Slow day photo wise, but I did find a very nice image I took in Sibiu. I really enjoyed the beautiful colors of the buildings -I am not used to see houses painted so full of colors in Romania.
Category Archives: travel in Europe
goodbye to summer
Officially the summer is over since September 1st. However, only today really feels like autumn is here. Rain – clouds – sleeping late – umbrellas. Yet the biggest change is that weekends no longer mean going to the seaside. Probably until next year it’s goodbye beach life. This train of thought made me browse some of the older photos, and I found a set from Sri Lanka which I haven’t published yet. So – that’s the reason (if I need one) to post this image.
Granada and Alhambra
I think Spain is one of the greatest places to visit – and it can offer photographic gems for several trips. While I have in the past visited Madrid, Toledo, Aranjuez, Barcelona and a few other places, until this summer I had never visited southern Spain. But it was about time.
For one week I did a short tour in Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla – and then continued to Lisbon. One of the most famous monuments in Spain is Alhambra, and indeed it is an amazing place for photography. Even though I arrived in Granada at noon, after a long-ish bus ride from Madrid, I did manage to visit the city a bit and spend several hours in Alhambra.
A word of advice – Spain in summer is grueling hot. Walking in the afternoon sun is pretty harsh. Even if the light was not the greatest for photography, I did manage to take some good photos.. Enjoy!
Sibiu photo gallery
Did I mention in the previous posts about Sibiu that I love this city? Well – I do not remember posting more than 2 or 3 posts with photos from other cities, so Sibiu seems to have something that I really loved. Be it the company, festival atmosphere or the beer I drank, the result is a lot of photos taken.
So, enjoy this third photo gallery from Sibiu
Sibiu – a walk in the city and surroundings
Sibiu offers a lot of sights, besides the wonderful cafes and restaurants. So, before going to ARTMania concerts we tried to see a bit of the nice museums and sights in Siibiu, and also ASTRA open-air museum. For people interested in traditional homes and work techniques, ASTRA is a very nice place to spend half a day. Also – for anyone just wanting to take pictures!
The next post will be a photo gallery with some of the photos I took in Sibiu proper – Main Square, Bruckenthal museum, Little Square, and so on.
Sibiu – finally visiting
I wanted to visit Sibiu for a long time, yet I never got the chance to spend a few days in this lovely city. However, as this year we decided to attend ARTMania which happens in Sibiu, it was a good time to shoot a few photos in and around the city.
But before the photo gallery – a short notice: I haven’t been taken by aliens, nor fallen in Bermuda Triangle, nothing that dramatic. However, a lot of things happened and the blog got put on a low priority. Hopefully this is going to change.
food in Rome – a dissapointment ?
One of the great things to experience when traveling is eating the local food. It doesn’t matter if eating in a restaurant or having a quick bite on the street, the food from a new city can leave a lasting impression. You can find delicious, tasty food that leaves memories for a long time, and this adds a lot to the whole experience.
A lot of people think about travel in terms of ‘seeing’. yet it is a far more rich experience when you can immerse completely in a new environment. And when ‘seeing’ is replaced by ‘doing’. Whether it’s eating the local food, dancing in the local clubs, diving, trekking, getting lost in the old town – it adds a whole new dimension to a trip.
National Geographic, Discovery Chanel, BBC – all are great ate conveying the look (most often breathtaking!) of a certain place well enough. But it’s impossible to capture the smells, the tastes, the sounds of a certain place.
last photo gallery from Bruxelles
These are the last photos from Bruxelles, a mix of black & white and color photography. As usual I am way behind in posting the photos from my trip (nothing new here).
I hope you enjoy all these pictures, and maybe even visit Belgium because of this. I have to say that before the trip to Belgium I knew very little – what to expect, what to do, what to see – but Belgium was a series of nice surprises. Of course I was prepared for the onslaught of great beers – I am referring to touristic places to see.
The unfortunate lesson from this trip is that it seems I travel better alone. I do try to experiment – going with a group of friends, joining people on the road, sometimes I sin and go on an organized tour, and other times I go with someone from Romania. Well, when personalities clash and the things that 2 people enjoy are very different traveling can become a chore. While it was not very bad – next time I will surely try to screen better a travel partner. It is very possible that I am so used to be on my own that even small things chafe. C’est la vie – and my vacation is “sacred” 
Bruxelles – now with more color
In contrast with last gallery, here are some color photos for you to enjoy.
And yes, this is an excuse to post this lovely photo with just a few of the possible beers one can enjoy in Belgium.
There is a real culture of beer drinking: large glasses (you can find them in Bucharest where they serve Leffe), countless pubs and beer gardens and supermarkets with more beer types than chocolate ones. And Belgium is a good place for chocolate lovers also, but that pales in comparison.
The thing that really surprised me is that most beers are pretty strong. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about bottled, ‘export’ ones, or ‘monastery’ beers, or even small pub offerings (like Delirium Tremens – white bottle with a pink elephant…). Most are over 8 alcohol or even 9. And this means that after 3 or 4 I got pretty tipsy. 2 more and I became very tipsy.
Some of the beers can be found also here in Romania – classic Leffe, Hoegarden, some Duvel – but for the real variety a visit to Belgium is mandatory.
Bruxelles in black & white
How to best describe Bruxelles? A tiny gem of a town, old buildings and new people or waffles and beers ? I really liked the few days I spent in Belgium – split between Bruxelles, Bruges and to neighboring Luxembourg. We were very lucky to have clement weather – a bit of rain, a lot of sunshine, some cold winds (which compared to the weather in Romania were very welcome).
Bruxelles is easily visited in 2 or 3 days, but it will probably take weeks if not months to discover all the hidden gems. And drink all the possible beers. And while I am sure one can see everything Bruxelles has to offer, I am not so certain about managing to drink all the possible beers. A lot of cities claim to be the best place to have a certain kind of food, sometimes rightly so but a lot of times it’s just tourist propaganda. However – Belgium and beer is another story. The moment you step inside a Belgian pub you step in another world – a better one, full of tasty, strong beers. I tried a lot of them, and finally settled on La mort subite, Duvel and Chimay bleu, yet I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the possibilities.
Besides beer gardens and pubs, bruxelles has a lot to offer: from impressive Euro buildings (the parliament is a huge multi-building complex that dwarfs you as a little EU citizen), to old quaint neighborhoods, to little Europe and the Atomium, to Grand Place (main square) and so on. Almost every little street and place in the city centre has a magic feel to it.
I started to upload some of the photos from this trip – enjoy this first set, focused on black and white.
