Hungary: 24 Hours in Sibiu

Salut!

I took a lot of shots of my first day in Sibiu when I spent a lot of time walking back and forth from my hotel to the center of town to try out bank machines. The photography kept me from going completely out of my mind since I was cashless, so here are some shots.

The first three days I was in Sibiu I stayed in the Hotel Apollo Hermanstadt, which was on the edge of the ugly new part of town. To get to the old city I had to walk through the old lower working class neighborhoods. I've got some pretty cool pictures of that area but for starters here's one of the hotel sign. The hotel itself looked like any old American motel/hotel.

Hotel Apollo Hermannstadt

I have nothing but nice things to say about the staff at the Hotel Hermannstadt. The maid folded my clothes. I left her a 50 Lei tip. But other than that I don't care if I never see it again because it was the site of way too many phone calls to the NCSECU and USAA and way too much stress about how I was going to pay for things if I couldn't find a working bank teller. :)

I should probably explain that I was in a region of Transylvania known as Saxon Land. Transylvania was a region of Romania that belonged to Hungary until the Treaty or Trianon, part of the Treaty of Versailles, drew the boundaries of modern-day Hungary, essentially leaving many Hungarian people outside the boundaries of their own country. For those of you unfamiliar with this Treaty it was the cause, and still is the cause, of much grief for the majority of Hungarians. Almost every Hungarian knows someone, and often many someones who are family members, who are now citizens of other countries like Slovakia and Romania, despite being ethnically Romanian.

Here is the wikipedia link. It's worth reading if you want to understand anything about modern-day Hungary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon

But back to Saxon Land. Saxons had colonized this region as early as the 1200's and worked for the Hungarian chacellery, defending Hungary's borders. Because of this, every town has a Romanian name, a Hungarian name, and a Saxon name. Hermannstadt is the Saxon name for Sibiu. After the Treaty of Trianon, many Saxons went back to Germany. After WWII, many more. Towns that were one time predominantly Saxon now might have 2% Saxon population at most.

Wikipedia has a good article on Transylvania Saxons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvania_Saxons

The part of town I had to walk through to get to the old city was neat in its own way. The buildings were painted pastel colors and had tile roofs. I could look into backyard gardens and see plum trees and grape arbors. Check out these photos.