theatre of the absurd: Romania, part XII - Oradea, phone photos

Piața Unirii

The weather we got in Oradea was so dire that we were practically housebound for most of our stay there. Unfortunately, another bad vibes city. I'll talk in more detail about this later.

We ended up catching a rather uncomfortable bus back to the equally unfriendly Cluj-Napoca bus station (24 RON), and then getting a train from Cluj to Oradea. It took up practically the entire day but was the only thing we could do, because Romanian public infrastructure is the worst I've seen in a developing country. The train was nice, actually - it was another of those compartment-style carriages and me and Lital got a whole compartment to ourselves, this time with no creepy middle aged men coming in and trying to proposition us. To paraphrase Ed Sheeran, we sat there and talked about the sweet and the sour, and how our families are doing okay. It was very cosy, sitting these with our feet up and the heater on, watching the cold countryside fall away beneath us. I live for moments like this. I would look at the GPS every half an hour or so to check up on where we were - how did I manage to travel without a smartphone!?

When we arrived in Oradea it was pitch dark and raining. We walked around the main road outside the railway station in the wrong direction for about 10 minutes (though it felt longer) before we found the main road, and traipsed our way to the Hotel Gala, where we were staying at. We had high expectations for it, because it looked very nice on booking.com, but when we got there... ehh. It looked like Dracula's hotel, which was quaint, and if you'd told me that it was haunted I would have no trouble believing you. It seemed like a place run by the cryptkeeper's wife. The rooms, although rather small, were fairly comfortable, but the furniture and upholstery were more suited for a 17th century inn. In the 17th century. I wonder how much I'd be paid if I rang up HBO and recommended this place as a filming location for the next season of "The Tudors." Actually, The Stuarts would probably be more suitable - Oliver Cromwell would be completely at home here.

After checking in and lying around on the beds and taking off our wet coats, me and Lital decided to go to the hotel restaurant for dinner, as the weather was simply too bad for us to even entertain the notion of going out. The food in the hotel restaurant was good if slightly expensive, though again, the salad - when I tell you that there are olives and cheese in the caprese salad, it does not mean that olives and cheese are the only things I want. Tripe soup wasn't bad, but Concordia's was still a lot better. Anyway, we were satisfied with the food, and turned in.

Next day the weather was still bad, pouring nonstop. Google maps told us there was a supermarket 3 mins walk from the hotel, so we went there to get some stuff for breakfast.

Hello, old friend

After that, we spent the rest of the trying to walk around. Nothing looks good in the pouring rain, and even if the weather were good, I don't think Oradea would be very pretty. Oradea is not unlike Cluj-Napoca in terms of architectural style and city layout, but the people here gawked at me in a not wholly friendly fashion, which was very annoying. It felt like an only slightly less hostile version of Alba Iulia. The roads were under construction, especially in the city centre, and my shoes got terrifically muddy. It's safe to say I wasn't particularly impressed with Oradea, and I don't see myself coming back here in the future, either.

This was a 'cheap' restaurant recommended by tripadvisor, called Ziga Zaga, which certainly served generous portions and cost about 24 lei for a gigantic bowl of soup and a humongous plate of butter cream pork and rice, but I can't really recommend it in good faith to anyone

The tripe soup wasn't bad but you'd be hard pressed to find bad tripe soup in Romania, I should think

Moskovits Palace on the Calea Republicii, a Secession-style building built by brothers József and László Vágó in 1905 during the Austro-Hungarian empire

Palatul Moskovits

You know you've hit rock bottom when the high point of the city is a coffee machine

Oradea Fortress

The old town square

We wanted to catch an earlier train back to Cluj as we both longed to leave this wet and depressing city, but the earlier train cost 40 lei, so we opted to take the later, slower train, which cost 20. We decided to go to one of the restaurants near the train station. Lital had more luggage than me so I went out to see what was what. None of these restaurants were listed on google, so there was no telling what they would be like. Nevertheless, I did find one, and we were both very pleased with it. Also, tripe soup.