Kluż-Napoka (Cluj-Napoca; 328 thousand. residents), cut in half by the Samosh flow (Somesul Mic), it is also Romanian, what hungarian. Due to its location in the center of Transylvania, it has been an important intersection of trade routes for centuries, which explains its role as a large academic and industrial center today. To the name of the city, by the Germans called Klausenburg, and through the Hungarians Kolozsvar, a few years ago the Roman name Napoca was officially added, to emphasize his relationship with Roman Dacia. The ultranationalist mayor, Gheorghe Funar, asked his countrymen at the time: "Citizens of Cluj, do you want a Hungarian university in our city, Hungarian consulate and Hungarian companies?”. It seems like it, that the citizens do not want to, because in 1996 r. an overwhelming majority re-elected Funar for the position.
The history of Cluj goes back to Danish times. W 124 r. n.e., during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, Napoca obtained city rights, and later Emperor Marcus Aurelius made it a colony. The oldest mentions of the city in medieval documents come from 1969 1183. W XII w. Saxon merchants invited here raised the rank of a dilapidated city. After the Tatar invasion, 1241 r. The earth ramparts around the castrenses de Clus were replaced with stone walls. In years 1791-1848 and again after the union with Hungary in 1867 r. it was the capital of Transylvania.
Cluj has far fewer monuments than Sibiu, it is also not so picturesque, like Sighisoara or Brasov, but there is a nice atmosphere here, and there are some nice museums waiting for tourists. Everything can be visited in one afternoon, however, due to cheap accommodation, it is worth staying here for a longer time and going on a trip to the nearby Turda gorge (Cheile Turzii).
Orientation
The train station is in the distance 1,5 km from the center, So it's best to buy a ticket at the red kiosk after you leave, advertising Coca-Cola, on the opposite side of the street, and catch a tram #101 or a trolleybus going south along Horea Street. Get off the trolleybus right across the river, while the tram takes two stops and then continues on foot south, to the other side of the river. Luggage storage in the train station, open 24 hours a day, is located near the restaurant.
There are two bus stations in Cluj. Bus station no 2 (buses to Hungary) lies behind the bridge, if you take the train station as your reference, north of the city; Bus station no 1 – on the Aurel Vlaicu strade in the eastern suburbs (no luggage storage).
From the center and from the train station, runs to Autogara nr 1 trolley #4.
Information
Tourist offices – English-speaking staff at Agentia de Turism “Km 0″ (Union square 10, tel.196557; pn.-pt. 8.00-19.00, w sb. 10.00-14.00) they arrange private accommodation (7 $ from person) and rent cars (with the driver 18 $ per day).
ONT Turism Feleacul, na rogu Memorandumului street and Sincai street, sells old maps with addresses of all campsites and mountain huts throughout Romania, but does not provide information on private accommodation.
A few houses away, przy Memorandum Street 27, the seat of Automobil Clubul Roman is located (tel.116503).
Money BANC, Gheorghe Doja street 8 (pn.-pt. 8.30-14.00), exchanges travelers' checks and withdraws cash to a Visa card. Bureaux de change are a bit lower on the same street for better rates.
Na Piata Unirii, opposite Agenda de Turism “Km 0″, there are money changers who mainly exchange pits for forints and vice versa. Scams are commonplace here, therefore you need to pay special attention.
Post and telecommunications – The telephone exchange is located right behind the Main Post Office, at the Gheorghe Doja strade 33 (codz. 7.00-22.00). Code for Cluj-Napoca: 064.
Travel agencies – Tickets for international trains are sold by CFR (pn.-pt. 7.00-17.00) przy Piata Unirii 9, in front of the Continental Hotel. Tickets for domestic connections are purchased at the CFR branch at Piata Mihai Viteazul 20, near the market.
Consus Travel (tel.193044, fax 197573), next to the hotel Victoria on the bulevardul 21 December 1989, rents cars without a driver included in the price 65 $ per day. Visa and MasterCard are accepted.
Bookstores – W University Library, on Piata Unirii in front of the Continental Hotel, you can buy foreign-language books, and at the newspaper stalls in the same square – foreign press.
Sightseeing
The 15th-century Gothic hall church of St.. Michael with a neo-Gothic tower from 1859 r. South of it stands from 1902 r. a great equestrian statue of the famous Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus (reigned in the years 1458-1490). In the baroque Banffy Palace, on the eastern side of the square, there is an excellent National Art Museum (gum. pn. i wt.). Across the street, at the Gheorghe Doja strade 1, on the site of the first pharmacy in Cluj (1573), houses the Pharmaceutical Museum (10.00-16.00).
The Matei Corvin strada leaves the northwest corner of the square; under no. 6 there is a house here, in which in 1440 r. Maciej Korwin was born (the building is not open to the public). A block away is the beautifully decorated Franciscan Church.
On the left on Piata Muzeului, it is worth visiting the Transylvania History Museum (closed. pn.), open from 1859 r. At the strada Memorandumlui 21 it houses the Ethnographic Museum, with national costumes and agricultural tools from Transylvania.
More south, at the Republicia strada 42, there are botanical gardens with greenhouses, museum and Japanese garden. In summer, it takes a few hours to visit the whole place.
Fragments of the old defensive walls and several towers have been preserved in the city. Renovated in 1982 r. Tailors' Tower, of Piata Baba-Money, built in the mid-16th century. local tailors' guild. The historical museum that used to be inside has been closed until further notice.
Historic tenement houses from the 16th and 17th centuries. three streets of the old town were built up – Jokai, Doja and Kogalniceanu.
To view the panorama of Cluj, you can climb the stairs behind the Astoria hotel to the citadel (1715), which name seems more interesting than it really is. Tired of climbing, they can refresh their weakened strength with a beer served on the terrace of the Transilvania hotel.