Adventures in Romania Part 5: Sibiu

Saturday-Sunday, June 18-19, 2011

Codlea had been our our hub of traveling to Sighisora, Brasov, Bran, and Rasnov, but it was time to move on. We packed some sandwiches, cleaned Alina's aunt's apartment, and took a 10:30am "Accelerat" train on a 3 hour trip West to Sibiu.

Sibiu is a beautiful city and ranked as Europe's 8th most idyllic place to live (Wikipedia) and, I had been told, has Romania's cleanest tap water. Downtown Sibiu also houses a citadel and was originally inhabited by the Germans. It's intertwined with old buildings, houses, churches p, and streets.

When we arrived on Saturday around noon, we walked about 10 minutes from the train station and went to Alina's friend's home to drop off our stuff. We then walked to the downtown/old town of Sibiu. It was easy to see the touristic appeal-- the city was amazing. We found a beautiful square where Alina's two friends (who are sisters), Delia and Adina Raulea, worked at beauty salon called, Mariavon Salon Baroc. The Raulea family had been Alina's home away from home during her college and career years in Romania. We met the two sisters at the salon and Alina got a haircut from her beloved hair dresser, Delia. Afterwards, we walked through the ancient, beautiful streets of Sibiu. Cobble stone roads, old German style buildings, and arched alleyways seemed to take us to a different world. Later we went get dinner and met one of Delia's friends, Andy, who does inspiring work with Gypsy children.

Sunday, we joined the family at their church, where we enjoyed listening to the Raulea's in the church choir. After church, we were treated to a traditional Romanian Sunday lunch. Spending time with these people, I could tell they loved each other and valued family above work, television, and video games. They spent hours talking and enjoying each others company. In the evening, a deafening thunder storm cleansed the sky with rain.

Monday morning, Delia drove us to the train station, where we said goodbye to her and the beautiful city of Sibiu.