Discover the wonderful city of Cluj

After having our first night right at the border in Oradea and taking some hours to explore the city, which I definitely recommend  we went towards the amazing city of Cluj-Napoca. From culture to nightlife, Cluj-Napoca is a pleasure to experience and you should not miss it whether you plan to visit Transylvania or Maramures and Bucovina. 

Accommodation 

We booked our one night stay in Cluj at Pura Vida Zen, and I can say it was a very Zen experience. 

very friendly staff and the atmosphere was very relaxed, the hostel is right in the city center so easy reach to main interest points of the city. 

Dinner

We aimed only for local food so the decision was between 2 places, La Roata won at the recommendation of the hostel :)
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I love this little hallway, decorated with traditional Romanian motifs, made me smile when I entered, and it made me smile again when I found this picture again. We stayed on the terrace though as it was very nice weather and it would have been a pity to miss on something like that :)

The food was good, we started with a traditional mix of starters and then we all had a main dish. you can check the post on my food blog or on TripAdvisor of course with more details about the food 

Time to sleep

on the way back to the hostel we met a very famous local bunny. apparently he is called Plimbaretul (aka the one the walks around) and the whole city seems to know him.

at the end of the day, we relaxed on one of the hummocks available at the hostel and then off to bed. 

One Day in Cluj

we had an improvised breakfast with some coffee at the hostel and then off we went to discover the city. I am a huuuuge fan of Romanian brezels (covrigi) so had to buy some :) and they are like 50 cents

anyway, from here we took the road towards the pharmacy museum. The entrance is super cheap and totally worth it, it won't take much of your time but the exposition is quite interesting. If you want to take pictures you need to pay 5 Euro. Maybe not expensive but I considered it an exaggeration given the economy in Romania so I preferred just to look this time :). Below a picture from outside, I apologize for the quality (and the reflection)

going further from here we went towards what is called Cetatuie, which is up the hill from where you can spot the whole city. You can get different routes of course but I would say we ended up seeing as much of the city as possible in the few hours that we had. I'll Leave the pictures guide you.

Piata Muzeului

The Franciscan church was built between 1260 and 1290, on the site of an older Catholic church destroyed during the Tatar invasions in 1241. Until the end of 1557 until Isabella of Hungary was alive it was transformed into a school. In 1728 the Franciscans held an important restoration campaign, but this time in the baroque style.

Franciscan Church in Piata Muzeului

Monument of resistance against the communism

central park Simion Barnutiu

crossing Somes river

The monument was finished 1 December 1997 by Virgil Salvanu in the memory of the heroes of the revolution of 1848-1949, which replaced the original wooden cross which was built between 1936-1937

the cross on Cetatuie

and at the end of this first part of discovering Cluj we took a break and had one of the things I love in Romania: a proper lemonade 

back towards the city and on the way to Piata Mihai Viteazu we stopped for a minute to admire the cities architecture 

Mihai Viteazu Prince of Wallachia (as Michael II, 1593-1601), and of Moldavia (1600). He is regarded as one of Romania's greatest national heroes. He was the first to unify Wallachia Moldova and Transylvania under the same ruler (27 Mai 1600)

Piata Mihai Viteazu

getting back to the center, we made a small stop on the way to lunch, and we got a different type of brezel break

following our way through the city, we made a small stop at the opera house 

and right on the other side, you have Piata Avram Iancu which as the name says is dedicated to Avram Iancu, who played a very important role in the Romanian history mainly during the Revolution from 1848. In the market you have the statue of Avram Iancu and behind it you can find the Orthodox Cathedral. 

Lunch

We wanted to grab something fast for lunch as we had dinner planned quite early in Casa Traditiilor in Ieud (post coming soon) so we were very happy to stumble across Boema restaurant.  

and I can definitely recommend the Zacusa and Salata de Vinete they have. 

More details about the place you can find on my food blog or on TripAdvisor 

Hope you have now a better idea of Cluj and why you should visit. If staying longer you should definitely not miss visiting the Salt mine in Turda, this is an absolute underground paradise. Check my post about it ;) Happy Travels!