If you have followed us on www.funkytravel.ro or on Instagram and Facebook , you have seen that we went on a trip through Romania in an attempt to achieve a #christmasmarketchallenge. The first destination was Craiova , then Bogdan wrote about Iași , I told about the experience in Sibiu , it was the turn of the Capital and now Brașov enters the scene. The text about Brașov is written by Emil Tatu because we got stuck in traffic between Sibiu and Brașov.
Emil Tatu is my friend, then a lawyer, but also the producer of the show "Between Black and White" on Constanta TV . Since I caught up with him in Brașov, I asked Emil to describe the Christmas market.
The word that best describes this year's Brașov Christmas fair is: elegance
With an inauguration that enjoyed the largest crowd in recent years (according to locals), the Brașov fair is enjoying perhaps the biggest “ford”. The city below the Tâmpa remains a destination of inertia for Romanians and not necessarily unjustified. From year to year, the fair has improved.
Placed in Piata Sfatului in the traditional way, this year it seems that the number of boxes and the range of products have increased. Coming on foot from the Black Church (the best time of the day being twilight, the "painting" of the square buildings with the lights of the fair is hidden. Oh, one more thing I must not forget. Avoid traveling in the area by personal car: there are not many parking spaces and are insufficient for the influx of tourists, and in the parking area, the alley we all know, above the Black Church, is the place where the nerves stretch to the point of giving in. Taxi, public transport or alternative are the visiting solutions.
Returning to the fair, the first thing that stands out is the decoration of the square in its entirety, but also of the adjacent area with elegant lights, in white-golden colors, quality, without shocking, but not missing either. Overall, the illuminated appearance of the square (even without a "roof" curtain) completes the absolutely huge tree that reigns in the same place as every year.
Decorated and lit with the same good taste, it's the best opportunity for photos. Somewhere behind the market there is also a stage. While I was there I didn't see any concerts, but I'm sure there are. Many simple wooden houses, organized somehow by areas, offer visitors almost all the types of products you expect to find in such fairs. Smoked goods, cakes, homemade chocolate, gingerbread, kurtos (of course), handmade products, leather goods, decorations, the offer is quite large. The prices are tailor-made!
One warm, one cold! Boiled sour cherry, but few attractions for children
A special area of small houses is reserved, on the side of the Council Tower, for food, mulled wine and other warmings (pancakes, doughnuts, langoustines, chestnuts). At one of the houses I saw and tasted, surprisingly, boiled sour cherries. It's something else and it's worth the 12 lei.
Brașov's Christmas market lacks attractions for children, it is eminently a fair "to visit" and that's about it. Maybe you can stay for mulled wine in the square. But nothing more!
