Tag Archives: romania

Places

Lacul Vidra and Obarsia Lotrului

We drove into Lacul Vidra and Obarsia Lotrului this past weekend. The approximate location we visited is this one.

It’s a wonderful drive that offers gorgeous vistas (as most roads in Romania do), and because it’s not summer yet, the roads are relatively empty, meaning we were able to take our time and stop wherever we liked to take photos.

I’m going to publish the first group of photos today and the rest tomorrow, because there are quite a few of them and I’d rather not overwhelm you.

On the way, we found a grotto formed of ice and snow at the foot of a forest, right over the bed of a brook. The snow had been insulated by a thick leaf cover, and that’s why it had kept so far, but in 75-degree (Fahrenheit) late spring weather, I doubt it will keep for much longer. It was a remarkable sight for the middle of May, particularly since we weren’t at a high altitude (about 400-500 meters).

I recorded a short video of it as well.

We found a beautiful meadow on the top of a mountain, where we relaxed and breathed in the fresh air.

In case you’re wondering what I look like these days, here’s a portrait of me taken by Ligia.

Make sure to go through the full gallery posted below for more photos.

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Places

Sighisoara: off the beaten path

This Labor Day, we drove into Sighisoara and we decided to see it differently from the way most of its visitors see it. The typical route is to park at the bottom of the hill, walk up the stairs, see the clocktower, tour the piazza, buy some trinkets and go back down…

We drove into the outskirts, climbed up one of the adjacent hills, found a clearing, and got some interesting views of the city that way.

Afterward, we went up into the fortress to see if we could see some spots we hadn’t yet seen, and after walking up a well-known side street, were rewarded with the open gates of the rectory. We went right inside the courtyard and had a marvelous walk up into the gardens adjacent to the fortified walls.

We were greeted by a very pregnant and friendly kitty in the courtyard, who acted as our host for the duration of our visit.

The human hosts saw fit to ruin the architecture with polycarbonate sheeting as cover and communist-era poured concrete as a rude balustrade for the balcony. The satellite dish is apparently a modern pre-requisite.

Back to our walk in the beautiful garden.

In this view of the fortified tower, you can see the city and the river in the background.

Our feline host got a belly rub, which made her very happy indeed.

She then accompanied us to the gate.

We stopped at one of the local establishments for some lemonade.

Here are some more photographs from the streets of the Old Town.

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Places

In the hills outside Medias

It was the summer of 2009 and during a walk in the hills outside Medias, I recorded this video with a Canon G10. It was peaceful and quiet and a soft summer breeze helped take away the heat that rose from the valley below. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

The music is Rondo No. 3 in A Minor (K511) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by David H. Porter. It’s public domain, available from MusOpen.org.

And here’s a photo gallery from the same outing, including some panoramic shots.

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Romania Through Their Eyes

Romania Through Their Eyes – Debbie Stowe

Episode eight of RTTE is now live on YouTube. This month you’ll see Debbie Stowe, a British journalist, who’s been living in Romania for the past 9 years and has found her home, her partner and her career here.

RTTE-008-EN-HD
Released 3/19/12

Enjoy the insights!

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Places

Medias in 2006

Here are photos from Medias, taken in the summer of 2006. Back then, I used the Kodak v610 digital camera. If you’d like to learn more about the city of my childhood, I’ll refer you to its Wikipedia page.

Medias was famous during medieval times for its wine, which is even mentioned in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. Virtually all of the hills that surround the city (and there are many of them) are terraced or bear the signs of past vineyards. Nowadays, they’re barren. Untended, the vineyards withered away, past glories and all.

The outskirts of the city are interesting. The landscape is dotted with houses here and there, some deserted, like the one below. Houses like these exist in the city as well. If they aren’t reclaimed by their owners or restored, they will perish, and that will be a pitiable loss given their age and history.

Let’s look at more beautiful scenes from nature.

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