Erasmus Book Café

This weekend I felt the need to leave the crowded Bucharest behind and migrate towards more quite places of Romania. After long thinking and changing my mind, I chose Sibiu, one of the most beautiful cities in Romania which also received the title of European Capital of the Culture in 2007.

While in Sibiu, I visited many places, tourist attractions and so on but, as a booklover, I couldn’t help but visiting some places that are connected to no more and no less than…books. A quick search in Google took me to Erasmus Book Café , a German specific coffee shop and library located in the city center.

Eramus Book Café has created a concept of library and coffee shop at the same time, so you can enjoy a nice, tasty cup of coffee or a frappe during hot summers, while reading a book of your choice.

They have a lot of german fiction, numerious books about Romania and Transilvania, manuals in Romanian, German and English, and the most recent news on the Romanian book market.

Starting the autumn of 2007, Schiller Publishing House was affiliated to the Erasmus Book Café and Schiller Library, which was an opportunity for growing the books list of the book café.

What I liked about this coffee shop, beside the concept itself and the delicious coffee, was the aspect, both inside and outside. The inside seems a bit elegant but at the same time a bit old (in a good way), so it gives you that bohemian feeling, that calmness that you were always looking for.

The yard is very large and green, so you can read quietly while listening to the birds and feeling the wind blowing over your hair, cooling you so well in combination with the cool beverage.

While enjoying my delicious frappe at the table in the coffee shop yard, I took the liberty of talking to one of the bartender girls that prepared the beverages about her experiences in this coffee shop, to whom I wanted to thank for taking her time and answering me to some of my questions about her experience in the coffee shop.

– So, tell me about the coffee shop, how did you get here, since when do you work here?

– I work here during the summer, and I am here since last year. I just wanted to work somewhere. As I knew German, I though about this place that I found very calm and nice.

– I assume that German is mandatory to work here. Is it only German, or also Hungarian?

– Only German.

– So it is a coffee shop with German specific?

– Yes.

– How to you find the atmosphere in the coffee shop, the people, the idea to work into a coffee shop? Was it your first experience of this type?

– Yes, actually it is my first work experience and I felt very well. People are very warm and friendly as well as my colleagues. There are lots of tourists who come and ask you about Sibiu, about where they can find certain things. It is cool that people come and you always have the opportunity to make conversation.

– Did you feel any difference between the attitude, behavior of Romanians versus the foreigners?

– Yes, there are differences. Some people are warmer, some are colder. Or foreigners many times refuse the straw for ecological reasons. These are things that come cultural differences, but not major differences. But they are all nice people and it is great to interact with so many every day.

– What do you think is the greatest dare to work in a coffee shop?

– Well it is all about the people. You have to make sure everyone is happy, you have to make sure you make a good coffee, you have to know the books in your shop cause there are people who come and ask you about something and you must know where to find what they need. This could become pretty difficult when you have many books to know about. It took me a while to get used to this, but in the end things turned out pretty well.

Well that was all. Thanks to the bartender for giving me the opportunity to get to know her better and learn more about the coffee shop.

If you plan to get there soon, well you cando it by train, bus or car till Sibiu and then…just walk or take a bus. You can find here the address for the book coffee shop.

Also, if you need a place to stay, I recommend you the appartment I rent. It is absolutely amazing, with a huge balcony and everything you need in it. I tried it last week for the first time and it was an amazing experience.

And that being said, I can now say what I always wanted to say:

© picnicontheshelf, June 28, 2019