Crossing Romania in Seven Days. Tuesday - Day Two!
December 2018 · 9 min read
The second part of the trip in Transylvania, Romania. I want to remember what this is about, for those who didn't read the first post.
It's a journey through several cities generated by the invitation I received from my friend Doru (he needed our help).
On the first day I traveled from Bucharest to Brasov. After half a day and one night spent in Brasov, the next town where we will stop is Targu Mures.
I told the previous post that we were at a very nice hotel and we were surprised that it was cheaper than the average. The next morning, before I left, I found the reason. The hotel didn't offer breakfast, Doru, who chose the hotel didn't notice this ... I have to say a secret, I had a doubt!
Thus, the day of the trip began with the search for a place for breakfast, coffee was most desirable. Fortunately, we didn't have to go very far, near the hotel we found the café. As I said earlier, the advantages of being in the center of the city.
After a strong coffee and a few croissants, we are ready to go to the new destination. Before I leave, I want to say something about Brasov, for potential tourists who intend to visit the city in September. Every year, in September, here is the Golden Stage Music Festival.
Well, I said that too. Now there is only left to go to Targu Mures. We got into the car and left. Although I don't have photographic evidence, I say that the road from Brasov to Targu Mures is particularly beautiful. It passes through forested hills and villages with powerful Saxon influences. There are hundreds of years old villages and I must tell you that Prince Charles, the heir to the throne of Great Britain, has some properties in these places in the village of Viscri.
Prince Charles is a great admirer of Transylvania. He considers that in Transylvania there are the last virgin forests in Europe and villages where hundreds of years old traditions have been preserved.
Ready, I'm bound to finish with Brasov. After a light and pleasant driving, as I said ... it was beautiful. In Brasov it was snow, I saw the snow another 50 km and then the landscape turned into an autumn. I have no pictures from the road, only from the cities, so you have to believe my word. When leaving Brasov we had to clean the snow and the ice on the car first.
The road between the cities I spent in joy, I told, I listened to the music and I laughed a lot. Doru, my friend, has a lot of humor! So we quickly reached the next town and our target today ...
Targu Mures
Starting with Targu Mures we start the series of Hungarian-influenced cities in Romania. This city, as well as the other ones that we will visit, became part of Romania after 1918, that is, a hundred years ago. Before that, for almost a thousand years, although there was a majority Romanian population, these territories belonged to Hungary and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Because of this, there is some tension between the inhabitants of these cities, the Hungarian minority desiring more to still belong to Hungary.
In Romania, besides the majority Romanian population, there were several important minorities: Hungarian, German, Jewish, Gypsy. Of these, the Germans and the Jews emigrated to their home countries and there are still quite a few in Romania, that didn't prevent us from electing as a President of Romania a German, Klaus Iohanis!
I think it's enough with history, now I'm going to talk about the city, as much as I've been able to see in the two hours of downtown.
The city center is small but it is surrounded by buildings, old buildings and I like it a lot. I prefer old architecture, especially in Transylvania, with all German and Austrian influences. Fortunately, many buildings are repaired and brought to their original beauty.
To understand a place, their way of living, you have to know a little bit of what they eat. However, hunger has pushed us to this search and so, after a few small places where you could buy pies, slices of pizza or doughnuts ...
... I visited a famous Hungarian grocery store, a small shop but with everything.
High quality meat products, ham, smoked steaks and sausages. Also, cheese, bread and pickles. Very nice sellers and the ability to order all sorts of sandwich combinations.
I also bought different spices, sausages and wine. Wine was a constant of this excursion.
After we made the shopping and even ate some delicious sandwiches, we went to a last tour of the city center. Soon our friend Doru will finish the job and we will go further. We have to take advantage of the little time left for the walk.
As I said earlier, there are two distinct populations living in this city, the Romanians, who are the majority, and the Hungarians, the most important minority. That is why there are often nationalist and side-by-side manifestations. The city, being now in Romania, has placed monuments to represent the Romanian patriots and fighters for freedom, the most famous in Transylvania being Avram Iancu!
Also, Romanian patriots who are part of different formations and nationalist parties. In these cities every resident thinks it is his duty to present and sustain his country.
On the other side, the Hungarians have their signs, such as the statues of the cathedral, the shops where Hungarian products are, many places where only the Hungarian language is spoken.
Another interesting aspect, the green color is the favorite color of the Hungarians, it's on the flag of the Hungarian state and is proudly worn by the Hungarians in Romania as a sign of independence ... Here we have an old fashioned gentleman with a green hat!
Here you can see how the green color is worn by Mano, a young Hungarian at the Voice of Romania in 2017. Mano didn't win the trophy but was the favorite of many Romanians. He was also my favorite and I think he didn't win because of a mistake made by his coach. You can see an incredible cover after a song by Freddy Mercury!
With all these distinctions and normal belongings to our own culture, with all the challenges of political interests ... the two nations coexist quite well together. I have Hungarian friends with whom I understand very well, we avoid touching sensitive subjects and respect ourselves. Hope to be good for us in the future.
Doru is with us now, we take a last walk, and then we go on our way.
Before we leave, we see some flowers. It's just 170 km from Brasov to Targu Mures but winter is no longer. In Targu Mures it's only autumn!
This is the city where Romanians and Hungarians live together. Not necessarily because they like ... only that is the history that compels them.
We go to the largest city in Transylvania, the city I'm looking forward to seeing ... Cluj! There we will sleep in the second night away from home.
Up to Cluj are just over 100 km away. We arrived in less than two hours. I forgot to say that there are few highways in Romania. Targu Mures in Cluj is a road with a single lane and cannot go at very high speed.
Cluj, also called Cluj-Napoca!
Napoca was added to the name of the city of Cluj to emphasize the latinity of the place, the latinity of the Romanian people. Napoca was the name of the Roman fort built in 106 on the site of the present town.
The long awaited Cluj proved to be a disappointment. Not because of the city, which is one of the most interesting in Romania. Because Cluj welcomed us with a rain. The rain and the fact that it was night fast, it darkens after 5 pm! The long awaited ride has not happened.
Not having too many alternatives, I went to the hotel.
The hotel had a flawless elevator but a beautiful ladder. This as a different fact, unrelated to the story ...
Unfortunately, the hotel was located quite far from the city center and, given the increasing rain, we went to eat at a nearby restaurant. We found a very good restaurant in a newly built mall. Of course there were many restaurants in the same place, as in every mall but all the others didn't have customers, a sign that we don't have to eat there. Our restaurant was full of people, a sign that is very popular and appreciated.
The crowd in the restaurant had the effect that we had to wait a lot until we got the food. Good luck that the wine warmed us up and well.
After the first bottle of wine I also received an aperitif. Enough to improve our condition.
Evening was nice, excellent wine and not very expensive. We also took a new bottle because the food is still late.
Finally, we have come to the most enjoyable part. We received the food, the much-awaited food. I got the pork ribs and pasta, tagliatelle.
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Well, I think I overstated the story of the restaurant a bit, but I wanted to show that things are not always going well, as I expected.
One last glass and we went back to the hotel for a rest. I'm starting to feel fatigue ... but it's a nice fatigue.
In the morning we go to Baia Mare. It's a city in the north of the country, close to the border with Ukraine. I haven't been to Baia Mare so far.
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