ORADEA CITY
Oradea city (107 thousand. residents), located just a few kilometers from the border with Hungary and 153 km west of Cluj, is the administrative capital of the Bihor County. It is also the center of the Crisana region, fertile plain at the foot of the Carpathians, intersected by the Keresz Biały rivers, Keresz Black and Fast Keresz (Crisul Alb, Crisul Negru and Crisul Repede), which already outside Romania, in Hungary, merge into one Keresz.
Of all the cities of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, Oradea (Nagyvarad in Hungarian, in German Grosswardein) probably best preserved nineteenth-century elegance. After joining Romania in 1920 r. this Habsburg pearl fell to the rank of a provincial town and – it remains so to this day. Literally on the outskirts of Oradea lies the Baile Felix spa with hot sulfur springs, where you can have a great time relaxing. It is a great place to stop your journey and spend the rest of Romanian currency before crossing the border.
Orientation
The train station is a few kilometers north of the city; you can go to the city center by tram #1 from Piata Bucuresti to the south (left) of Union Square. Behind the bridge, on the other side of the Szybka Keresz, leży Piata Republicii (also called Piata Ferdinand I.), with a tourist office, hotels and the State Theater (State Theater). The Republicia strade to the north-east begins next to the theater, the main pedestrian street of the city.
A 24-hour luggage storage room at the train station is located next to the restaurant on the main platform.
Information
Tourist offices – Crisul Travel Agency (tel.137737; pn.-pt. 7.00-17.00, sb. 9.00-13.00), obok hotel Crisul przy Piata Republicii 4, organizes trips to Pester Ursilor (bear cave) in price 15 $ from person. The office does not book private accommodation.
Automobile Clubul Roman (tel.130725) has a representative office in one of the skyscrapers at the eastern end of Piata 1 December.
Money – Romanian Commercial Bank (Traian Park 8; pn.-pt. 8.00-13.00) exchanges traveller's checks with 2% commission.
Post and telecommunications – International telephones are located at the post office at strada Roman Ciorogariu, open daily. 7.30-19.00. Code for Oradea: 059.
Sightseeing
The most important monuments of Oradea are located in two squares in the center, Union Square and Republic Square. Orthodox Church (1792), on the first of the squares, it is also called the "Moon Church”, and this is because of the three-meter globe on the tower, showing the phases of the Moon. Other churches and secular buildings at the square present an interesting mixture of the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Art Nouveau.
At Piata Republicii, on the other side of the Szybka Keresz, stands the magnificent State Theatre (State Theater; 1900), designed in the neoclassical style by the famous Viennese architects Fellner and Hellmer. Near, in the middle of Trajan Park (Traian Park), a small museum dedicated to the Hungarian poet Endre Ady is open (gum. pn.).
Other notable buildings rise at the Stadionului strada, a block southwest of the train station. The local Catholic cathedral (1780) is the largest cathedral church in Romania. Sunday mass by Fr. 11.00 plays the role of an important social event.
Neighboring bishop's palace (1770), with one hundred rooms and 365 through the windows, They were modeled on the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. Currently, it houses the Regional Museum (gum. pn.), one of the best in the country, with a historical exhibition (parter), medieval art (1st floor) and Romanian folk art (2nd floor).
Nearby, it is also worth seeing the Corridor of the Cannons, that is, a sequence of 18th-century arcades at the Stadionului strada.
The citadel south of the river, completely converted into state administration offices, you can easily give it to yourself or take a look at it on the way to the fruit and vegetable market.