Medieval Romania

Medieval Walls of Sibiu

Sibiu, Romania 2012

Defensive walls interspersed with towers surround the fairy-tale city of Sibiu.

Sibiu was established by Germans and the German attention to detail and penchant for keeping all in order is evident in the beauty of the houses and churches and cobblestone plazas.  I hate to say it but I kept thinking of Disneyland. Where else had I seen such perfection?

Daniel, www.covinnus.com, walked me around the winding streets lined with quaint houses. We climbed the many flights of stairs to the top of one of the church towers for a bird’s eye view of the city. We ate the local pretzels hot from the oven. And in the evening we set up our tripods and spent an hour trying to get the blue light…a special time just after the sun sets when the sky glows an ethereal blue.

We ended with a visit to Daniel’s favorite restaurant for something called Shepherd’s Bag. I ordered a Shepherd’s Bag, too. I’d learned that Daniel appreciated good food and that if I didn’t copy him, I’d be sorry when I compared our meals.

A Shepherd’s Bag is a boneless, flattened chicken breast layered with pungent Romanian ham, Bryndza cheese and maybe sausage, I forget. It’s closed up to resemble a shepherd’s bag and then grilled. Served with a rich cheese sauce over the top, it is the essence of mittel-european food: delicious and fattening. I never could eat all of mine, and that’s saying something. We ordered Shepherd’s Bag in another city, but it wasn’t the same. Quel dommage!

re: photography. Usually when I shoot a wide angle view of buildings, I straighten them up using transform>perspective. This time I didn’t (for the photo above). The towers looming toward the building lend an air of unreality to my mind. Here’s another version of the walls of Sibiu: Can’t you just feel the ghost of Dracula?

Spooky!