Astra Film Festival is a major event in the European film community and Romania’s leading documentary festival. The Festival happens yearly in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu, and it’s unique in South-Eastern Europe. Continue reading
Mid September – still summer temperatures and sunny in Sibiu, still plenty of tourists taking photos of our medieval old town, still the main squares of the city bustling with concerts, outdoor events and a big crowd. And somewhere on the Mitropoliei Street, right next to the Big Square (Piata Mare), at Jules Bistro, in their summer garden, a handful of well known Romanian chefs from all over the country get together for 3 full days to bring gastronomy to a next level.
At the beginning of September we took over the Suru Chalet in the Făgăraș Mountains and turned it into the headquarters of one of the coolest events we have been to this year. The 3 days spent there evolved around a old shepherd’s recipe that takes a lot of time to prepare and a lot of team work to get to the final result.
If in the first years of organizing Transilvania Gastronomică the aim of the organizers was to connect the restaurants of Sibiu to the small local producers of the county and to create and bring to life the concept of the Transylvanian New Cuisine, this year they dare to take this September 3 days event one big step further.
After years of hiking mostly in the Făgăraș Mountains (as they are very close to Sibiu and easy to reach for us), this summer we decided that it’s finally time to try something new. We chose 5 days at the beginning of August, hoping for a good weather after a quite rainy May, June and July, to spend in the Retezat Mountains National Park and hike the area.
We’ve been to Sighişoara before, but not in the recent years. This summer we had a weekend there due to a wedding and we took the time to walk around in Sighişoara’s medieval old town as much as the rain allowed us to. We were pleasantly surprised to find a clean and renovated Sighişoara, with freshly painted houses and streets.
The Evangelical Church of Saint Mary from the Huet Square is the most famous Gothic-style church in Sibiu and its massive 73.34 m high bell tower is a landmark of the city. Every Friday morning, from 10 AM to 1 PM, going up the 192 stairs to get to the top of the tower bell will give you not only a beautiful view over Sibiu and its surroundings, but also a proper gastronomy lesson.
This year’s summer has been, at least so far (and it’s mid July when I’m writing this post) a bit hectic, with too much rain almost every day and low temperatures that almost got us to turn on the heat indoors. This also means that the hiking season was not officially open, but end of May we still decided to go up in the Făgăraș Mountains for a weekend and get a bit away from all the city noise.
May is definitely the perfect month to spend as much time as possible outdoors in Romania. It’s warm enough to start thinking that summer is finally coming, everything’s turned green already, there’s more daylight, so everything makes you just want to leave the city and enjoy nature. That’s why our extended 1st of May weekend this year happened in the Transylvanian country side.
I’ve recently written about the Hârtibaciu Valley, about how beautiful and diverse this area is and about the abundance of local products. A few days ago, the chance arose to actually taste some of these local products in dishes mastered by Sibiu’s most talented chefs and I just couldn’t say no.
