Through the Carpathian Mountains
After peaking in on Sunday Mass in an Eastern Orthodox Catholic church
and walking through a fresh, yet-to-be-busy open market, filled with flowers, vegetables, fruits, cheese, and meats.
By 9:30 we were on the road with the travel plan of passing through the Capathian Mountains.
Remnants of medieval fortification culture is still seen in houses in this area. All are fenced in front with central courtyards and the open-air living areas in back.
As we enter Hunedoara, our guide points out that this town is comprised of about 35% wealthy gypsies who have made a boatload of money from nefarious enterprises (Roma mafia, drugs, prostitution, etc.). Gypsy mansions have replaced the horse-drawn wagons. The roofs are quite elaborate.
Our third visitation of the day is Hunedoara (not in the gypsy section) for a guided tour of Huniady Castle - one of the most well preserved medieval castles of Transylvania and home to the mighty Huniady royal family. This is supposedly is one of the less visited castles of Transylvania, but it looked like a lot of tourists new about this place with us. The Gothic architecture with arched ceilings is always impressive.
We spent quite a bit of time driving today and arrived in the late afternoon to Cluj Napoca, the former capital of Transylvania and an important university center. Cluj is the second largest city in Romania with 330,000 (same as all of Iceland) people.
Cluj was an ancient Hungarian capital. In 1960, Napoca was added to Cluj, to commemorate its Roman History. One fifth of the population is of Hungarian descent and speak Hungarian. Again, we walked around town learning about the churches, the religions, and enjoyed the old buildings including the Feliner Helmer Opera House.
 |
Opera House |
 |
| Sunset Quintet Playing on Church Balcony |
All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Cluj Napoca, Transylvania, Romania
No comments:
Post a Comment