It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Ever wondered what Christmastime looks like in other countries? Like in Romania maybe? Like in Kolozsvár, to be more specific?

Milliver’s Travels has gone all out this holiday season and has prepared quite a number of lovely Christmas-y articles for your viewing pleasure.

Here is my very seasonally festive article, about Christmastime in Kolozsvár, complete with lovely photos and music!

Go read it. Listen to it. I’ll wait

Honoring the dead

Let’s talk about dead people, shall we? Well… okay, so not exactly. But close enough.

Today I have a new travel article up at Milliver’s Travels, in which I elaborate on the tradition of Illumination, or the Day of the Dead as it’s more commonly known here in Romania.

Drop by and let me know what you think of this tradition and the overpowering amount of my lovely night shots throughout the article.

See you there

Accompany me to the Citadel?

I enjoyed your company so much during my walks around Taormina and Paris over at Milliver’s Travels, that today I’ll provide you with a glimpse of where I live.

So, want to accompany me on the walk I took one afternoon a few weeks ago, to the Citadel (or more commonly known as Fortress Hill) in Kolozsvár, Románia? Let’s go

Through the lenses

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about having the courage to behave like a tourist in the city I live in (in more ways than one). And over a few weekends, I decided to do exactly that, even though I’m still on a mission to block out the sound of traffic around me by listening to my favorite music while I’m out and about.

The weather was gorgeous, I borrowed a camera and went for looong walks – taking in all the beauty and treasures Kolozsvár has to offer. I have to do this staycation thingy more often!

Have look at some gems I’ve taken the time to notice and rediscover

St. Peter’s Church

Downtown Reformed Church, Dragon slayer St. George’s statue and the Reformed High School of Kolozsvár on Farkas street

King Mátyás (Michael’s) Statue

St. Michael’s Church

Franciscan Church and monastery

Fishermen’s Bastillion, Karolina-column, Kétágú Church, Martin Aaron’s statue, King Michael’s birthplace and a couple of other gems you see walking down the streets

Neolog Synagogue and the Hidelve Church

Fountain in Central Park

On Fellegvár Hill

View from the top of Fellegvár Hill

Kolozsvár from above
(taken from the plane as I was arriving back from Paris last month)

Day of the Dead

Just came back from the cemetery about an hour ago, and since today isn’t a holiday in countries such as Australia, Canada, the US or UK, I’ve decided to share with you some photos and a bit of info about my afternoon.

In Romania, today on November 1st, is the celebration of Világítás, Hungarian for Illumination, which is the Day of the Dead (also known around the world as: Day of Remembrance, All Saints’ day, All Hallows Tide, or All Hallows’ Day).

The cult of the dead is pretty important especially on this day of the year.
People have a strong faith that on the night of the Day of the Dead, the souls of those who have passed are returning among the living.
November 1st is a day when a large part of Romania, regardless of religion or nation give alms to the poor, go to the cemetery to clean the graves (pull out weeds, wash tombstones, sweep away the leafs from around gravesites).
They lay flowers and wreaths, then light candles and lampions on the graves of relatives (and/or close friends), praying for the souls of the departed.

Kismező Cemetery

I think the value of a man not only consists of the importance they give life, but also in the respect for the memory of those who aren’t among us anymore.

Today is a special day, cemeteries are lit by hundreds of candles which make the night feel magical.

Házsongárdi Cemetery

And for some reason, the image of the lit cemetery gives me comfort that death is nothing but a mere trip somewhere far away.

Copyright © Estrella Azul, 2010 (didn’t have the heart to watermark these)

Spring in the Botanical Garden

2 days ago I went to the "Alexandru Borza" Botanical Garden with my Sweetheart for a looong walk, we were gone for about 5 hours long walks there and back, and the longest in the Botanical Garden.
We had such a great time! This is the most beautiful and complex botanical garden in Eastern Europe, so I was pleased to see how quite a few things have been changed and upgraded since our last visit in autumn 2008, and it certainly looks great.
Everything was green, flowers blooming, lots and lots of beautiful, different types of Tulips, Magnolias and so on, in the most amazing colors of red, violet, deep purple, pink, white, orange, peach, yellow and lots more in the Ornamental Section and Japanese Garden.
Since my Sweetheart loves taking photos, and so do I… we ended up taking almost 400 photos and using up 4 batteries (I even had to take a few photos with my phone camera), and if we had 2 more charged batteries we would’ve reached that number easily
Here are just a few of the pics I like best in a slide show which can be found on my Photos in/of Kolozsvár page too I’ll upload them to my Flickr photostream too, although I’m not sure when yet, so I’ll let you know after I do.

As for the walk, I’m only sorry we forgot about the Greenhouse complex’s schedule, it’s only open until about 5 PM and we got there too late… But I guess it’s not such a great loss because we have seen it before, and we’ll be going back anyway after the roses bloom too We want photos of those too, to increase our collection

We saw a family out for a walk with their sweet baby boy, and as the mum was on the grass with him, she just let him crawl and look at the pretty colorful flowers which he was drawn to obviously Oh my God he was sooo cute and adorable!!! [My Sweetheart even made a joke that if we won't have such a sweet baby he's gonna sue me )] Here’s a sneak photo I made of the little boy

The walk ended with a look around from the Water Tower, not like we hadn’t seen the view before, but it’s a great place I love it. We did come home all exhausted, but we got to spend the day together and it was a really great day overall and even if it’s gonna end up to be half as good as it was 2 days ago… I still can’t wait to go again when the roses bloom too!