Imagine a World Without Romania

...or without Romanians, like:

Petrache Poenaru - inventor of the ink pen (fountain pen)

Ştefan Odobleja - the father of cybernetics

Nicolae Paulescu - the true inventor of insulin

Henri Coanda - creator of the jet plane

Nadia Comăneci - who got the first perfect 10 in gymnastics, at the Olympic Games in Montreal, 1976. She won three Olympic gold medals in Montreal and two gold medals in 1980 Olympics

Vlad Dracula - the legend that probably inspired Bram Stoker for his novel "Dracula"

Mircea Eliade - Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago

Constantin Brâncuşi - world renowned sculpto, precursor of modernism. 

Helmut Duckadam - the first man to defend four penalty strikes in a row, in Champion's Cup final in 1986, won by Steaua Bucharest

or places like the merry cemetery in Săpânţa, the wooden gates in Maramureş area, Voroneţ monastery famous for it's unique blue, the Brâncovenesc architecture. 

Well, this clip doesn't mention the rich wildlife or natural beauties of Romania, like the Danube Delta, Apuseni Mountains, Făgăraş Mountains. For for this, you have to come to Romania and admire them live.

HRH the Prince of Wales, endorsing Transylvania

HRH, Prince Charles of Wales promotes Transylvania considering it "a place of extraordinary natural beauty and cultural richness". He mentions the efforts that The Mihai Eminescu Trust puts in conserving the natural beauty and the villages of Transylvania. the main focus is preserving the Saxon villages and the ancient way of life, where people is tightly linked to the nature and the landscape

Narrow gauge railroad Sighisoara - Sibiu

Few weeks ago a handful of enthusiasts managed to fix the locomotive and narrow gauge railway connecting Sibiu to Sighişoara, via Agnita. It'll run between 11.00 and 15.00 and for children there will be a cyclo-trolley on a secondary lane. 

Mihai Blotor , a web-designer from Agnita set up the foundation "Friends of the narrow gauge railway" and manage to obtain the money for the project, celebrating 100 years of Sibiu, Agnita şi Sighişoara narrow gauge. He tells the story explaining that , in 2007, when the renovation project started, there was nothing more than the railway and the stations. More people (engineers, architects, historians or MDs) joined the project in time. They started with an inventary of the 50 km railway left. A list of things to do has been put together and more volunteers joined over time.

View Larger Map

In 2007 Mihai managed to obtain the narrow gauge classification on the list of Romania's national monuments and in 2008 with the help of the town hall of Agnita they obtained the concession of the railway to a group of town halls

Rebuilding stations and water towers, weed cutting and vegetation removing, saving from scrap and fixing carriages, and three and a half years later we have, for the beginning, two km or railway and the train working again.  

The narrow-gauge railway is running on one of Romania's most beautiful places, central and  south Transylvania and among some of the  most interesting castles and fortifications in Romania.

Congratulations to the entire team and we're looking forward to get in touch and help the narrow gauge railway !

Marginimea Sibiului

Mărginimea Sibiului cannot be translated in English. We could translate as Sibiu's Outskirts or Sibiu County or Sibiu Area. But none of them is exactly correct either from the geographical point of view or from what we feel about the area. Who spent some time strolling on the streets of Sibiu or just admiring the endless hills rolling towards the horizon at sunset knows what I mean.

So, sorry my friends but I'll use "Mărginimea Sibiului" as for the beautiful area around the city of Sibiu, full of magnificent landscapes and middle-age fortified churches. But let's see what one can visit in that area.

1. First, I would refer to the fortified churches. During the 13th century Transylvania was not a peaceful piece of land. Villagers from this area had to build strongholds and to fortify the most important buildings which were the churches. I already mentioned Cisnădioara, my favorite fortification, with thick walls and a very simple architecture. The church in Valea Viilor or the fortified church in Biertan are part of UNESCO World heritage.

2. the icons museum in Sibiel is the only one of it's kind in the world, shelters over 700 glass icons. The Museum was founded by the priest Zosim Oancea, with the help of the inhabitants of Sibiel and other donors. The entry ticket is 4 lei (1 Euro)

3. Răşinari is the village that gave Romania 7 members of the Academy. Emil Cioran, Octavian Goga were born here.

4. Astra Museum of traditional civilization is a must stop when visiting the area. Households from allover Romania are brought together in Europe's largest open air museum.

5. Ocna Sibiului spa was recently renovated and is prepared to offer quality services.

6. Cindrel National Park is pretty easy to hike and unspoilt, a little bit in the shade of big Făgăraş mountains.