ROMANIA: TIMISOARA - AKA "LITTLE VIENNA"&/or CITY of ROSES

They were right, we should have taken the bus.  Hell on Wheels would be a good name for this eight-hour, painfully slow train ride.  No A/C on a hot day felt like a forty-degree steam bath.  

Normally, we bring our own water and snacks as what is sold on the train is very expensive, but we did not have time before boarding the train.  This was the only train not selling anything, and we were onboard for six hours before the station where we changed trains to grab anything.  I don't think I've ever been so dehydrated.  I would have thought this important and relatively large city would have had better transportation to reach it.

Finally, we arrive, and our accommodation is near the train station.  Perhaps it's a good sign that there is a lovely sunset on our first evening.

Timisoara is the city we fell in love with in Romania, yet we have very few photos of that time.  I think we were too busy exploring and admiring.

A very brief history is that it was under Ottoman rule for more than a hundred years, and during that time became a fortified citadel.  It was bombed by the Axis powers in 1920, then was ruled by the communist regime for forty-two years, until the Romanian Revolution succeeded in gaining the country's freedom.

Another name for Timisoara is "City of Firsts".  There are so many that it's hard to get them all.  

Here is a start: first in the Habsburg monarchy to have street lighting and first in Europe to have electric street lamps; first public lending library in the monarchy; first German newspaper in southeast Europe; the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 started in Timisoara; in 2013 it had the fastest internet download speed in all the world (and remains and important sector of Internet Technology); and it was voted the first Romanian Youth Capital.  I believe there are more firsts in this fascinating, multicultural city.

We love it for the huge, wide-open spaces, which came about in the second half of the 19th Century when the old fortifications were torn down and replaced by wide boulevards, the squares,  pleasant neighbourhoods.   The talented buskers in the squares are a bonus.

This is the widest and longest umbrella street we have ever been on, and it's so pleasant in this heat to walk in its shade. 

 And the butterflies on this street all light up after dark.

Numerous decorated doorways to businesses remind me of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, where windows and doors were elaborately decorated with each change of season, or special holiday.

The streets and squares have many lovely and unique statues.

 

This unusual statue is a war memorial in Victory Square.

You can feel the artsy vibe everywhere.  There are three theatres, an opera house, and the Philharmonic has its own space, and there are numerous galleries.  

Here is a lovely tribute on the window of a cafe, to a woman gone, but not forgotten.

Just after we leave, a big Jazz festival is coming to town. 

The canalized Bega River runs through it (although it does need a bit of cleaning up) and is just one part of the city's extensive and inexpensive transportation modes.   A great way to go to work every day.  For about CAD 1.25, we rode the round-trip route, lasting an hour.

The thirty-six parks and green spaces (especially the rose garden) seem to run from one into the other, and we love the great mix of architecture (especially the art nouveau buildings). 

As we walked through the rose garden, they were setting up for a free outdoor concert, just one of many offered over the summer.  This one was by the Philharmonic Orchestra. It looked like they were expecting two to three hundred people.

In 2023, Timisoara was awarded the European Capital of Culture and renovated many of its beautiful old buildings.  So many are currently under renovation that a fleeting thought is to return here in a few years to see the completion of many more buildings.  This city is on the 'Art Nouveau European Route'.

Today, Timisoara has several more claims to fame.  It has the most gold reserves in all of Europe; it has six universities with about forty thousand students from all over the world; it has become a center for medical tourism, especially for dental care and cosmetic surgery.  In Romania, it had the first IVF program, the first laser heart technology, and the doctors did the first stem cell transplants.

Our accommodation was about a twenty-five-minute walk from the Old Town, so we went there daily, and if we needed some food, there were inexpensive places along the way where locals eat traditional foods.  This place was recommended by our host and was delicious.

We ate outside, but had to peek inside and were amazed by what we saw.

Wherever we go, Paul tries to find an aperitif or a digestive that the local people drink (and usually distill on their own).  In Albania, people openly sell their 'hootch' in pop bottles in the public market.  In several countries he has tried one made from plums, and it's here too in Romania.  Each country has it's own name for it.  We learn that restaurants often give free samples to their new or valued customers.  We have it given to us twice.  Paul gets a double shot, as to me it tastes like gasoline smells ... but to each his own.

A FEW BUILDINGS

This Miksa Steiner Palace in Union square is so interesting with its rounded corners, coloured decoration and motifs and wrought iron railings.

Unusual in style, this Cetate Synagogue serves the Neolog Jewish adherents in Timisoara.

The Romanian Orthodox Cathedral is beautiful inside and out and can be seen from many places in the old town.  It's perched up from the river and is placed at the end of Victory Square.

A few photos from the inside of the Orthodox church.  It's interior feels cavernous.

These colourful buildings will make you smile.

St George's Cathedral (Roman Catholic) has an imposing presence in Union Square.

This majestic building is worth looking at.

Last but not least is the Huniade Castle (Royal Castle), built from 1443 to 1447.

THE BEAUTY in the DETAILS 

In the collage below, the balconies in the photo on the right are metal.

We always watch for interesting street art and found the two below.  After leaving Timisoara, we learn that there is a 220-meter-long concrete tunnel that was turned over to artists and now has 22 canvases by 30 different Romanian and international artists.  Darn, we would like to have seen that.

We do spot a couple more along the river when on the 'river bus'.

MISCELLANEOUS

A lovely interior of one of the churches.

In the Rose Garden.

Today we are leaving for the capital of Slovenia.  We will enjoy Ljubljana, for a five-day stay (blog post coming soon) and are moving to a small rural area (<1,800 population) in a valley in the Julian Alps.