Uncategorized / July 2, 2025

Sibiu and surrounds

We attended a worldschooling popup hub in Sibiu and stayed in this cute town for 2 weeks. While there, we made a couple of side trips to other interesting places.

Sibiu Town

Sibiu is a very cute medieval town. We spent a week with our friends exploring the old town. Luckily for us, we had to pass a great market on our walk into the old town and enjoyed trying the local produce (the strawberries and cherries were to die for!). The town used to have towers and a surrounding wall but unfortunately only 2 of the towers and the wall between them still stands today. The main church is famous as the burial place for Vlad the Impaler’s son. Apparently he was leaving mass one Sunday and was attacked and stabbed to death in front of the entrance to the church. So, they buried him in the church even though he has no affiliation with Sibiu. Here are some photos of Sibiu town (and a couple of a picnic spot we went to about 1/2 hour from town):

Ethnography museum

One day we visited the Astra ethnography museum which was pretty cool. They claim that it’s the largest open air exhibition in Europe. They have recreated houses and inserted various pots, clothes, etc. to represent over 200 rural communities and 18 ethnic groups from around Romania.

Arts Festival

At the end of our first week in Sibiu, they started the 10 day long Arts and Film Festival. This incorporated a bunch of music, dance, film, art instalations and circus performances. We didn’t go to any of the paid events, but the free main events in the square were pretty cool. And the Royal Hungarian Gypsy Band had some of the best violinist I’ve ever heard anywhere – there’s a small snippet of one of them in one of the videos below. I really wish I’d taken more videos of them – they were incredible!

Sighisoara

We took a day trip out to see this touristy town which was recommended to us. This is a cute medieval town that is famous for its affiliation with Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Dracula). Vlad’s father, Vlad Dracul, lived here and Vlad Dracula (Vlad the Impaler) was born here. The old, medieval town is up on a hill and overlooks the newer town below. (I love how in both Sibiu and here the roofs have eyes…)

Biertan

We stopped at this town on our way back to Sibiu from Sighisoara. The town has a really cool looking fortified church, but unfortunately the ticket prices were too expensive for us to visit it.

Transfagarasan

We took this drive which is meant to be one of the nicest drives in Europe. It goes over a mountain pass and down to a lake. It was beautiful. And we even managed to see some bears along the way! (4 althogether). It was also a relief from the heat. In Sibiu, the temperatures were 30+ (90+F) and at the top of the mountain pass a cool 16C (60F). The pass only just opened a few days before and there were still tons of waterfalls from the melting snow.