After visiting with a friend for a few days in Germany the rest of the trip is spent in Cluj with an ailing relative and meeting friends and family throughout town. And also just teasing out what changed, every year something changes in the downtown area or in the neighborhoods.
The traffic is as bad as usual if not worst and this is not being made better by the introduction of the tramway, both the construction and the tram itself should have a negative impact on downtown car traffic.
The food is still good with some new stores popping up and Kürtőskalács, also known as chimney cake, being a must buy as usual.
Some areas, in downtown but especially in the neighborhoods further away, look poorly maintained, hopefully there will be some money in the next year to renovate them.
Cars are getting newer but there are still older cars on the road from the time of communism and the potholes are still here unfortunately.
The sweets are as good as always and there are new varieties coming out, we still prefer the classics thoughs like the frog themed ones.
Trails are overgrown in places but we enjoy it as the wildlife takes advantage of them, especially the ducks.
Main throughfares however look well maintained with no potholes and there was an effort to make the buildings look nicer, which is cool.
We also explore the edges of the town where the city meets the fields and the forests. Foxes were still sighted here a few years ago, nothing now but the views are still good.
The road becomes a dirt road quite soon but it is a nice walk before turning around.
The Central Square has a few trees in this iteration but every year they seemingly change something, it feels like in a time travel movie which makes it difficult to ground yourself in the epoch you find yourself in. And besides a trip to Belis described separately that’s it, a short visit to meet relatives and friends and less tourism than usual before returning to Phoenix.
