the roofs, for air circulation.
Because of these eyes on all the roofs, you have the feeling all the time that the houses are looking at you, that you are being watched!
Preparation for the Christmas Fair
A happy coincidence brought me to Sibiu just a few days before the opening of the famous Christmas Fair. The Sibiu Christmas Fair has the reputation of being the most beautiful in Romania.
Like every year, it is located in the Big Square, the most important square of the city, where the City Hall and the Bruckental Museum are located.
We visited the square the day before the fair opened, so we had the opportunity to see the preparations. A constant in Christmas markets is this wheel, which I have seen in all the markets that are preparing in Romania.
We left the organizers and the owners of the small houses that will be the points of sale to do their work and we set off in search of a café that would offer us a good coffee in a pleasant environment.
In the center of the Old Town there are two important squares, the Big Square and the Huet Square, also called the Little Square. The passage between these squares is made through several small tunnels...
Beyond the tunnel is Huet Square, a square full of restaurants, terraces, and cafés. We were looking for a nice place to have a coffee.
Signs of preparations for the winter holidays are everywhere, the Christmas tree has already been placed and its decoration follows. A bit early, in my humble opinion...
We're not looking for these decorations, we're looking for a place for coffee. As I said, there are many cafes in this area but they are not what we are looking for. These ones here are too touristy and too flashy, they look more like restaurants. We are looking for a smaller, more intimate place where we can see more passion for coffee.
We decided to look in the Lower Town. everything we've shown so far has been from the Upper Town, the center of the center, where most tourists come.
The transition from the Upper Town to the Lower Town is either under the Bridge of Lies...
This bridge is called the Bridge of Lies because of a legend that says that if someone is on the bridge and tells a lie, then the bridge will collapse. In the hundreds of years since this bridge was built, it has never collapsed, which leads to the idea that locals as well as visitors to these places always tell the truth! Haha...
Another way to get to the Lower Town is to go down the stairs connecting these two small towns...
Often these stairs are blocked by photographers, especially wedding photographers. We had to wait for this photo session to finish before we could go down to the Lower Town.
Lower Town
Arriving in the Lower Town we saw that the "landscape" had changed a little, the most obvious change was the appearance of cars. So did the architecture of the houses and the fact that the houses are mixed, some newer, some renovated, and some less cared for.
These more modest homes with visible signs that many years have passed over them are my favorites. They are houses where poor or older people live, who have not been able to renovate them and so their original appearance has been preserved.
In such a house, a miracle happened! I noticed some tables in front of the house and went inside. The surprise was total, there was the café we were looking for. I was so surprised that I forgot to take a well-framed photo of the building. The café is in the building on the left, the one with the yellow chairs...
Well, you may be wondering how I knew this was the cafe I was looking for if I've never been there before.
Coffee at Charlie's
The answer is simple. I knew that there were many cafes, frequented mostly by young people, students, neighbors, and those who had been there before, cafes set up in old houses, in small rooms, and preserving some of the structural and decorative elements of those houses. When I saw the barn ceiling I realized that I had found the place...
Baristas... young, skilled, friendly, and in love with coffee.
We are not what they call coffee specialists, drinking espresso, mainly for strength and flavor. We like the smoothness and mildness of a cappuccino. I've always loved baristas at work, trying to draw a heart, flower, or bird in the coffee cup with foam.
I didn't know the name of the cafe because I didn't see a sign outside. After I got the cappuccino I deduced the name of the cafe. That was a surprise too...
I noticed the name engraved on the plate on which the coffee was brought. Charlie's! A dog, I then noticed the painting on the wall.
I thought the owners were dog lovers but I think it's more than that. I think it's a cafe where people come for coffee with their dogs.
A quiet place with pleasant people (and dogs). A place where we'll gladly return. Not just us (wife and I) but others too. Over a good coffee, in a pleasant atmosphere what remains to be done is to talk and look at the people around.
What a wonderful invention the coffee shop is! Perfect place to meet, relax and work lately. I'm glad that, after much searching, we found this place that we will visit on every trip to Sibiu. I look through the small windows to better remember the place.
It was a short walk through the most interesting part of Sibiu and a search for a cafe. In fact, it was an invitation to Sibiu. Maybe a flower can be convincing too!
Written for #MarketFriday and #AlwaysaFlower by @dswigle, because it fits the theme and also for #SublimeSunday by @c0ff33a because it happened on a Sunday!
Traveler to the country where I live is what I've been doing for many years, that is, I try to show what is more interesting, more important, and not necessarily what is more beautiful in the country where I live. I don't bypass the ugly places or the sometimes uncivilized behavior that I try to explain through the history of these places but I focus especially on what I think a visitor would like to see when he arrives for the first time in Romania. Romania, a member country of the EU, is located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe. I'm going to use this tag #visitingmycountry and then put these places on the Pinmapple map for those who want to discover them more easily!
