Sunday, August 19
Today’s big activity was a trip to the supermarket. Our host had recommended the Billa near our apartment but it no longer exists. We did find a Carrefour market nearby and settled for that on our first day in town. We have experience buying groceries all over Europe and Carrefour, a French chain, typically has a poor variety of goods and are notorious for their high prices. We try to avoid them whenever possible.
Today we did our own research and found a Lidl supermarket just a few blocks away. It was worth the trip. Lidl is a German Supermarket Chain that has been in most of the countries we visited. We first saw them in Bulgaria but we mainly shopped at the Billa that was close to our apartment. Like so many American chains every Lidl store is setup the same way and carries the same goods so it is a familiar experience every time. They also have great prices.
The entry way always has a large selection of chocolate bars, cookies and breakfast cereal. Here in Brasov we purchased a 200 gram (almost a half pound) bar of white chocolate for 75 cents and a 100 gram bar of milk chocolate for 25 cents and while they’re not from big name companies they’re actually quite good. A 400 gram jar of Nutella usually sells for between $7 and $8 in most stores. In the Budapest Lidl it was about $4 and here in Brasov it was only $3. In case you think we’re only eating chocolate, 500 grams (1.1 pounds) of ground beef cost us about $3.50. Two medium sized rolls of paper towels were about 45 cents. Prices are not that good everywhere but they’re always better at Lidl.
(Cheap Chocolate)
In Bucharest it seemed like the only place to get groceries was at the Mega Image brand stores which were on just about every corner. We thought that their logo looked exactly like the one from the Food Lion Supermarkets located primarily in southern U.S. states. It turns out that Food Lion was founded in North Carolina but was purchased by the Belgium based Delhaize Group in 1974. The Lion logo was introduced in 1982 when the name of the U.S. chain was changed to Food Lion. Use of the Lion was an homage to the founder, Ahold Delhaize, whose nickname was “The Lion”.
Distance walked: 5.0 miles
Monday, August 20
We went out to see some of the sights for ourselves. The day started with a visit to the Church of the New Dormition of the Theotokos. The church owns some property on the square and rents part of it to KFC and part to a pastry shop. Access to the church is through a passage found between the two stores. From a distance it looks like you can pray and eat chicken at the same time.
The area around the church doors is covered by old twisted vines that are a favorite hangout for the neighborhood cats. We had fun watching them scamper along the vines while trying to avoid the tourists who were trying to pet them. Inside the church is typically Eastern Orthodox. It’s on the small side but very pretty and in excellent condition. On Saturdays brides and grooms line up outside to get married but they’re careful not to look at one another because it’s bad luck.
Next we headed over to the Basilica of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It’s one of the larger Catholic Churches and, having been built in the late 18th century, is in the Baroque style. The church was closed but we were able to peer inside and confirm that it is quite lovely We’ll go back to see it another day.
Then we went back to that wonderful pastry shop to find out what “the chocolate blob” actually was. They call it “Grille Joffre”. Joffre Cake is buttermilk based chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache and covered in chocolate buttercream. It was invented by a famous pastry shop in Bucharest named Casa Capsa to honor a World War I hero named Marshall Joseph Joffre. This version seems to be just the best part – the ganache. We did visit Casa Capsa when we were in Bucharest. We thought it was a chocolate shop but it turned out to be a fancy restaurant that also served high end pastries. We didn’t eat there.
Our next visit was to the only synagogue in Town: Beth Israel. In 1807 Rabbi Aaron ben Yehuda was given permission to live in the city – a privilege that had previously only been granted to Saxons. The Jewish community was officially founded 19 years later and the synagogue was built in 1901. In 1940 the Jewish population of Brasov was around 4,000 and in May 1944 all 150,000 Jews living in Transylvania were deported to Auschwitz where virtually none survived. “Night”, by Elie Weisel, tells the story of the Jews in Transylvania during World War II. It is a true story and an excellent read. Today the Jewish population in Brasov numbers around 230. To the right of the entrance of the synagogue you will find a lovely memorial to the Transylvanian Jews of World War II.
The interior of the synagogue is brightly decorated in blue and white eschewing the dark woods typically seen in similar buildings. The interior was well lit by stained glass windows all long the walls depicting the coats of arms of cities from all over Israel. We were told that this is an Ashkenazi congregation and that they hold services every Saturday morning.
(Synagogue Beth Israel)
Just a few feet from the synagogue is the famous Rope Street. At just four feet wide is one of the narrowest streets in all of Europe. In the Middle Ages houses were built right next to one another in long rows without any space in between. Narrow streets / passages were ocassionally built in the middle to enable fireman to quickly get from one street to another. Rope street was designed to be just wide enough to allow one person carrying two buckets full of water to pass through. When we were there the street was closed for maintenance. There was a large sheet of wood blocking the entire passage so we were not able to see anything at all.😣
Afterwards we walked through the gates demarking the Saxon portion of the city into the Romanian part of the city where we visited the Basilica of Saint Nicolas. The incredibly picturesque church with high steeple towers is situated at the base of the mountain chain. It looks like a picture from a fairy tale.
The church was first built out of wood in 1392 but was replaced with a stone structure in 1495. It is a mix of Byzantine, Gothic and Baroque styles featuring a main tower and four smaller towers. This configuration of towers was an important sign in the Middle Ages. It meant that the king had granted the city the right to use capital punishment. It was a warning to anyone entering the town to stay on the right side of the law. Towers like these can be seen all over Europe.
(Saint Nicolas Church – Notice the Towers)
The Saxon portion of Brasov was protected from invaders by walls but the Romanian side was not. In order to protect themselves the Romanians built a wall around the church. In the event of an attack the nearby residents would flock to the church for protection. This is known as a fortified church and examples can be been seen throughout Transylvania – mostly in smaller, poorer cities where the cities were not protected by high walls. The cemetery on the church grounds contains a monument to and the grave of Nicolae Titulescu. He was a Romanian finance minister, a foreign minister and the president of the League of Nations. It was his request that he be buried in Transylvania.
Next to the church is the First Romanian School – the first school in Romania where students were taught in the Romanian language. Today it is a museum. The school building was constructed in 1495 and the school opened shortly thereafter. It continued to educate children until 1941.
The school contained one of the first printing presses in the region and provided books for the children. The first printing press began operations in 1556 and used hand carved wooden plates. It took three years to print one book. The museum contained the first printing press and several subsequent presses that were used throughout the years. The collection includes books produced on site, 4,000 rare books, several hundred rare documents and one of the oldest bibles printed on goat skin. Also included in the collection were a number of music books written using the Byzantine musical notation.
(Music by George Ucenescu using Byzantine Notation)
After leaving the church grounds we decided to take a walk around the Romanian side of Town before indulging at an incredibly popular gelato stand. It was definitely one of the best ice creams we’ve had since we left Italy. We shared one scoop of chocolate banana. It was fresh, creamy and full of flavor.
Distance walked: 8.1 miles