Back in Sibiu

After 7 years, I have returned to Sibiu in December of 2014. One of my first blog posts ever on CityoftheWeek was about this beautiful city! Although we initially came for the Christmas Market, on the second day we managed to look around and explore the city a bit, so I'm here to tell you about all the places I hadn't talked about last time.

We started our sightseeing day from Huet square, and after a delicious coffee in Kleines cafe we made our way towards the old town area of Sibiu. I've never been in this part of town before, but I just loved the details of the streets and lovely colorful houses located in the area.

On Tower street we found a lovely hidden wine cellar between some old buildings and somehow I felt that we weren't in Romania anymore, but in a lovely little town in Austria..

After we got on top of the stairs we encountered a wood pillar with a lot of nails hit in it, and a signpost saying "This is the journeymen's guildhouse. It is currently renovated by us for food and lodging. We appreciate every donation. Thank you!" - in four languages.

We walked past the Small Square (Piata Mica), which has some pretty colorful houses with matching Venetian blinds.Then we headed towards the Council Tower of Sibiu, where we decided to climb to the top of it to get a better view of the city. The entrance fee is 2 Ron (approx. 0.4 euros), and there was a photography exhibition on the main floor. Once inside, you need to climb up the stairs to get the best view of the city. There is a look-out tower from the Evangelical church as well (of which you can see photos in the old post of Sibiu), but I think this one is prettier. Before you get to the last level, take a minute and admire the old tower clock, still functioning today with the same technique. There are signposts in four languages, describing the brief history of the tower and the main square on the upper level. Here you will get to see a 360-degree panoramic view of the city, since there are windows in all four corners of the tower.

We circled the main square and initially wanted to see a collection in the Bruckenthal Museum, but after we and some other people entered a very nervous man started yelling at us with the worst grin on his face to close the door after ourselves, and we just decided to leave.

We went to see the city walls, part of the old fortress, that were still standing, and took a walk in the park next to it.

We got to the Natural History Museum and decided to take a look at the collection they had there, and I have to say that it was the best decision we took during that trip. If you're wondering about the plastic dinosaurs in the garden area, yes, there was a dinosaur expo, mostly for children. It made me a bit skeptical at first. But once we got in, professionalism was written all over the place. The floor and the ceiling were dated from 1894 (!) and were extremely well-preserved. Honestly, the ceiling is one of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen... The collection of the museum is grand, having everything from a mineral collection to stuffed animals. My favorite part was the sea animal chamber, but I decided not to post a photo of it - so you'd go check it out for yourself! :) We spent about three hours there, reading about the place's history, and the various collections on display.