We spend a bit more than a week in Cluj spending a lot of time with our relatives and exploring the city both with them and alone. This is like a ritual, we always try to discover what is new and what is changed. One place that never disappoints is the Turnul Croitorilor (Tailor Tower), it always finds creative ways to stop us from visiting us. This time it is completely cordoned off for…not sure really. Renovation makes little sense as it was renovated just a few years back, maybe they are extending the new pedestrian area to the tower?
As usual we keep our eyes on the houses, we always find some new ones to admire, that we haven’t seen before or have changed since.
The ones on the main boulevard in the downtown area are as beautiful as ever. It is great that the city and owners are able to maintain and renovate them as needed, at least the facade.
The St Michael Church is right in the middle of downtown and is the center of our activity every time we visit. We pass it many times during each visit and each time there is something different. This time it seems they cut the trees (?) and therefore we are able for the first time to see a headless statue on the facade. Our relative tells us there is a gruesome story related to it…as is the custom.
On one day we enter the cathedral as supposedly now you can climb into the tower. Inside it is newly renovated, last time we visited they were just renovating it so we can now see the nice result.
We learn that the tower is accesible only on specific days and with appointment but we can still climb the newly opened stairs to a balcony for a nice view of the church from above. The stairs are actually the highlight, they are larger than usual and are following a double helix pattern so you can climb and other people can descend without the two groups crossing each other, cool!
We spend some of the days exploring the shops and the churches in the downtown area. They usually are closed but you can enter to a viewing area to see the elegant interiors.
Somehow even though it is a major attraction like St Michael Church the Matei Corvin House never changes at least from how we remember it. The surrounding area is the first pedestrian area in Cluj and quite popular with tourists.
And of course whenever in Cluj we go crazy on the sweets leading to quite some undesirable weight gain. But who can resist the great selection and the very tasty sweets?
We are crazy for the frog sweets that are quite special and we try to order one from at least a few different sweets shops so we can compare :).
Of course as you exit the touristy downtown area there are places where the buildings are not renovated or are even falling apart. This is par for the course for Romania but also other touristy towns even in more developed countries.
Still we have to run errands in this areas and we like to explore them also. On one such foray we find one of the few surviving synagogues in Cluj, which prior to World War 2 had a significant Jewish population.
We also have to visit the downtown market once and to our surprise there is even a multi level parking lot close by that can be used also as a viewpoint in a pinch.
The market is quite different than we remember, less rustic and more modern, but the fruits and vegetables still look quite tasty.
Speaking of tasty we have ample chances to eat at restaurants both with Romanian delicacies or more international. Most of them are quite good even when we buy from more sketchy places or malls even.
Of course we eat also a few times at a more upscale restaurant as we meet with friends or relatives in more formal settings. The food here continues to be quite good, at least if you go to Google (or friend) recommended restaurants :).
And then there are the residential areas where most of the inhabitants of Cluj leave. These are devoid of tourist places and are mostly just communist era highrise next to communist era highrise.
In fact some of them are quite ugly looking, hopefully at some point there will be some renovations or some sprucing up of the area.
The time flies by and soon we have to leave towards Switzerland to meet some friends. As we make it to the airport we find out to our delight that there is a new lounge where we can relax instead of being sandwiched among all the other people.
Even though the food offering is not something special, just having some place to stay is a huge bonus in this crowded airport. Especially as Bucharest still doesn’t have a lounge….
And then it is time to board the bus that takes us to our plane. Surprisingly the plane leaves on time, a rarity, and we are on our way to the fourty country in two weeks.
