Cluj-Napoca, Romania to Budapest, Hungary
There shouldn’t be much to report today, after all we are basically going to be sitting on the bus all day making our way from Cluj-Napoca, Romania to Budapest, Hungary. Yes, eight hours. Yes, there will be stops for sure, and there is the boarder crossing. The first “leg” of the trip is westward from Cluj to Oradea, about 95 miles.
While the distance is too great it is still going to take a long time. The truth is it took us about three hours to over that distance. Why? Well, this isn’t the United States. It is Romania. There isn’t a freeway. Most of the roadway has been one lane in each direction. We passed through small towns and villages. Maybe even saw a horse drawn cart or two.
It was mostly flat with the mountains sort-of off in the distance. Rolling hills and shallow valleys. Cows, sheep, corn, sunflowers and a number of fields getting ready for the winter planting or just lying fallow. Roughly halfway to Oradea we did traverse a mountain pass. The trees are just beginning to think about changing color.
Our lunch stop was in Oradea. Oradea located in the Crișana region. The Crișana region named after the Criș (Körös) River and its three tributaries: the Crișul Alb, Crișul Negru, and Crișul Repede. In Romania, the term is sometimes extended to include areas beyond the border, in Hungary; in this interpretation, the region is bounded to the east by the Apuseni Mountains, to the south by the Mureș River, to the north by the Someș River, and to the west by the Tisza River, the Romanian-Hungarian border cutting it in two. However, in Hungary, the area between the Tisza River and the Romanian border is usually known as Tiszántúl.
Oradea is the seat of Bihor County. It is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the western part of Romania. The city is nestled between hills on the Crișana plain and situated on the banks of the river Crișul Repede that divides the city into almost equal halves. It is here that we stop near the center of town for lunch. We are dropped off on Strada Roman Ciorogariu and Calea Republicii, a pedestrian walkway leading down to the river and Piata Ferdinand.
Piata Ferdinand is a central square surrounded by beautiful art nouveau and art deco buildings. It is an eclectic collection of residential houses, a theater, bank offices, hotels and restaurants. Today it is Piata Ferdinand but over the last century the square has had several names. Until 1923 it was Bémer Square after the Roman Catholic bishop Laszló Bémer, in 1923 it became Queen Maria Square, then in 1940 changed back to Bémer Square again, then between 1945-1966 it bore the name of Stalin, and from 1966- 1995 Republic Square. In 1995 it was named Piața Ferdinand, even though in the interwar period not the square but Republicii street bore the name of King Ferdinand. It is a beautiful triangular square with the theater along the base and pointing towards the river.
Oradea boasts a rich art nouveau architectural heritage and is a member of the Réseau Art Nouveau Network and a point along the Art Nouveau European Route. Probably have to spend more time and find out about that and maybe follow it? It is Romania’s 9th largest city and is host to some of Romania’s largest companies. It apparently has a very high standard of living and ranks among the most livable cities in Romania. It is also located only about 6 miles from Bora, one of the most important boarders between Romania and Hungary.
We did a quick and purposeful walk towards the river. It has just gone 11:30 so many of the places aren’t open for lunch yet, or are just getting ready. Interestingly we passed a number of gelato places. Places with people having gelato at 11:30 in the morning. My mother always said ice cream before lunch will ruin your lunch or dinner.
We stopped at the Dock Bistro Bar. It is a nice little bar, until you realize that it is two stories. We sat outside along the river in the wonderful warm sun. The menu was a QR code on the table. Once opened it can be in one of several languages, including English. The calzone chaos looked very interesting. We all know how well I deal with total chaos. It was described as follows: Pizza dough, pizza sauce, Angus beef steak, prosciutto, rocket (arugula, for the rest of us), cheddar cheese, leeks, Dijon mustard, and jalapeño peppers in vinegar. Jalapeño peppers in vinegar just means preserved or pickled.
The Caesar salad with chicken breast looked good to Mary. It was described as chicken breast, inceberg lettucem green salad, cherry tomatoes, homemade mayonnaise, homemade bread and “sos” caesar. The photo indicated is also had some shaved parmesan cheese. We both ordered a Heineken beer.
While we were sitting there they attempted to deliver us a pizza, which turns out was for the table behind me. There was a moment of confusion, but it all got straightened out. There was some concern on our part that lunch might not arrive until we had to head back to the bus, but fortunately our lunch arrived a few minutes later. The calzone was interesting. First the rocket was served on the side, and it was just a little pile. The cheddar cheese wasn’t inside the calzone but melted on top. An interesting presentation.
It really didn’t matter the flavor was very good. The Caesar salad was also most just like the photo. Mary said it was also quite enjoyable. They young man at the table next to us to me the calzone was worth waiting for. I will agree with him.
Even an hour and a half for lunch often doesn’t seem like much or enough time. First, we generally have lunch in the middle for the lunch rush. This makes getting served on a timely basis somewhat difficult. Second, it is fine but you don’t get to see too much of the city you are visiting. It was fine today, but being dropped of a half hour before most lunch service begins did effect some choices.
It would have been nice to be able to stop at some of the art work along the way. Along the way we passed the Holnaposok Statue. All the tourists were taking photos. There was no sign describing it, and since it was apparently significant it had to be looked up. The statue represents the literary society Holnap which was founded in the spring of 1908 in Nagyvárad. "The seven poets published only two anthologies, in two consecutive years: 1908 and 1909. The first volume included poems by, among others, Ady, Babits, Béla Balázs, Gyula Juhász. The poems expressed the taste and way of thinking represented by the West The collection of poems provoked a fierce attack from conservative literary forums.
From In the 19th century coffee houses became characteristic places of bourgeois culture, which not only provided an opportunity for artists, scientists and other intellectuals to meet, but also created an opportunity to exchange ideas about art, literature, politics, the world, philosophy, science or business.” Apparently this area was one of those bourgeois places. Given the art nouveau and art deco buildings, one would have to think that was the case anyway.
At 13:00 we were back on the bus and on our way to the boarder. It took all of six minutes to get to the boarder. It took another hour to get through it. It would be another fours hours before we reach Budapest. There wasn’t much traffic but there was a lot of road construction. Leaving Romania it was still a two lane road. Once in Hungary it quickly because a four-lane road. Even though it was a four-lane highway for a great deal of it it was two lanes due to construction. And once we actually got within sight of Budapest, there was a Budapest evening traffic.
The hotel Tribe Stadium is an Ibis hotel. The rooms are nice but really compact. We had an hour to check-in put our bags in the room and get ourselves back down to go to the Hungarian dinner and folklore show. The meals were ordered at the beginning of the trip. There was a simple choice chicken or beef. We preordered one of each, it seemed the logical thing to do.
We were off the restaurant. Judit explained that the Danube was flooding. But we shouldn’t worry because the restaurant is on the street above the street that runs along the Danube. As we drove along we could see that the street which runs long the Danube was clearly under water. There was a lot of flood debris in the water. People were lined up along the shore of the river looking at the flood waters. Mike had written a couple days ago asking if we were affected by the flooding. I had no idea what he was talking about, at that point we had little or no rain. Now I understand.
Dinner was at Szeged Vendéglő Kft. It is a restaurant that specializes in tourist presentations. The food was actually very good. We started with mushrooms soup. Not a think creamy mushroom soup but more like a very light beef stew with mushrooms. Dinner was either chicken or beef stew with lightly roasted potatoes on the side. It was served with a cabbage dish for vegetables. The cabbage dish was or tasted like cabbage preserved in vinegar. Interestingly different. Dessert was a sponge cake loaded with liquor. One of the people at our table was having a birthday, so we also got a birthday cake with a rather large sparkler.
This was a very nice close to our tour. We got back to the hotel about 21:00 and headed to bed. No big hurry tomorrow our flight isn’t until mid-afternoon, check out is noon, although we will probably be at the airport by then.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria
Lunch at Dock Bistro along the river.
A few of the art deco buildings
Our dinner
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