One hundred years ago the Caru’ cu Bere was where the old aristocracy of Bucharest gathered. Famous men of letters, playwrights, poets and actors met here.

This sparkling environment was later recreated and so the restaurant has preserved its atmosphere and reputation over the years.

The Caru’ cu Bere is open seven days a week. It has live music every day and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings a well known folk-song and dance ensemble serenades customers wdh tradidonal Romanian music and entertainment. Appetizing traditional dishes are on offer, local wines are served and, of course, there is beer, plenty of beer.

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After that we went to Unirii Square and took a few panoramas around the tallest Christmas tree in Europe (this year, so they say…).

My camera was unavailable so I had to use my friends gear. Oh and it was very very cold, and foggy.

That said, I wish to all my visitors a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

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The first set of panoramas were taken at the end of august 2006:

The next set were taken in october 2006, during the autumn exhibition of flowers and cucurbitacae.

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Voronet Monastery is probably the most accomplished sample of artistic achievement in Moldavian architecture and painting. The monastery was built at a time of peace with the Turks, when Stephen the Great had centralized the state, giving a new impetus to its economy and culture. Its inside and outside paintings were made between 1534-1535, during Prince Petru Rares’s rule and at the behest of Metropolitan Grigore Rosca, a salient scholar of his time. The paintings on the church walls have a distinctive chromatic harmony, a special manner of composition, nerve and clarity. The artistic approach of painters has a warm humanism, as religious scenes depict Moldavian living people of those times. Thus the angels of the frescoes have the sweet faces of Moldavian women, the archangels blow the bucium - a Romanian shepherd’s musical instrument similar to an alpenhorn - the souls carried to heaven are wrapped in Moldavian towels, whereas the souls doomed to the fire of hell wear turbans just like the Turks - Moldavia’s fierce enemies at the time.

The church strikes by its blue coloration, due to the use of lapis lazuli. The paintings on the north and, to a lesser extent, the west sides of the church have suffered damage, but those on the south and west wall are beautifully preserved. The Tree of Jesse is a harmonious composition in which white scrolls and details stand out against the blue background and red-toned figures. The door is surrounded by scenes from the lives of St Nicholas and St John.

West wall, featuring the Last Judgment painting:

The southern side:

Eastern side:

North side view:

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This time I got awarded for the best personal blog, participating into the competition with the blog you’re reading now, The Panoblogus. I admit, I was really surprised, wasn’t expecting this, and I participate only because I saw an opportunity to make me and my services known to the scene and also hoping to spread the use of panoramas and virtual tours into websites.

I’m showing you some panoramas I took in the Club Bamboo, where the award giving festivity was held in the night of 1st of November, 2007. I know the quality suck, I shoot the pictures handheld and the light conditions were awkward, so don’t expect top quality…

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Sibiu is the most important city in the county of Sibiu. It is situated near the geographical center of Romania, in the Cibin Depression, near the Fagaras Mountains (about. 20 km), Cibin Mountains (12 km), and Lotrului Mountains (about 15km), which border the depression in the southwestern part.

Ancient citadel, Sibiu has been established on the foundation of a Roman settlement at the beginning of the second millennium (1190) by German settlers.

Sibiu is perceived as a city of art and culture, having a great number of cultural monuments, a diversity of museums, and various artistic and cultural events, that make up the pillars of a complex cultural profile.

Sibiu has one of the best-preserved, medieval city centres in Europe. Here comes a little glimpse of the historic part of the city, as seen in july 2007, with the help of the 360 degrees panoramic views.

The Large Square is the historic center of Sibiu, where the public executions and public meetings used to be held. A lot of architectural monuments can be seen, like the the Brukenthal Palace, the Blue House, the House of generals, the Hecht House, the Lutsch House, the Catholic Church and the Council Tower.

The Small Square is the second largest historic place of Sibiu and one of the most beautiful square in town. This square is a magnificent place surrounded by preserved medieval buildings and it is connected to the Large Square through narrow passages. Among the many architectural monuments, we can see here the Council Tower, the Arts House, the Liars Bridge, and the funny looking mushroom/squid/jellyfish/whatever yellow device, it’s a funny thing that when kicked by visitors will speak.

The Liars Bridge making the connection to the Huet Square, is the first iron-cast bridge in Romania built in 1859 over the way of acces that connects the upper town to the lower town, opened in 1851. Built after the demolition of the houses spreading almost the Council Tower, the bridge was inaugurated in 1860.

The Huet Square, dominated by the Evangelic Cathedral, is surrounded by historic monuments built in gothic style. The Brukenthal High School, as seen here, is on the place where in 1380 it used to be the Old German School, the first school in town. The actual building is dated 1786 and it was named after the governor of Transylvania between 1777-1787, Samuel of Brukenthal.
In the center of the square is the statue of the bishop Georg Daniel Teutsch, one of the most significant personalities of the Saxons community at that time. And of course, the Evangelic Church…

The Evangelic Church was built in 1520 on the place of an old Romanic basilica from the 12th century. With five pointed towers it is one of the most impressive buildings in Sibiu, the tower is nearly 74m high, the tallest building in Transylvania.

Inside the Evangelic Church:

Inside the tower of the Evangelic Church, the highest level.

The cityscape of Sibiu, as seen from the tower of the Evangelic Church.

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Next to the Church of the Dominican Monastery, looking at the Clock Tower

A typical street in the old city

The Duck’s Square and the Tinsmiths’ Street

Entrance to the covered stairs leading to the Church on the Hill

Around the Church on the Hill

Street in Sighisoara and two citadel towers

Artists performing on the street, during the medieval festival

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We can see almost 40 carmakers, more than 50 models for the first time, as well as four concepts and design studies. Tiriac Auto will also participate after a six-year absence. Previously, Tiriac Auto organised a similar event independently. It is the Romanian importer of Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover and Mitsubishi.

The official website: www.siab.ro

Panoramas from the stands of the carmakers, sorted by brand.

Audi stand:

Brabus stand:

Chrysler stand:

Citroen stand:

Harley Davidson bikes:

Honda stand:

Jaguar stand:

Mercedes stand:

Mitsubishi stand:

Renault stand:

Skoda stand:

Suzuki stand:

Volvo stand:

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Thousands of visitors flocked into the town, who is the best preserved and still inhabited medieval citadel in Europe. The event, featuring performances of medieval music and a variety of other activities, ended on Sunday (July 29th) with a parade and fireworks.

You have now the chance to experience a view of this amazing citadel during this festival. Please enjoy the 360 degrees panoramic images and let me know your thoughts.

In the part 2, will be more panoramas from the festival.

Young music performing on street in front of the Cityhall

In front of the Sighisoara’s Cityhall

Citadel Square

Vlad the Impaler’s house and the Clocktower

Costumed artists performing on streets of Sighisoara

Statue of Vlad Tepes (the Impaler)

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Sighisoara is the venue for Romania’s most remarkable street festivals: The Festival of Medieval Arts and Crafts. Re-creating a medieval atmosphere, complete with troubadour music and costume parades, street entertainers and handicraft displays, open air night concerts and medieval ceremonies, this event will allow you to immerse yourself in the lore and legends of medieval Transylvania. For a unique experience have lunch in the house where Vlad Tepes (the real Dracula) was born.

So, at the end of July, I was at the 15th Medieval Sighisoara Festival and I made many panoramas. I will present you the images in a series of posts…

I’ll show you now a couple of panos made in the city, next to Tarnava river. The big white church is the orthodox cathedral, and on the other side the historical center of the city, with it’s specific architecture.

The next posts will present panoramic images taken in the citadel during the festival.

Here’s a partial pano, it’s a horizontal 360 degrees view from the Clocktower:

Location of Sighisoara:

More to come, stay tuned!

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Sumptuous, with delicate colour effects, the monastery shows the maturity of the Moldavian architectonic style, which matured during Stefan cel Mare’s period. The façade of the church is covered with the decoration characteristic of Stefan cel Mare’s time: Gothic windows and friezes with enamelled disks, coloured in greeen, yellow and brown.

In the chamber of the tombs, which appear for the first time at this church, is the tomb of Stefan the 2nd, son of Alexandru cel Bun and uncle of Stefan cel Mare.

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