The first time I visited Sibiu I was only there for a few hours and knew I one day I’d return. This time, on my way to Cluj to meet my Global Builders Team to volunteer with The Fuller Center for Housing Romania, I opted to fly directly to Sibiu and spend three nights in The City with Eyes, so named for all the eyebrow dormers on the roofs of the buildings. Continue reading
For the second time, I lead a team to the fabulous city of Cluj, to partner with The Fuller Center Cluj to help build affordable housing the in bucolic Jucu-de-Sus. My first trip to Romania, and first build with the Fuller Center there, was in 2023. I loved it so much, I decided to return … Continue reading
DAY 1 | Over the hills and through the woods to BREB VILLAGE we go! For our 4-day tour we hired a wonderful local guide, who is from Maramureș, who expertly planned the trip with us, drove, and guided us. Heading north from Cluj into the mountains we stopped at Casa Dobro for a coffee … Continue reading
The parts of the forested Romanian countryside, dotted with villages, fortresses and castles is a delight to explore these days. But many of these previously fortified cities represent a refuge from danger that may have been on the horizon, just a few hundred years ago. Seeing them gives one a true appreciation for the ways … Continue reading
If you only had time to visit one city and use it as a homebase to explore some of Transylvania’s most popular sites, make it Brasov (bra-shov). From Brasov we also took day trips to see Viscri, Bran Castle, Rupea Fortress and Rasnov Fortress and Peles Castle on the way to Bucharest. Wander Without a … Continue reading
Despite popular belief, Transylvania is not a town or city, but one of several regions, occupying the northern center of Romania. Practically everyone’s heard of it from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula in which Jonathan Harker stays at the castle of a Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula. Subsequently he discovers the Count a vampire. You already … Continue reading
This was the moment I’d been preparing for—meeting 11 volunteers in Cluj-Napoca to kick off our week of building with Fuller Center in Jucu de Sus, a bucolic village about 35 kilometers outside of Cluj. First, The Best Part Let me begin by saying, for me, and I believe for many volunteers, the best part … Continue reading
Hoping a flight from Amsterdam to Cluj-Napoca on LOT through Warsaw, I continued to make my way east, the furthest east I’d ever been on the European continent. I had no idea what to expect, only what I’d read and heard from others visiting Romania’s second largest city, the unofficial capital of the Dracula-famed Transylvania. … Continue reading
Global Staci 