Lately we are not the best in planning our travels, we leave everything to the last moment, and it was just the same last year, before our long weekend in May. We wanted to visit Romania for a long time, and fortunately there were some last-minute offers for the trains and buses, so we finally could get to Transylvania, even for just a couple of days. We’ve decided to start from Cluj-Napoca, recommended by our friends as a lively student city. It turned out to be a really good introduction to the country, although maybe the real introduction were the tiny villages and vast green areas that we passed by in our bus. (I still associate Romania mostly with its beautiful green areas, the only other place I’ve seen that was so green was Slovenia).
It’s been a while since we spent so much time in a bus, so we were quite tired when we got to Cluj in the morning. It was 6 am, so we got to see the sleepy, empty side of the town first. We’ve chosen a hostel a bit out of the center, in a lovely big house with a garden, and when we finally felt a bit more awake, the hosts recommended us to have a walk to nearby open air museum (Romulus Vuia Park) – a part of the Etnoghraphy Museum.
In the museum there are 13 traditional farms, from different regions of Transylvania, some workshops and three churches. All of this of course in the beautiful green surroundings. We were also lucky to visit the museum during a folk concert, where local groups were presenting traditional dances and songs. It was also a great chance to see their folk clothes, which I was especially excited about, since I just got fascinated with folk art and especially embroidery. Later in the afternoon we went to explore the old town. Not surpringly there were lots of beautiful old houses and churches, but also a large park and some modern buildings like the city stadium. We were caught by the rain, but fortunately Cluj had also a couple of nice cafes where we could hid for a while.
Last, but not least, here are some photos taken by Marek. Somewhere “inbetween”, while we were walking between the old town, the museum, and the bus station. Simple, everyday sceneries, not so pretty, but showing that Romania is also full of contrats, between the picturesque old towns and its surroundings.
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