Blog

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Călin / Oct 27 - Nov 7, 2023

Traveling across half the world for the PACT conference in Vienna brought me very close to “home” – Cluj-Napoca, Romania is my birthplace and the city where our families continue to live. The Wikipedia entry has great many details about the history of the town, dating all the way back to 106 AD, as the Roman settlement of Napoca.

The weather has been gorgeous, unusually warm for this period of the year, so I took my camera out and went around the city, enjoying the combination of old medieval and modern day buildings, bustling people, and unfinished sidewalks.

Cluj downtown: front and middle Technical University, Hungarian Opera, Postal office, Orthodox Cathedral, and the iconic St. Michael’s Cathedral (Catholic).

Central park, the BT Arena, and Napoca Hotel

St. George killing the dragon (a 1378 sculpture)

Orthodox Cathedral and Avram Iancu monument

Str. Regele Ferdinand (previously Horea)

Poșta Română (foreground), Hotel Belvedere on Cetățuie

Franciscan’s monastery (Music school) at sunset

Walking the city was not the only the only reminiscence; with a couple of old friends we went out for a hike in the Apuseni mountains, to Pietrele Mărunte and Muntele Mare (around Baișoara). The hike was just about 1h driving from the city and wandered over an alpine meadow with weaving grasses and juniper bushes. Even though it rained in the afternoon, we had a good bit of fun walking deserted trails and peat bogs.

View toward Remetea from Pietrele Mărunte