In Cluj Napoca we stay mostly at the hotel that overlooks the city and is visible from everywhere, the Belvedere Hotel. It is on top of a hill that previously held the Austrian garrison in a Vauban like fortification ensuring that the city does not revolt against the Austrian rule. It was dismantled early 20th century and then in the early 1970s the hotel was constructed by the communist regime further destroying the remaining walls and fortifications. We receive a room relatively up top which has some week climate control and looks quite average versus what we expected for a top hotel.
The views however are quite beautiful and we take them in for some time before going to visit with some friends returning only in the evening.
The views during the golden hour are beautiful and the sunset is also quite magnificent. As such the room is special due to views but not otherwise.
In the morning we wake up to the sounds of birds so we decide on a walk around the hill to look for birds. From a previous visit we know that this is one of the better places in Cluj for birdwatching.
And we are not disappointed. It starts with some more common birds like a Hooded Crow and a Black Redstart but even those are rare in the urban area of Cluj.
Then we see a Common Chiffchaff, not really that common here, and a Lesser Whitethroat, a lifer for us in the city.
We decide to take the paths round the hotel going at a slightly lesser elevation to avoid any prying eyes. On the way we catch one more interesting bird, an European Serin that we searched for some time a couple of years ago in France but here we see in the open in good light.
And of course there are some great views of the city that we enjoy. You can see both the old town and the new town, both quite beautiful from high up. In fact our plan is to descend into the Old Town later but for now we continue following the path and keeping level near the top of the hill.
There is a secondary entrance to the hotel that is closed and a cross for martyrs of the 1848 revolution that is visible from almost everywhere in town.
We then turn around towards the main hotel entrance passing next to a couple surviving buildings from the Austrian days, some renovated and some less so.
After refreshing a bit and refilling our bottles it is time to descend into town. Now we use one of the surviving gater, the Water Gate which has been restored, at least so that the bricks are not in danger of falling on your head and killing you while walking through the gate.
And then it is a seemingly unending number of stairs, especially when ascending. We are descending though so we make short work of them before reaching the Old Town and exploring it which is described elsewhere.
Returning from the Old Town with our loot from quite a few stores we decide to take a different route. Specifically we cross the pedestrian only Elisabeth Bridge, built specifically to access the statue of Queen Elizabeth on the hill. And then we plan to climb the hillside following established paths.
First we find a couple of caches at the bottom of the hill. This area supposedly was a slum famous for its ladies of the night and then it was partially sanitized to build the statue of Queen Elizabeth before being made a park by the communist regime moving the remaining inhabitants into apartment buildings.
The statue of Queen Elizabeth of Austria, most widely known as Sisi, is not here anymore, it is actually in a Cluj Museum. And the area is not that well maintained either, but at least it is not a slum I guess?
As we climb up the views become better and better and we enjoy them as we rest quite a few times during the midday heat as we slowly make the climb up.
As we reach the top the stairs are completely gone and we have to jump and weave to make our way to the level part, phew we made it, otherwise it would have been a hassle to reach the path to the Water Tower. And then we prepare to meet another friend with whom we spend the evening before one of us goes to Targu Mures to meet with family while the second one remains in Cluj for a few more days with family moving out of the hotel and with them.
