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I spent only one day in Bucharest, so there was not much time for pictures. But, since I passed the Athenaeum anyway,

couldn’t help taking a piktcha. Or 2. By the way, a story I heard from a friend – on holidays in Switzerland, they stayed at Hotel Ibis. They had pictures on the walls with [...]

August 2008
The “Pro Etnica” festival I stumbled upon in Sighişoara is a fine thing. Most minorities in Romania send artists who perform on a scene in the main square of the medieval citadel, songs, dances and what not. The crowd is not as big and crazy like at the medieval festival, creating a very laid-back [...]

August 2008
Constrasting with the crowded capital, always in a hurry and pointedly materialistic, a oasis of beauty and color, with historic and spiritual focus, but without losing the atmosphere and energy of an “important city” – that is Krakow for Poland, and that is Braşov for România.
I’m pleasantly impressed by Braşov (read: Brashov, accent on [...]

July 2008
A small city lost in the Transylvanian hills, on the road from Târgu Mureş to Turda-Cluj, Luduş is completely off the touristic track. Even for Romanians – as for foreigners, I don’t know if you need more than two hands to count foreign tourists who’ve evere been there.
But for those related in any [...]

I had very few images about Turda in my head. Knew that it has some chemical industry, a football team that won once the Romanian cup while playing in 2nd league, that it was an old roman city, and – that was about it. My cousin told me about the thermal baths, and then I [...]

July 2008
Unlike Sighişoara, Târgu Mureş doesn’t have, at least in my books, too much of a “touristic” conotation. Top of mind I know only about the medicine univesity, and picture many blocks of flats. That is, till yesterday.
You can’t cover much in any city during a one-hour stay. Still, I think we covered much of [...]

The mini-series on Romania was born out of the question that bugged me during the Northern trip: “how does all this compare to what we have at home?”
In short, if you look at size, architecture, importance in European history, it doesn’t. We don’t have anything like the urban architecture of the city of Tallinn, for [...]

For those interested, some logistic details of the northern trip, never know when they can be useful.
Accomodation
I stayed in hostels, with 2 exceptions, when I reserved lastminute and didnt find any beds in hostels. Most reservations were made through hostelworld.com, one through booking.com and one through hotels.com. I recommend reserving beforehand. If not possible due [...]

8/9 august
Maybe it’s better that I missed the train. It would have been an 18 hours ride, no sleeping wagon. Would have gone mad.
Nevertheless, at the moment I was very frustrated. Had thought the train is at 22:54, but it was 22:45. I checked on the way to the train station, at  22:44. Panic. Run. [...]

7 august

I had thought of various titles for this post, but after being there I felt there is no room for any metaphor, or any subtlety.
Yes, we all know the story. Nazis killed ~6 million Jews and other nationalities in concentration camps during world war 2. Problem is, we cannot think in numbers. Or actually, [...]