April 2 – 30, 2022 (Spring)
After a month in Ireland we still needed two more outside Schengen, so we returned to our old friend Romania. With many of the country’s larger cities under our belt – Bucharest, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Iași – we decided it was time to savor spring in a smaller stop like Sibiu.
Sibiu is part of the Siebenbürgen, a series of towns founded by Saxon settlers in the 12th century. Its old center retains a mix of Germanic, Romanian, and Hungarian influences layered over the centuries. Pastel buildings line most streets and feature businesses catering to tourists and local shoppers.
But what the city is most known for are its ‘eyes.’ Whether it’s intentional or just pareidolia, the unique style of porthole windows give roofs here a life of their own. They overlook the main square✨ with a slightly blasé glower.
The old center is dotted with squares, and St. Mary’s Cathedral towers above✨ them all.
What the church’s roof lacks in eyes it makes up for in colorful tiles✨. We made the perilous climb✨ to the top for a better view.
On the other side of Piața Mică (Little Square), one can – and we did – also climb the 13th-century Turnul Sfatului (Council Tower) to look over the Easter✨ market being laid out below.
Like most medieval cities, Sibiu was once ringed by a defensive wall. A few parts of it remain. This whitewashed tower✨ formerly guarded a wall where a city park now lies.
To travel around the pedestrian-only (well, pedestrian-preferred) narrow lanes, there is a fleet of adorable little buses. Cute and quiet, they are the best way besides walking to get around the city.
Romania’s springtime weather reminded us of the Midwestern United States. Late afternoon storms can pop up✨ in a hurry, and pack a wallop.
But all the rain also brought out the season’s best flowers.
Spring also means birthdays! Kevin opted for ribs and beer✨ at a spot fittingly named Ribs & Beer Sibiu✨. Danielle picked sushi. For a spot so far from an ocean, it was surprisingly tasty. Likewise Romania is known for its wine✨, and we made sure not to pass it up during our stay.
One of our favorite recurring delights in Romania are the many ethnographic/village museums. It seems every city has one, and Sibiu did not disappoint.
Traditional houses and farmsteads, and sometimes even entire churches, are relocated and preserved at Muzeul ASTRA to be explored inside and out.
The actual travel between Ireland and Romania was a disaster, with Ryanair cancelling our flight and a months-long runaround on a refund causing us to swear off ever flying them again, an awful layover✨ in Treviso, and more headaches too numerous to mention. But in the end, we were glad to come. April was the perfect time of year to spend a month exploring Sibiu. Warming weather, lots of little nooks around town, and delightful dinners under the distant Carpathian Mountains. But then it was time to head into those mountains, and the long-awaited town of Brașov.
