This weekend we visited one of Romania's best and for a while forgotten cities - Alba Iulia. We went there because of Dark Bombastic Evening's 3rd edition and ended up bedazzled by everything that surrounded us.
The fortress is currently being restored and what they managed to do until now is simply wonderful. Our dearest guide (mr. Andrei - the nanny) took us around in a very efficient and informative way. The fortress is about 300 years old and was built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Before that, 2000 years ago, there used to be a Dacian settlement here....depending on who owned the land the place evolved into the beautiful and still mysterious biggest Vaudan Fortress in Easter Europe. You can read its story here: http://www.apulum.ro/ro/istoria.htm I'm extremely happy to have seen such a wonderful place in dear, old Romania.
Other than the fortress you can also visit the two huge cathedrals set one next to the other - Orthodox and Catholic...a great cultural trip if you ask me. The Catholic one was built in the XI - XII century. Till this day everything is written in Hungarian first and then Romanian. The Orthodox one was built about 700 year later and this is where Romania's king Ferdinand and his wife Maria were crowned.
In front of it there was an archeological site, and they were just digging out some bones...unfortunately the story of the place was not yet available to tourists.
There are other things to see, such as the University and the Great Union Hall and its Museum...The city is also rather beautiful...and to my surprise pretty big...typical capital snob :)
The festival - Dark Bombastic Evening's first summer outdoor edition was absolutely wonderful. We loved the music and the place where we camped. The food was also delicious and we had things to do.