Through forgotten places

Hearing that I was going to Herculane, Ioana gave me a book: Capitals. A journalistic guide through forgotten cities, published a few years ago by Scena9. More than likely she knew I would need something to keep me busy while traveling. "A nomadic photographer, a humorous writer, a commuter journalist and a very young poet travel, in the first year of the pandemic, to three small towns in Romania. Each of them once lived its heyday, from which survive today a handful of ruins and many stories, which a few people stubbornly persist in passing on." That's what it said on cover four. There are three travel reports signed by writer Mihai Radu, journalist Andra Matzal and poet Ioan Coroamă, each accompanied by photographs by Ioana Cîrlig. In focus are three localities: Herculane, Sulina and Moinești.

The places are not chosen at random. Each has a rich history, many skeletons in the closet. They are not simple explorations of places, but of their specific imaginary. Hercu