Christmas Market Sibiu 2011

Beautiful photos by Sebastian Marcovici:

German Commercial Filmed in Sibiu

via Turnul Sfatului: http://www.turnulsfatului.ro/11188/video-ndash-reclama-nemteasca-filmata-in-sibiu.html

The Cuc that Tweets

Every year on the first September weekend the potters' fair is held in the center of Sibiu. Do we like it? Sure. Well, correction, actually it depends. If you're a hausfrau and you need a new pot to make sarmale* or chicken in the oven you might go and find something useful. If you have a guest house and you want to decorate it traditionally then you're also bound to find something suitable. If you're a redneck then it's probably the closest to heaven you'll ever gonna get. If you're into "paisanesque" stuff then you can find an authentic carpet or a cuc** that tweets. If you're a pick pocket then it's like the Medieval Festival reloaded - a crowd of people not paying attention to their mobile phones and wallets. 

Speaking of the Medieval Festival, that's something else I don't quite get - only because we have an ancient city and town walls well preserved we should dress with capes, look at silly sword fights and listen to medieval music? Same music every year, they don't compose songs for mandolin like they used to...

For me, the movie Ghost was the only time pottery made sense - and I was quite young back then. Now, when I see all those pots aligned on the ground I wish I had a bowling ball and a pile of cash without a cause. 

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*sarmale = sarmale :)
**cuc = cuckoo

Sibiu

Also called Hermannstadt, my hometown Sibiu is located in the heart of Transylvania and it's a an old saxon city. You may wonder what were the saxons doing in Romania. The accepted theory is that they settled here around year 1500 because of the land but I think they came for the indigenous women, at least that's the only logical conclusion I can draw based on what I see daily in the tourist areas. 500 years later almost all saxons are gone, understandable since there is so much crappy communist beer a German can drink. Oh, I forgot to mention that between Second World War and the end of 1989 the country was under communist rule. No biggie, it's not like it left any huge scars or brought us to the brink of poverty. 

Sibiu is fashionably hip and covered in the newspapers around the globe. We were European Capital of Culture in 2007, a year that will be remembered dearly for centuries to come since nothing big will happen soon. If you come here you will hear stories about 2007 from the moment you step in your first taxi until you reach your destination and you are surprised by how big the fare was. Small town but not cheap, at least if you take a "pirate" taxi.

We were featured in the famous Michelin guide and got 3 stars. We also got 5 stars on the website of Michelin tires. Speaking of stars, we have very nice hotels: Ibis, Golden Tulip, Ramada, Hilton, there is something for each budget and you will find accommodation during the whole year, especially if there is no religious convention, rally, enduro race, hard rock festival, theater festival, jazz festival, medieval festival, porn convention (we wish) in town.

Being so fond of our germanic origin we elected in year 2000 a mayor of saxonic descent to make the city run like clockwork and we kept him since.  Some say that he transformed Sibiu in the nicest place in Romania, others like to remember the old tender Romanian saying that saxons are of four types: with glasses, with backpack, with bicycle or plain stupid. I just know that I've never seen him with glasses or backpacking, but on occasion he rides a bike.