Our travels through Romania continued northward to the de facto capital of Transylvania, Cluj-napoca. It felt a bit strange to be back in a big city after the relaxed environs of Brasov and the medieval towns of Sibiu and Sighisoara, dealing with busy streets and having to dodge pedestrians again.
We did, however, adopt a rather relaxed pace for this stop, giving ourselves four full days to look around. There is a bit to see in this young and vibrant city, including its Steampunk cafés and museum, but four days is more than necessary. This meant we could fit in a good day walk as well.
We hope you like the little taste of Cluj that we can give you in this part of our story.
Cluj-napoca, Romania
January 2023
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2 Comments
Shame the pharmacy museum was closed – there wouldn’t be many of those around to visit I wouldn’t have thought? And Kate and I reflected that the story around the missing girl in the Forrest had a picnic at hanging rock aspect to it. Did you get that sense?
There have been small pharmacy museums in a few of the cities we visited, but all have been closed either permanently, for winter, or just on the day we were there. Apothecaries have historically had a bigger role in these countries than in the West. Even today, there seems to be a pharmacy every few hundred metres in the main cities. They are often seen as first port of call for any illness, and act as referrals on to doctors if the pharmacist thinks it is necessary.
The Haunted Forest isn’t as remote as Hanging Rock, more of a big city park, really. It was probably much more spooky a few hundred years ago, but the day we were there the biggest feeling of danger came from the risk of falling over on a muddy slope 🙂