Romania is a beautiful country and I had a chance to visit friend recently in Cluj. As soon as I got off the bus form the airport in the main city I saw this amazing building. It turned out to be the Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral built in 1923.

The issue I have many times while traveling through Europe is all the beautiful architecture. However, I have no idea of the purpose the building currently serves. After some research, this was Romania’s National Opera House, built in 1919.

Here is a shot of the downtown street that my hostel was nestled into.

After I dropped my bags off, I naturally gravitated toward the city center. In the heart of downtown Cluj is St. Michael’s church and impossible to miss. The cathedral is massive. Cool thing about this church was the citizens of the area actually funded its construction which started in 1447!

Here are the remains of the old medieval city walls.

At the corner of the city walls is where Tailer’s Tower sits named after a General that guarded the city. His name was Starina Novak (Baba Novac in Romanian). He defended the city against many battles from the Ottoman Empire. He is considered a national hero in Romanian and Serb history.

About a 20 min walk from the city center, was the Botanical Gardens. If you have nice weather during your stay here, I highly recommend it. The park is dedicated to Florian Porcuius, a famous Romanian botanist who lived between 1816 and 1906. He was very passionate about his field, meticulously cataloging and identifing almost all plant life within Romania. After the Transylvanian Revolution around the 1850s, he served in many government administration positons. Click here for a link to the garden.

Nestled inside, is a large Japanese Garden.

Complete with shrines overlooking a classic Zen Garden.

Along with a tori gate that made me miss Japan! (懐かしい！) If you don’t know what a tori gate is, they are entrances between the ordinary world and the spiritual one. That is why one will often find them in front of shrines and temples.

This was a Roman Tomb uncovered in the 3rd century although I could not tell who it belonged to unfortunately.

Here sits a statue of the Roman Goddess Ceres, very fitting that she is the Goddess of agriculture.

Here is the lifeblood of the entire garden that stems from the Gipsies’ Creek.

One of the key spots at the garden is the water tower which stores water from the creek and irrigates it to the plants here. At the base of the tower are reflecting pools with plenty of water lilies.

Not far down the street is a great restaurant that you don’t want to miss, Alle Bollicine (link here). This chicken stew with the griddle cake was amazing!

Eventually, darkness will fall and you will most likely be looking for a drink somewhere. Back at the city square with the main cathedral is a great place to find plenty of establishments. However, make sure you take a stroll to Cetatuia Park which overlooks the entire city. Right behind the cathedral the stret of light bulbs will show you the way.

From there you are looking for Podul Horea Bridge shown in the back ground of the photo, take a left and start to climb these stairs.

Look for this monument, The Monument of the Heroes, a more modern building constructed in 2002 to honor the people who fought in the 1848 revolution.

From this point you’ll be able to take in the entire city from best vantage point.

The next day, I still had some time before I had head to my next stop. I found a Jules Vern steampunk exhibit and was quite impressed on how entertaining it was. Although he never lived in Romania, I know understand that he took a lot of inspiration from his books from the Transylvania region.

I do not want to show everything here or this would be a sole dedicated blog post. I will briefly cover some highlights, starting with the mad scientist’s chemistry liar.

There was a large amount of interactive, moving and hands on displays. The first was a primitive prototype to the social media AI bot! It automatically scrolls a set profile and gives a like to anything displayed, lol.

Next up was a plasma globe that would activate a light when placed in close proximity.

They had the original Mario game set up and you can play it as long as you want. If you are part of a group then they make you play the first level to see who has the high score. From that, they properly celebrate or shame you accordingly.

There is a steampunk/android assembling area that reminded me of a scene form a Saw movie.

There are a large amount of attractions and they advertise that they will purchase old oddities from you as well.

There is just so much on display here, above is a steampunk blimp that the staff built.

I found this very interesting, kind of a steam punk meets modern arts vibe. There was a surprising effect for anyone willing to pay closer attention...

If you look for clues, they will lead you to a secret switch. This will enable a black light that will bring this exhibit to life.

Included in the ticket is a trip (one way only!) to the past or future, whatever you desire. Set the date and off you go. Wondering why I saw people going in, but never coming out. 😄