Would We Actually Make it This Time?

Our last international trip was in December 2019, and we arrived home in early January 2020 -- traveling through China, no less -- only weeks before the Covid 19 pandemic would take hold.  With that, we had multiple trips planned and cancelled, as things slowly started to reopen.  Katherine and I had booked a tour of Poland for the fall of 2020.  It was, understandably, cancelled due to the pandemic.  As we were in lockdown, we looked forward to traveling again and scoured various travel offers.  Our favorite tour company -- Gate1 -- had very attractive offers for our previously cancelled Poland trip, as well as two interesting itineraries that included Romania.  One was 12 days, all in Romania, while the other was 12 days covering Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia.  We independently looked at all three, selected our choice, and were surprised that we both picked the Romania-only tour.  Neither of us had ever visited Romania, nor did we know very much about the country or its history.  Still, the itinerary was enough to pique our interest, so we booked in February 2021 for September 2022, hoping that 18 months would be enough time for a return to some semblance of normalcy.  Even with all that time, though, given all the other fits and starts we've had since 2020, it was not until a couple days before our departure that we both actually started to believe that we would successful in traveling.

Wheels Up!

Given the multiple previously cancelled trips, we waited to pack until the very end and, as I said, we both doubted we'd actually make it to departure day.  We had an afternoon flight out of Dulles to Istanbul, from where we were to connect for a very-short flight to Bucharest.  Our tour would begin and end in the Romanian capital.

We both worked on our day of departure, and we were fortunate that the airport wasn't too crazy, as we literally had about five minutes of waiting at the gate before boarding started for our flight. 

Our plane from Dulles to Istanbul.

Katherine Settling in for the flight to Istanbul.

Our flights were all on Turkish Airlines, and I was anxious/curious to see the new Istanbul Airport, which opened last year.  It is the largest single-terminal airport in the world, and it is hard to describe the size.  The Turkish Business Class lounge is VERY nice, and it was no trouble spending our two-hour layover there.  It helped, too, that we both got several hours of sleep on the first flight.  Our flight was Washington had been completely full, and we were surprised to see the same on our leg to Bucharest.  Though the flight was only an hour, we were on a large widebody A330, and again, every seat was full.

Landing in Istanbul

The new Istanbul Airport

Waiting for our connecting flight.

Bucharest Here We Come!

Are The Bags Coming....?

We landed to gray and threatening skies in Bucharest, and the gloomy backdrop made the obviously Communist-era airport seem that much older.  While I'm sure the airport has undergone some updates since the 1989 revolution, they were not apparent.  I had immediately flashbacks to the airport in Warsaw, to which I arrived in 1993, not too long after the Communist regime was voted out of office.  

Immigration was smooth and the baggage claim area was surprisingly small, with only two belt stations.  As it was, it look almost as long for our bags to arrive as it had taken us to fly from Istanbul to Bucharest -- wheels-up to wheels-down -- so we had worries that our bags would not be joining us.  Alas, they were among the last off, so crisis averted.  Our driver had already called several times to check on us, and while his English was limited, we found him waiting for us outside, exactly where he'd described.  He was exceedingly polite and friendly, and these traits were ones we experienced almost across the board with all the people we came across during our trip.  Once at his car, he apologized for his English and showed me his cell phone, where he'd used a translation app to write that he was sorry for his appearance -- he was in jeans -- saying that he had just come from his son's soccer game, and he had to use his wife's car, rather than his regular van.  He wrote that he was ashamed of his poor dress and the smaller car.  We could have cared less, but his sincerity was unexpected and nice.

The drive to our hotel, which was located in the (remaining) historic old city, took more than 30 minutes, as there was an air show going on at the small military airfield in the city proper.  As we crossed one of the bridges into the city, there were cars and people lining the sidewalks watching helicopters make very low-altitude maneuvers and aerobatic tricks, somewhat alarmingly close to the people on the ground.  Our driver kept turning to watch, which gave me visions of an accident on our first day.  Luckily, that didn't happen.

An arrival package of information was waiting for us at the hotel, where we checked in around 2:00pm.  We had several hours ahead of our orientation meeting, so we cleaned up and went out to explore the historic old city, which is a rather large pedestrian-only zone.  Our hotel -- the Hilton Garden Inn -- sat on the edge, so we had only to walk outside, turn left, and we were in the old town, which was exceedingly easy and convenient.

An Intimate Group

We met our tour director and (most) of our fellow travelers at our orientation meeting that evening.  We were shocked when we walked in to only find our tour director and 10 other people.  We learned that our entire group would only comprise 16 people.  Wow!  Not what we expected.  We learned that pre-Covid, the trips had been running with around 40 people.  When trips resumed last year, numbers were somewhat down, but it was the Russian invasion of Ukraine that really drove down numbers.  I was actually shocked that they elected to run the tour with so few people, but we learned more about this as the week progressed.  Four of our 16 had not yet arrived, as our kick-off date coincided with a massive strike by Lufthansa pilots, which forced the cancellation of almost all of their flights worldwide.  Two couples were caught up in this strike, which was called at the last moment, so they would be forced to join us the following day.  A single woman -- who actually lives in Crystal City and used to work in the building where Anna lived during her last year of college (it used to belong to the IRS) -- was also routed through Germany, but somehow she talked United Airlines into letting her fly as far as Munich and then figure out how to make it to Romania on the other end.  It worked out in the end, but I was surprised she took that chance.  We had originally been scheduled to fly through Frankfurt, so I am glad we had rerouted months ago to the Istanbul itinerary, as we avoided all of that mess.

The group was somewhat eclectic but we soon all cliqued to different degrees and it ended up being a very enjoyable group of people.  There were four native Romanians in our group.  Two sisters each, and the two groups were also cousins.  Two of the sisters had escaped Romania with their family in 1960, while one of the other sisters had emigrated in 1980, while her sister remained behind in Bucharest, and she still lives there.  They had all already been traveling together for a couple of weeks before we arrived.  They'd been in Italy, as well as visiting remaining family in Romania before our tour kicked off.  They had signed up for the tour as a way to see parts of the country they had not seen, and having them with us was a real joy.  The oldest sister was 83 years old and we were all amazed by her fortitude and determination.  For perspective, at 55, I was the youngest member of the tour.  In addition to a couple from Idaho and another from New York City (two emigrants from Uzbekistan, who left shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union), we had a single man from Britain.  We'd never traveled on Gate1 with a non-American, and we soon learned that he was a recently retired tour director himself, who used to work for Gate1's office in Britain as an administrator.  It was because he worked for the company, that he was given exception to book -- they normally only allow American citizens to book tours with them.  He was really interesting and availed us of many stories during the tour.  He explained to us why he thought our tour ran, with so few participants, saying that the company has to maintain good relations with the hotels and restaurants, with which they contract for the tours.  If they keep cancelling, then they lose priority and it makes it harder to so business.  He also knew the owner of Gate1 personally, and said he shared on many occasions his belief that he was willing to lose money on some tours if it meant he could maintain good vendor relations and have satisfied (repeat) customers.  All I can say is that I was very happy we lucked out with such an intimate group.

We learned that our tour guide, Iuliana, was just returning off of maternity leave.  She had not given a tour in just about a year, and this was her first time away since having her daughter.  She turned out to be one of, if not the best Gate1 tour guide we have had over six tours now.  He laughter was infectious and she was so focused on ensuring we were all taken care of, it made a real difference.  

By the time the welcome meeting wrapped up, jet lag was hitting us.  We ate as a group in the hotel restaurant, and shared a table with the Uzbeki immigrants, who live in New York City, and it was a fascinating discussion. She is a hematologist and spent months working and living in her hospital, as it was too dangerous to go back and forth to home at night.  She had also contracted Covid at least three times over two years.  This trip was their first since Covid began and she, in particular, was incredibly excited to be anywhere other than home.  We were fading fast, though, and we were the first to excuse ourselves and head to bed.

I Can Finally Spell "Ceausescu"

Our first full tour day was Saturday, 3 September.  We had a civilized start time of 8:30am, which left plenty of time for a nice breakfast at the hotel.  Neither of us had a full night's sleep, but with a shot of coffee, we were ready to go.  We soon learned that despite our diminutive number, we would have a full-size tour bus.  It seemed excessive, but as it was explained -- and later evident -- the poor conditions of many roads in Romania would have made riding in a smaller bus very uncomfortable.  With a huge bus, we had plenty of room to spread out.  Ironically, most of us migrated toward the front anyway, as it allowed us to chat and get to know one another.

The day was grey and cool (in the 50's) with intermittent rain.  We had a local tour guide join us for a morning tour of the city.  Unlike the afternoon of our arrival the previous day, the streets were rather deserted and getting around was very easy.  The city, though historically called "the Paris of the East," has certainly seen better days.  When the first king of Romania (Carol I) was installed in the late 19th Century, he set about building a city similar to Paris, and many of the ornate buildings and stately mansions were constructed them.  In the subsequent 100+ years, however, you had the Communist era, which saw the construction of countless soulless concrete monstrosities, which are interspersed with the stately -- if not aged -- 19th century architecture.  It all adds up to a disorienting jumble which, coupled with the gloomy weather, gave the city a rather dour appearance.

National Theater of Romania

University of Bucharest

We saw LOTS of signs during the trip expressing support for Ukraine.

Among our stops on the tour was the former Communist Party headquarters building, from the balcony of which Nicolae Ceausescu (the second and final leader of Communist Romania) gave his infamous speech on 21 December 1989 which culminated in the subsequent revolution and his execution.  Though I lived through the revolution (from afar, of course), we were both rather embarrassed how little we knew of Romanian history, in particular the revolution that toppled the communist regime.  During the fall of communist governments across the Eastern Bloc in the late 80's, the revolution in Romania was the only bloody conflict.  While other governments fell around him, Nicolae Ceausescu felt confident in his hold on power.  We would learn over the course of the tour how isolated he was in the final years, and how almost all connection to what was really happening outside was kept from him.  There had been protests in the western city of Timisoara in mid-December, which had been broken up by the secret policy -- the Securitate ("secure-e-tat-a").  Popular reports were that a group of school children, who had been protesting for freedoms on the steps of a church -- had been shot and killed.  It was learned later, looking at secretly filmed footage, that the children had evacuated before the armored units moved in.  Nonetheless, rumors of the killing spread, as did audio recordings of the subsequent crack-down.  Tapes had been smuggled out and the Voice of America was playing them essentially non-stop for several days.  Ceausescu was oblivious to the conditions on the ground, as well as what the majority of people believed happened in Timisoara, so he went ahead with a planned rally from party headquarters in Bucharest on the 21st.  There are conflicting stories as to whether his inner circle pushed him to go ahead with the speech, knowing that it would not end well.  Whatever the case, they bussed in thousands of workers -- who received special pay -- to fill the square, cheer, and hold up banners extolling Nicolae and wife, Elana, as saviors of the country.  The speech was broadcast live on Romanian television, and shortly after it started, there was a disruption in the crowd, and soon there were loud chats of "Timisoara" ringing out.  You can watch the video on-line, and it is startling.  You can literally see the fear enter Ceausescu's eyes as he realizes the crowd is turning.  You can hear his wife, Elana, say to him, "give them another 100 leu a month" -- his speech was to include an announcement that wages for most workers would increase, and she though throwing more money at them (about $5), would quiet the crowd.  Then you see the head of security approach Ceausescu and say "we have to leave," at which point the transmission was cut.

The crowd very rapidly stormed the building and overwhelmed security.  Within minutes they were on the balcony itself -- which is only on the 2nd story of the building.  There is footage of Ceausescu, his wife, and inner circle, taking off from the roof in a helicopter seconds later.  It was so overloaded, it almost couldn't get airborne.  Ironically, so great was Ceausescu's paranoia, the he had built an elaborate network of secret tunnels beneath the city, linking all the important buildings and his villa, and offered multiple escape routes through underground rivers.  For unknown reasons he did not head down, but rather to the roof to escape, which proved to be a fatal decision.  By this time, the head of the military was dead.  There are conflicting reports, but when he was ordered to have the army open fire on the protesters, he balked and either attempted to shoot himself in a non-life-threatening manner, or he was executed.  In either case, he died, and word of his refusal to obey and subsequent death was enough to turn the military against the Communist government.  This left Ceausescu with only the fiercely loyal Securitate to protect him.  There are questions as to whether the Securitate was really loyal, or if they just realized that they faced harsh retaliation themselves should the revolt succeed.

While attempting to fly to one of his palaces, his helicopter pilot essentially defected, landed the aircraft, and turned Nicolae and his wife over to revolutionaries.  He was held for several days in a remote location while chaos rolled across the country.  There were gunfights in many cities, particularly as the Securitate set up sniper locations to fire on protesters.  All the while, Ceausescu was confident he'd be rescued.  It was later learned he had a tracking device in his watch, and in the video released of his arrest and subsequent trial, you can see him repeatedly looking at his watch nonsensically, expecting the proverbial cavalry to rush in at any moment to save him.  

As the Securitate forces showed no signs of letting up their counteroffensive, it was decided that Ceausescu had to be removed, so a "trial" was hastily arranged and both he and Elana were sentenced to death.  You can watch the footage and see that both of them failed to comprehend their situation until they were literally dragged outside and summarily shot on Christmas day.  I watched several documentaries on the revolution during the trip, and found it all fascinating.

Former Communist Party Headquarters (now the Interior Ministry)

Balcony From Which Ceausescu Gave his Final (and Fateful) Speech.

Monument to the 1989 Revolution

Former Headquarters of the Securitate (Secret Police)

Sorry to write so much about that.  Anyway, the city tour included several other areas and memorials associated with the 1989 revolution.  The centerpiece of the morning tour, however, a visit the largest palace in the world, and second largest building of any kind (behind the Pentagon).  Namely, the current Parliament Building, which was originally started by Ceausescu as the "Palace of the People."  It is a monstrosity of an eyesore which was built to reflect his megalomania.   

Romanian Parliament Building (former "Palace of the People")

We heard about how he had more than 75% of the historic city center torn down to make room for the huge building, as well as a new boulevard -- purposely built to be "wider and grander than the Champs de Elysee in Paris."  Ironically, we learned later that -- aside from the grand boulevard -- all the other streets built in Bucharest under communism were purposely built narrow, as they never expected people would rely on private cars for transit.  As such, traffic gets clogged VERY easily in the city nowadays, as cars are quite prevalent.  As for the grand "palace," it has over 1,000 rooms and was inspired by Ceausescu's visit to North Korea.  While there, he "marveled" at the grand buildings in Pyongyang.  He was completely fooled by the artificial displays set up to impress foreign visitors, and thought that Kim Il-Sung had really figured out how to make communism work.  As such, the Palace of the People (now the Palace of the Republic) and the grand boulevard have a very marked North Korean feel to them.  Ceausescu was so obsessed with the building that he reportedly visited up to four times a day, and was notorious for ordering changes as soon as something was completed.   Entire staircases would be removed as soon as they were erected.  His wife, Elana, made most of the visits with him, and was said to be even more of a stickler than Nicolae, and much more cruel when not satisfied.

The building was not completed until four years AFTER Ceausescu was killed, and it was immediately a white elephant.  Several other large construction projects -- such as a new "House of the Press" -- were simply abandoned in the early 90's, and many of them now sit as huge derelict buildings, which no one has the money to complete and demolish.

Part of the palace -- the side with the most ornate finishings -- was converted to house the Romanian Parliament, and that was the area we got to see during our visit.  The building is so massive though, huge portions still sit empty.  It was impressive, but the amount of wasted space and the obviously convoluted architecture -- given all the changes along the way -- make for an assault on the senses.

Entrance to the Senat, in the "House of the Republic"

Grand Entry Staircase

One of the Senate Meeting Chambers

One of more than 20 ballrooms

Main Senate Chamber

Entrance to Senate President's Chamber (was to be Nicolae Ceausescu's office, with his wife having an identical office next door).

Living Like a King

For the afternoon, we had an optional "tour of Communist Bucharest," to which I had really been looking forward. For this tour, we were joined by one of the so-called "Gavroche's" of the revolution -- in other terms, one the children/teenagers who fought in the 1989 revolution.  Our guide was fantastic, and he told us all about his upbringing and what it was like growing up under Ceausescu.  He was 15 when the government fell, and was one of the young people who stormed and occupied the balcony at Community Party headquarters as Ceausescu fled.  Both his father and grandfather had tried to escape Romania, and both were captured and sent back.  Evidently, the highest chance of success was to cross in to the former Yugoslavia.  They had a treaty to return all refugees, but in reality they only sent back about half -- depending on what skills they had.  Our guide's father and grandfather were both sent back.  His father was penalized by being sent as a forced laborer to work on the notorious Danube-Black Sea Canal, which was another grandiose building project of Ceausescu.  In this case, the Danube River terminates in Romania, when it empties into the Black Sea.  If you look at a map, the river takes a wild 90-degree turn north before it meets the sea, due to the fact that most of the terrain is pure granite, and the river -- over time -- couldn't cut through it.  Ceausescu elected to build a canal essentially bypassing the dogleg in the river, hoping to generate money from ships that -- he thought -- would pay to use the canal and save several hundred miles on the open river.  Needless to say, if the river couldn't cut through the granite naturally, it was even harder for human laborers to do so, and untold thousands of forced workers died while digging the canal over the span of decades.  Like the Palace of the Republic, it was not completed until after the regime fell, and today it is extremely underutilized, as the lock tolls are exorbitantly high.  In addition, our guide told us how his mother died of cancer when he was 12.  He said that while health care was free, for example, in hospitals you were expected to share your bed.  One patient would sleep while the other walked the hallways.  His mother required chemotherapy, but the drugs were not available, so she suffered a very long and painful death.

The Danube-Black Sea Canal (Blue is the Danube, Red is the Canal)

We were shown several landmarks around the city; remnants of the former regime, but the main focus of the afternoon was a visit to Ceausescu's private home, which was tucked in a very toney area of north Bucharest which, when Nicolae was alive, was completely barricaded off from the general populace.  Since the regime fell, huge tracts of land have been returned to their rightful owners, most of whom turned around and sold it to foreign embassies.  The Ceausescu villa now abuts to the Kuwaiti Embassy, whereas before there were acres of gardens around the house.  The house and it's furnishing survived the revolution, as most people had no idea the house even existed, and the Securitate continued to guard it even after the Ceausescu's were assassinated.  It was even offered to Ceausescu's surviving son, but he declined and turned it over to the Romanian Government, which has turned it into a museum.  It is still very much like it was when Nicolae and Elana lived there with their three children, to include all the clothing and furnishings.  Each room seemed to be influenced by the Ceausescu's oversees travels, with heavy influence from the villas of Fidel Castro and King Il Sung, of North Korea.  The remaining grounds are also home to a surviving brood of peacocks, the progeny of an original pair gifted by the Mao Zedong of China.

I found the tour fascinating, and the stories of the family's eccentricities were wild.  For example, the villa has no on-site kitchen or place for food storage.  Ceausescu was so paranoid about being poisoned that all food was prepared offsite, in a secure kitchen, where tasters would sample everything cooked for the family, before it was rushed to their table.  Another interesting tidbit from the tour was the behavior of our tour guide.  As we walked through the house, we came across a photographer and bride and groom, who were taking photos.  I watched as the tour guide made excited and exaggerated movements to get out of their way, and then kept looking over her shoulder to see if they were following us.  I was with her a few minutes later, as we prepared to open a door and reenter into the arrival hall, before heading upstairs.  They had been taking pictures in the arrival hall.  The tour guide literally held her breath, said what I presume was a prayer, and then quickly opened the door.  She was visibly relieved to see that they were no longer in the foyer.  She walked upstairs quickly, and continued to peek over her shoulder.  I then made an assumption that maybe our guide was engaged, and perhaps there is some superstition about seeing other brides before your own wedding. I finally asked her, and she said that she has an "unnatural fear" of brides.  She said it is like some people who are scared of clowns; she just happens to be terrified by brides.  I have never heard of that phobia!  I was going to ask her how she planned to handle that when/if she got married herself, but she was still visibly shaken up, so I didn't want to add further insult to injury.

Katherine in Front of the Ceausescu Villa

Ceausescu's Office

Nicolae and Elena

Their Bedroom (those are their real pajamas....ew!)

Their infamous "Golden Throne Bathroom"

Murals from an Interior Garden, modeled after belong to Fidel Castro

Elena Ceausescu's "Smaller Closet"

Private Entry to Spa from The Primary Bedroom

Pool, also modeled after Fidel Castro's

Our "Gavroche" Guide (flag from the revolution, with the hammer & sickle cut out)

Some of the Peacocks Still Living Within the Grounds

Short Clip on History of 1989 Revolution

Michelin Needs To Visit Bucharest

Dinner was on our own for this first full day, and we had read ahead about where to eat.  We wanted to make the most of our limited time in the city.  Several guide books and on-line sites pointed us to a small restaurant called The Artist, which has a Dutch chef.  Most every review we read alluded to the fact that the food was Michelin-star worthy, but that the guide had not yet rated any restaurants in Romania.

We took an Uber from our hotel to the restaurant, and we soon learned how cheap Ubers are.  Our 20-minute ride cost about $4.  The street on which the restaurant was located was closed to vehicular traffic on Saturday night, and our driver was kind enough to get us as close as possible, and we walked the remainder.  

The restaurant is tucked into a restored 19th century mansion, and we were pampered from the time was stepped through the door, until we waddled out several hours later.  We had a five- or six-course tasting menu, dessert, cocktails, a bottle of excellent wine, and coffee, and our bill was well under $100.  We both really enjoyed the meal, and it was nice, as we could each order different things.  The service was over the top, too.  We also noted that there seemed to be no Romanians in the restaurant.  Everyone seemed to be an expatriate -- probably diplomats or corporate folks posted to Bucharest.

Our Uber ride home was even cheaper than the trip there, and we both literally collapsed in bed.  We could not believe how much we'd done on this, our first full day.

Our Dinner Venue

Just one of the many courses...

Sibiu, You've Stolen My Heart

Neither of us slept particularly well during the night, partly due to the time difference, but also due to a disco neighboring our hotel.  We were on the top floor, and no one else in our group claimed to have heard anything, but we could distinctly FEEL the bass from the music late into the night, so we were both in need of strong coffee at breakfast.

It was Sunday morning, and we were checking out and heading north.  The final two couples had arrived the previous evening -- two ladies traveling together from New Jersey, and a couple from Gainesville, VA, only about 10 miles from our home.  The weather was gray and cool, with intermittent rain.  We'd checked the forecast for each place we were visiting before we left the States, but we soon learned that they seem incapable of making accurate weather forecasts anywhere in Romania.  We gave up thinking or worrying about.  The drive out of Bucharest in the rain was dreary, particularly as we drove past miles and miles of shoddily built communist housing blocks.  Ceausescu's goal had been for Romania to be 100% self-sufficient, so regardless of whether it made economic sense, he built factories for any and all things.  For example, every single thing destined for the Palace of the People HAD to be made in Romania, which was insanity in and of itself.  To man these factories, he had to force peasants into the cities, and that was when these housing blocks were hastily constructed.   We were told the average two-bedroom apartment was 500 square feet.  Housing was assigned based on family size, but only AFTER you had a child (or additional children) were you approved to "move up."  So desperate for workers was Ceausescu, he outlawed birth control and abortion, and taxed people based on how many children they had.  No or few children, you were penalized.  The more children a woman had, they would shower her with vacations, additional food rations, medals and more.  You might recall the horror of the Romanian orphanages, which came to light after the communist regime fell.  Those orphanages were often filled with unwanted children, for whom families could not provide, as there was simply not enough food to go around.  I had forgotten about the orphanages, but later watched a documentary on them, and it simply broke my heart.  There were also countless stories of abortions gone wrong and people killing unwanted newborns.

On a happier note, we left the city behind and started to climb into the Carpathian mountains.  Rain stopped, but we hit heavy fog.  Our first stop was the Cozia Monastery, built in the late 1300's, which had beautiful original frescoes.  It was Sunday, so there were services underway and lots of locals visiting.  We learned that Romania has the highest percentage of self-professed religious believers of any country in the European Union -- over 97% claim to believe and belong to one of three main churches -- Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, or Roman Catholic.  This was only the first of many churches and monasteries we'd visit over the week, and I asked how they survived the communist era.  We were told Ceausescu tolerated the churches, but that he required all clergy to report on their parishioners.  After the regime fell, there were attempts at punishing these clergy members, but it became all too clear that they had no choice.  In addition, it seems like most people suspected (or knew) they were being reported on, so they had already come to accept it.  Most churches were allowed to maintain their building, paintings, treasures, etc., but only a few were actually kept open for services.  The ones with artwork of note were usually classified as museums (often called museums of Byzantine art), and included on tours for non-Romanian visitors from outside the country.  Like the Soviet Union, there was one central travel agency for the country, which catered for foreign tourists -- mostly from the Eastern Bloc.  Many of the places shown to foreigners were off-limits to regular Romanian citizens.

You Know Who

Cozia Monastery

One of the panels on the outside portico of the church, depicting Hell

Inside the church at Cozia

Cozia

Monks Have Live in the Monastery Non-Stop Since 13th Century

As we reached the highpoint of the mountain pass, we left the clouds behind us and the remainder of the day -- and indeed most days until the very end -- were sunny, with beautiful weather.  We reached our "home" for the next two nights -- the small city of Sibiu -- around lunch time.  About the same time we hit the sunny weather, we had crossed over from Wallacia -- the southern part of Romania -- and had entered Transylvania, or the "land beyond the trees."  We learned that Transylvania had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire all the way until 1918 and the end of World War I, at which time it was united with Wallacia and Moldova to form the modern nation of Romania.  I had no idea that Romania did not formally exist as a full entity until the early 20th century.  The southern parts of the country had been under Ottoman rule.

On the drive from Cozia to Sibiu

The Austro-Hungarian influence was extremely obvious throughout Transylvania, and particularly in Sibiu.  Ethnic Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians still live in the area, though many left after the fall of the regime, when they were finally free to leave at will.  Still, the architecture and names have a distinctly German feel, and in most every church we visited, all the signs, paintings, and banners were still in German to this day.

Sibiu has a beautiful old town, which was spared by Nicolae Ceausescu's youngest son -- his only offspring still alive today.  Ceausescu is said to have visited Sibiu only once, where he gave a speech on a bridge called "Liars Bridge."  Superstition was that if you told a lie while on the bridge, it would collapse and/or you would die a painful death.  His paranoia was such that, after his speech, he declared a strong dislike for the city and never returned.  He had ordered the old town to be razed, to make way for factory housing, but his youngest son Nicu, loved the city.  He reportedly had a romantic affair with the famous Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci in Sibiu, but neither party will confirm or deny those rumors to this day.  Still, Nicu spent long periods in Sibiu and was successful in sparing the old city from his father, which remains as it was for centuries.  

Walking into Sibiu

The market square in Sibiu

Our visit coincided with the once-a-year ceramics festival, so the market square was packed from corner to corner with artisans selling every conceivable form of pottery.  We could have been in Vienna or Budapest for how the city looked.  After lunch, we had a local guide provide a walking tour of the old city, which includes three rings of fortified walls and countless churches.  The history was fascinating, and again reflected how little I knew about Romania before this trip.  We did encounter a few foreign tourists this day, and learned that several low-cost European airlines provide direct flights into Sibiu.  Given the beauty and extreme bargains to be had, I can see why folks would want to pop down for a long weekend.  I should have mentioned, too, that while Romania is part of the European Union, they have not adopted the Euro.  They were initially deemed "not ready" to convert, due to extreme corruption by successive post-communist governments, but when they finally met all the requirements, the government decided to maintain the Leu as their currency.  There was concerns that prices would rise too quickly, similar to what happened in the Czech Republic and Poland, so they just gave up on it.  The EU technically can force them to do so, but there appears to be no appetite to make an issue of it.

The annual Sibiu Ceramics Festival

Sibiu City Hall, former Communist Party Headquarters

Watching the Tourists

Part of the inner-most fortress walls around the city

Market square

View from the "Bridge of Lies"

The Lutheran Church and German School, still in operation

Our hotel was a Hilton, located outside of town, on the edge of a huge forest and the national zoo.  It was a lovely setting.  The hotel itself was testament to what Romanians in the 1980's thought was chic and stylish.  In reality, what they built was a gold-plated gaudy interior with loud red carpets and even louder heavy crimson drapes and impossibly over-padded chairs in the rooms.  We all got a chuckle out of it, but then again, it was the best hotel in town, so we couldn't complain.

Our Hotel in Sibiu

  

View from our Hotel Room

The Height of Romania 1990's Chic Style

Dinner was on our own, and we had a very tasty dinner at a grill, located at the entrance to the zoological park.  It was full of well-off young families, who had most likely spent the day in the park with their children.  Again, we were the only foreigners in the place, but we made do, and the meal was quite good, and certainly reasonable.     

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