Timisoara Tour Guide

22/02/2026

Timișoara Revoluționară 💪 💡

Timișoara Revoluționară este un proiect al timișorenilor, pentru timișoreni. O călătorie spre viitor si spre identitatea pe care o merităm.Credem că mândria ...

21/02/2026

Last week, scouts from around the world gathered in Timisoara for an inspiring day of learning and connection during the Innovative Thinking Lab. After engaging talks from civic and cultural leaders, the scouts participated in a human rights workshop, and the day culminated in a guided tour of Timisoara. I had the honor of leading them through the historic city walls, sharing its architectural beauty and its pivotal role in the 1989 revolution—leading up to its designation as a European Capital of Culture in 2023.
Always happy if I can pitch in in the world of NGOS and non-formal education, my first love and cornerstone for who I now am.

19/02/2026

Today was my second time on the big screen. The universe must be on to something 😁
This was the launch of an inspiring community campaign called (Revolutionary) Timișoara Revoluționară, and the girl with the red umbrella was part of the promo video. This is not about nostalgia nor is it about an actual fight. The campaign carries forward the spirit of 1989 and transforms it into a project about courage, competence, innovation and excellence. The things that are actually produced here and the whole world (and outer space) uses...mind blowing! Stay tuned for the (r)evolution!

08/02/2026

Now this a project I never thought I'd be part of, but I'm excited and proud I chose to join the ranks of the other partners of TM Bitză Fest (the first Timișoara bicycle festival). The number of cyclists in Timișoara is growing by the day (and hopefully I'm going to work up the courage and ride my bike, too), as is the number of tracks, but still perils and challenges don't cease to exist, both for the able bodied, but especially for people with disabilities. TM Bitză Fest aims to address this throughout 2026 via a series of workshops ending October 17. At the end of the festival participants will ride their bikes and get to know their city better in the company of yours truly.

07/02/2026

Soliloquies, a painting by young Bessarabian artist Constantin Popovici exhibited at the Brăteanu Art Gallery in Timișoara last year. I got it in postcard form and kept it on my desk for the past year wondering...

A stag at Mărăști. Calm. Unmoved.
Surrounded by concrete born in the 1970s–80s, a city planned for efficiency, not wonder.

The animal doesn’t seem lost.
The city does.

Cars blur, facades fade, certainty erodes. The stag remains — a reminder that before roundabouts and housing blocks, this place already knew how to exist.

This is not a soliloquy of divinity speaking to humans.
It is a soliloquy of the city—caught mid-sentence, suddenly realizing it is not the main character.

01/02/2026

Timisoara is an open air museum, and art is there for you to interact with it, whether it’s to touch it, feel it, whether you like it or not. Whether you understand it or decide to give it meaning. Your own. And that's just fine.

“Human Shell” (Coajă de om) is the expression of the agony derived from the amputation of the body from the psyche, of the sadness of one’s own futility, which is touching. Mircea Roman's “Human Shell” raises questions such as: what breaks us, what empties us, what dehumanizes us, what depersonalizes us, what fragments us? Therefore, it also makes us reflect on the antipode of these: what fills us, what verticalizes us, what humanizes us, what completes us?
Just some food for thought for the new year.

21/01/2026

Aaaand my genealogy tours made the Serbian news! So exciting! The article was actually only published on the printed issue of Temišvarski Vesnik (the Timișoara Tribune). A bit difficult to read since it's written in Cyrillic letters and in Serbian, but you get the gist. It speaks about family stories and heritage, about the return to the Old Country, about those of us who pitch in and make it happen. A big "hvala lepo" to my Serbian colleagues and friends who've always been there to support me and guide me through the intricacies of their culture and denomination. Also a thought goes out to Mrs. Rancov, the founder of the Cenei village museum, an amazing host who so warmly welcomed me and my guests, and whom unfortunately we lost last year.

05/01/2026

Cold town, winter in the city
Snow comes down and it’s looking pretty
Boots go crunch on the icy ground
Best night walk when the crowds aren’t around

Cold town, winter in the city
Lantern light makes the park look pretty
Frozen paths and a quiet scene
Best kind of tour I’ve ever seen

❤️

04/01/2026

2026 started off really well. Good food, friends and family around. And then today, on the third day of the year, it snowed! I love snow, but Timișoara rarely gets any. Imagine my excitement today when I got to do this year's first tour while jumping around in the white miracle like a little kid. What more could I have possibly asked for? Happy new year, everybody!

19/12/2025

It's that time of year. The 36th since for the people of Timișoara December brings joy and sorrow alike. It's the holidays, a time for celebration and introspection, but for us this collides with the duty to march for and commemorate the heroes and martyrs of the 1989 Romanian anti-communist revolution that sparked in Timișoara in the 16th of December. It's a mix of sadness and frustration, gratitude, community feeling and pride, but most importantly political revindication and a fair warning that you don't mess with the people, you don't mess with democracy.

14/12/2025

This will most likely be deemed a sad post. And I guess it is. But my actual intention is to share these images with my guests whose families (or they themselves) studied in the Jewish high school of Timișoara between 1919 and 1940, so they can have a glimpse of the interior. After WWII, the building became the Sports high school and then the Arts high school, but starting 2013 its doors remained locked until last summer. For now, the building, no longer a historical monument unfortunately, has survived the threat of being destroyed by the ambition of real estate developers and was bought by the Orthodox Church in the process. In June 2025 students of the Architecture faculty had the initiative to put together an exhibition based on a study they performed on the high schools in Timișoara. The study was meant to raise awareness and hopefully get the current owners to consider renovating the building and turning it into a school again. I’m personally rooting for this.

11/12/2025

Istanbul is layered like its baklava —
Byzantine foundations, Genoese stone, Ottoman dreams.
My focus? The age of Suleyman the Magnificent, “Kanuni” to his people – during which the Banat was conquered, now also a layer in Timișoara’s story. I wanted to understand the world he shaped—and the world that shaped him—so that I can tell the story of our city with more depth and accuracy. This was, in many ways, a study trip disguised as a holiday.
Standing in the Süleymaniye Mosque, under Mimar Sinan’s “owl eyes” muqarnas, and visiting the resting place of Suleyman and his beloved Hürrem, walking through Topkapı Palace, all felt like stepping into a romantically bloody 16th century.

Huge thanks to Anfile – fellow tour guide and brilliant mind – for his inspiring conversations and passion, but also for sharing… great food, wine and history nerd-jokes. Looking forward to our next adventure, effendi!