Transylvania is a perfect combination of culture and traditions
In Transylvania you are going to find fortresses and medieval castles, caves and salt mines, breathtaking views and last but not least, traditional savoury dishes, which gained international recognition along the years. The region's tourist objectives are so diverse and many that it would be impossible to visit them all in just a couple of weeks. Today we'd like to take you on a journey to the region's major hotspots.
Our first stop is in Alma Vii, an old village in a hilly region first documented around 1209. The village is famous for its church, which was erected two centuries later and was fortified in early 16th century. According to Mihaela Turk, project manager with the Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation, the fortress' four towers have been restored as part of a project funded by Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland.
Mihaela Turk: "Each tower has its own theme. We have the Clock Tower, aka the Gate Tower, the Lard Tower, the Ice Tower or the Grain Tower. We have tried to restore these buildings according to their original function and nowadays they can also host various events, such as mini-conferences or exhibitions."
In order to fully experience the genuine flavour of Transylvania, accommodation in a traditional house is a must. You will have the sensation that you are living in an authentic museum, a time capsule. Here is again Mihaela Turk with more on this issue.
Mihaela Turk: "We don't want to offer standard accommodation facilities like TV sets, Internet, all the bells and whistles of modern accommodation. These rooms are kept very simple with whitewashed walls and old pieces of furniture that have been refurbished. They have wooden floors covered in traditional multi-colour carpets. We have refurbished these rooms only with traditional materials, like wood, stone, sand and lime."
Our journey continues to one of Transylvania's most developed cities, Cluj-Napoca, also dubbed Silicon Valley, as this is where some of Romania's best programmers are working. The city is also known for the big gigs and events that it hosts all throughout the year such as the Untold and Electric Castle festivals, or the International Film Festival.
This is also where the oldest cookery book in Romania, dating back to the 15th century, has recently been re-edited. Tourists are impressed by the huge variety of churches in Cluj. Here one can find on the same street several churches, Reformed, Roman-Catholic, Greek-Catholic or Unitarian. Here is Marius Oprea, a guide with the local Tourist Info Center with more on this marvelous city in western Romania.
Marius Oprea:"There are several historical monuments such as the Saint Michael Roman-Catholic Church, the Mathia Corvin statues, the Banffy Palace, which houses the Art Museum, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Lucian Blaga National Theatre and of course the Museum Square. These are all located in the city center within easy access on foot. The Fortress Hill is another interesting place, which offers panoramic views of the city, then there are also the ruins of the former Habsburg fortress, and the Botanical Garden, one of the most visited places in Cluj. Also worth visiting is the Romului Vuia Ethnographic Park, the oldest of this kind in Romania. Cluj-Napoca has always been an open city, which can be visited any time of the year."
Marius Oprea has extended an invitation for us to visit the other hotspots in the county as well. Among these there is the Turda salt mine, one of the most visited tourist objectives in Romania.
Marius Oprea: "Most of the tourists who have made it to Cluj have also visited the Turda salt mine as it is only half an hour drive from the city. This salt mine is unique in Romania and maybe in this part of Europe. It is a former salt mine with several levels, which has been recently restored with EU funds and nowadays looks like a genuine underground city. It offers a series of facilities both in terms of treatment and entertainment and visitors can even drive a boat across an underground lake."
Transylvania is also home to one of the very few inhabited citadels in Europe, Sighisoara. Sighisoara citadel, also known as Schasburg, was included in the UNESCO world heritage back in 1999. The most outstanding monument there is the Clock Tower, which has hosted the town's history museum since 1899. Nicolae Tescula, the director of the museum, has more:
Nicolae Tescula: "The Clock Tower was built in the 14th century. It hosted the town hall until the religious reform, and it is 64 m high. A weathercock is guarding the town from top of the tower, telling us whether it's going to rain or the weather will be fine. Also impressive are the figurines, like the drummers that tell the exact time. There are also figurines symbolizing Justice, Peace and the Executioner. The figurines that represent the days of the week change their position at midnight. The mechanism is quite old, as it was built in 1906, but the first clock mechanism ever documented in Sighisoara goes back to the 17th century."
These are just some of Transylvania's landmarks that are definitely worth visiting. The list is definitely longer, and we will present to you other attractions in the area in the future editions of our regular feature.
(translated by bill)
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