Day 7 - Cluj-Napoca

In the morning, the weather was beautiful. After breakfast, we took one last stroll through the square at Sibiu under clear skies and with abundant sunshine. It was too warm to wear a jacket. 

We checked out of our hotel and drove north toward Cluj-Napoca, Romania’s second-largest city. After locating our next hotel and figuring out the parking situation (in the hotel’s impossibly small garage), we took an unguided stroll through the city center. Our first stop a beautiful Romanian Orthodox Cathedral (“Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral”) that was visible from our hotel window. (This hotel room had the best view of all of the places where we had stayed.)

As we walked, we passed the National Theater where operas and concerts are presented. This gave my travel companion an idea. More on that later...

We walked into a “less touristy” part of town in search of the birthplace of Matthias Corvinus and discovered a small square that was frequented mostly by locals. We decided to stop here for dinner. As with most of the restaurants where we enjoyed outdoor seating - the weather was still lovely - we found ourselves surrounded by smokers. Tobacco usage in Romania is rampant. The alternative is to sit indoors where smoking is prohibited, but in this gorgeous weather, we felt that it was worth enduring the puffs of smoke that the breeze guided over to our table.

After dinner, we peaked into a Franciscan church on the same square and wandered further. A few blocks away, we wandered into a much larger square, the site of St. Michael’s Church, one of the city’s main attractions, and the Bánffy Palace, home to yet another art museum. It was too late to visit either of these places, but we noted their location for exploration on the following day.

We finished our stroll with a walk along a street that had an adjacent walkway for pedestrians. I ran out to capture photos of the concert hall and the Orthodox church before we settled in for the evening.