The cuteness of this town caught us a bit by surprise. Yeah, we had heard that Sibiu was a beautiful medieval town and that’s why we decided to spend a week here. But, the charming architecture of the small town’s 2 large squares was really surprising. All of the buildings had large steep roofs and many had small windows cut out that made it look like the building had eyes. Many people call it the “City with Eyes”.
Our Airbnb was is in a very old green house that looks like the roof is just about ready to collapse. It was right near the famous “Bridge of Lies” that goes over the road that connects the upper town to the lower town. The legend is that if you lie to your partner about your love, then the bridge will collapse. It has lasted since 1854 so I don’t think we are worried anymore. The bridge did create a steady stream of instagrammers that took pictures next to our old green house. Luckily the inside our our apartment has been updated and we didn’t feel like we were living in a 200 year old house.
We enjoyed the 2 large squares also very near our green house. Many Romanian restaurants were nearby and just a lot of people strolling about. There were several big churches that all had the fancy painted interiors like we had also seen in Bucharest. The houses have all been updated so their facades look almost new even though many were very very old. We took a walking tour on the first day and learned about the history of this cute little town.
We also did a few tourist activities. One day we saw the art museum in a large palace. One day we walked to the farmer’s market near the river. One day, we walked to the zoo. It was another old, outdated zoo with some cages that were too small for the sad looking lions and bears. We need to stop supporting these type of places. We also checked out the old walls and towers of the medieval town that explained how the craft guilds used to run the town.
We also ate some really good food. Lots of sausage and skinless sausage plates (Mici), lots of soups and stews, and some fantastic looking desserts that we were usually too full to order.
Our next stop is going to include some of the famous Romanian castles. We are heading to Brasov!