Romania - Day Two

Romania, day two! During this day we visited Kolozsvar, one of the larger cities in the Transylvania area, and the unofficial capital of the area when it was it's own state.

We visited the statue of Matthias Corvinus, who is considered one of the greatest kings in Hungarian history. 


We even visited Matthias's official birthplace. There has been long standing tension between Romania and Hungary, and this sign is a perfect display of that.


The Romanians claim Matthias was actually Romanian as opposed to Hungarian.


The coat of arms of Kolozsvar

One of the oldest paintings in the area, on the inside of a church, depicting the Crucifixion.


The remains of the original walls of the old city

We then traveled on to Torda to take a tour of an old salt mine. According to the guide, Romania is abundant in salt and could easily supply the world with salt for the next thirty (I think) years. This salt mine is used as a day hospital for children since the salt air has many health benefits.



Old machinery used to extract salt.

Salt deposits on the staircase

And and endless supply of salt!

To get to the bottom we climbed thirteen flights of stairs!


Then we drove onto the Torda Gorge and had the chance to make a small hike before dinner





A stray Komondor looking epic in the background

And a hillside of sheep!

The hike reminded me very much of Oregon. It was the greenest place I've seen in Europe so far.





Funny, but kind of a sick prank

You got to get it from all angles

The Bed & Breakfast we roomed in for the night

Overall the hike was my favorite part of the day. Physical activity, the outdoors, hiking, what's not to love? And I can't wait to share day three!

      -Natalie


















Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 26, 2014 at 5:23 PM

    ahhhh the hospital in the salt mines is such a cool thing!!!
    also, your hike was gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete

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