MONTHLY CHALLENGE
Signs: What They Taught Me Wandering Around Romania
About history, culture, and language
Do signs ever make you stop and wonder what they mean? This one in Ljubljana did. They are my initials and I wondered what they stood for and was that the year this house was built. There was no information nearby, but the building was very prettily decorated for Christmas.
The AB initials refer to Ali Bakhtiar Designs who have transformed the 1838 house into four luxury apartments five years ago. Starting at over $500 per night, I can assure you I will never get to see the interiors.
Why would I take a photo of such a sign? Somehow I knew Trieste was the birthplace of the illy brand of coffee. Trieste is a port town where coffee first entered Europe. In 1933, Hungarian (not Italian) Francesco Illy developed the internationally known coffee brand and invented the modern espresso machine as well as the process to keep coffee fresh in pressurised tins for export. Have you tried an Illy Coffee?
In my attempt to take a decent photo of Predjama Castle, I managed to take a really good photo of the Baumit plaster products that keep the castle looking like new. I could never remember the name of this castle (I’d always called it the castle in the cave) until I learned pred is before and jama is cave. It’s the castle before the cave. Most of the cave is actually behind the castle.
This sign is a good example of how I misinterpret symbols. I thought it meant “beware of falling rocks and trees”. You can see the rocks and trees, right? No, apparently, it meant “don’t go too close to the edge or you may fall over!”
I struggle to use remote controls in Australia so I don’t watch television when I travel. And don’t ask me to use a washing machine or dryer that’s unfamiliar to me. I can’t figure out the symbols nor when they have words that aren’t in a language I understand. I tried to use a dryer in my hostel in Berlin. It was words (in German) and symbols.
I’d already wasted 3 euro by putting the coins in the wrong slot so wanted to be sure I was selecting the correct cycle. I asked some German high school students passing by if they could read German. “Ja,” they replied. “Oh great,” says I, “can you read this for me please?” They read it, in German, but could not translate it into English. I thanked them for trying.
You must be wondering how on earth I survived travelling on my own when I’m so clueless about ordinary things. I honestly don’t know. Trial and error, I suppose. The clothes took several hours to dry but at least I didn’t have to put any more coins in. I sat down in the bar waiting for the cycle to be finished. Several gin basil smashes later, I collected my dried clothes from the laundry and returned to the bar.
SPLIT — Such an unusual name for a place in Croatia, no? I had to find out how it got this name.
The sign was enticing enough for me to go in and ask for a cider. What do you know? I was served a Kiwi & Lime Old Mout Cider from Nelson, New Zealand with my pork ribs and roast potato wedges. A delicious late lunch in the ‘Secret Garden’ of the Drunken Rat Pub.
Also in Timisoara, “You are exactly where you need to be” caught my eye. On closer inspection, in the smaller print, I discovered I was in the European Capital of Culture 2023. Who knew? Certainly not me. So I actually do learn from signs with words.
A path through a small forest in the middle of the square had me intrigued. What the? Thank goodness, there was a sign denoting its purpose. I wandered through breathing deeply.
I guessed podul meant bridge from pont (French) and I was right. The new concrete bridge (1916) is the widest of the old bridges and has a span of 32.8 metres and a length of 40 metres. The road is 7 metres wide. The old steel bridge was moved downstream and is now called the Iron Pedestrian Bridge. I didn’t find that bridge. This was one of the few times I crossed any bridges. I was on a mission to find coffee. I usually stay on the same side of any river. It limits my chances of getting really lost.
What on earth was this in Victory Square? (I saw this on my first day there so I hadn’t walked to the other squares and found the Oxygen Booth.)
Of course, I had to stop and read the sign! “As part of the Breathing Spaces component of Timisoara 2023 — European Capital of Culture, the ROA (Romanian Order of Architects) aimed to change the experience of visiting the square horizontally. Passersby are invited to stop for a while (and climb the structure) and see the square from a different perspective — from above.”
Would I have climbed it if it had been open? Of course! Even with my new knees, I love getting a bird’s-eye view. It really helps me more than Google Maps to get an overview of the entire town, and not get lost!
The Green Cross — probably my favourite sign on my last trip — indicates a chemist — farmacia in Romania. As well as identifying a pharmacy from a distance, the sign informs you of the time, date and most importantly current temperature. This one was snapped in Brasov where a plethora of pharmacies were sprinkled around the main square of the old city. I counted five!
Also in Brasov, I read these signs every time I climbed the stairs to our room and I thought yes, I was young once and incredibly stupid; now I am old but have I developed any “wisdom”? Probably not. If I was wise, I wouldn’t be staying in attic rooms, and climbing towers, but I do love having a view!
I liked the other one more. “ Slow down. Happiness is trying to catch you.” I think I’m climbing the stairs slow enough for happiness to run past me and leave me in its wake. 😉
Luckily, we didn’t have a car. How do you tear a car? We imagined the carnage and laughed.
Also in Bucharest, we spotted a cafe called Coffee & Travel. How could Erilyn and I resist going in having a coffee and checking it out when we saw these welcoming signs? We fancy ourselves as travellers as well as coffee aficionados. The coffee was pretty good too!
When I learned that this month’s challenge was Signs, I groaned. I thought I’m not going to be able to write anything about signs. I haven’t taken any photos of signs. I was limiting my thinking to road signs, stop, give way, keep right etc.
When I looked through my photos, I discovered I had dozens of photos of signs that I had taken for different reasons.
Some were to learn the purpose of the structure (the oxygen booth and the pepiniera), some were humorous, some were interesting or informative, and some were helpful (the green cross signs all over Europe) and some were accidentally in a photo I was taking of something else.
I loved Monica Ray,’s story on the Welsh road signs. I’ve noticed a similar occurrence in Northern Ireland with the Gaelic and English words on signs.
And Tim Ward,’s story of the signs he found in Norway will make you smile.