Timisoara, Romania

Last weekend we took the train to a city in Romania that is close to the Hungarian border. In fact, in years past the region was part of Hungary. Historically this area was called Transylvania and is today part of Romania. The train trip took 5 hours. It was very hot. I’m still puzzled as to why we didn’t get 1st class tickets (air-conditioned), but we didn’t. Corwin looks quite comfortable here, but this was after the seats around us were vacated. We started out with a full train, and little by little, it emptied out. We both had plenty to read and our CD for learning Hungarian to listen to, so the trip passed quite quickly.



When we arrived in Timisoara it was about 9:30pm and dark. As we were leaving the train station Corwin mentioned that he had not map-quested the walk to the hotel. He really didn't know the way, nor how far away it was! He had been in Timisoara in 2005 and we had a reservation at the same hotel that he had stayed in then. He remembered it as not being very far from the train station.

We didn’t see an ATM in the train station which left a lot to be desired. So we had no Romanian lei (money) either. Well, it was a long walk--about a mile and a half--but what made it seem even longer was that it was dark and Corwin was uncertain of the way! He kept saying things like “I think this looks right”. We walked for about forty minutes just following the signs for "Centru" and it was after about twenty minutes that Corwin became sure of the way. At least it was warm and not raining. The Hotel Continental is very nice and we were very glad to see it!



In the morning after a great breakfast at the hotel we began to explore the town. We had our questions answered in the Tourist Information Office near the very beautiful central plaza, called Victory Square. The Opera House is at one end and the Metropolitan Cathedral (Romanian Orthodox) at the other. It is at least four blocks long and is lined with stores and restaurants and filled with fountains, beautiful sculptured gardens, and benches to enjoy the area.



The Romanian Orthodox Cathedral at the southern end is a huge imposing structure. It was built in 1936-1946 in a style that combined Byzantine and Romanian Moldovian architecture.



Some of you may know that the protests against Ceausescu in Romania began in Timisoara. This is the site of the revolution that took place from December 16th to 22nd in 1989. Beginning on December 16th the people gathered in this square to protest the mandatory moving of a Hungarian Reformed minister. As more and more people gathered, they began to chant “Down with Ceausescu”. We took this picture of a poster showing all the people in the square at that time. The communist authorities opened fire on the people in the plaza, killing and wounding many of the citizens.



Every day that week large numbers of people gathered in this square. During the last days they faced the cathedral and prayed for freedom. The picture is a poster that we saw at the memorial. It shows the people facing the cathedral during that time.

Timisoara was declared free on December 20th, Ceausescu left the country on the 22nd, was executed very soon after that and the rest of Romania was declared free from Communism. By the time the fighting ended in Timisoara (on December 20th) and Bucharest (on December 22nd), there were 1,104 people killed and 3,352 people wounded.





We also visited the Memorial of the Revolution. It didn't look very impressive from the street, but after you go through the doorway, you enter a courtyard in the center of the building. There was a chapel on the first floor and exhibits and a film on the second floor. This was a very impressive memorial to all those who died in the revolution. The curator took us through the museum. He had been shot in the leg during the revolution.







We went next to Unity Square. It’s unusual for European towns to have two major squares, but Timisoara does. They are a few blocks apart. Unity Square is less commercial, smaller and surrounded by more national landmarks--the Roman Catholic Domed cathedral (yellow in color) is the top picture, the Serbian Orthodox Church (middle picture), which is built with its backside on the square, and the gigantic Baroque Palace which is now the art museum.





After lunch back again in Victory Square, we wanted to visit the Orthodox Cathedral. It was Saturday and the cathedral was holding weddings about every thirty minutes—I have no idea how many there were, but we saw at least three bridal parties come and go in the time we were there. Two people in the wedding party, who usually looked as if they were the maid of honor and best man, each carried a large candle that was about four feet tall. The only good picture we could get with the wedding party and the candles is this one where the priest is holding a candle, but that was not the typical arrangement. All afternoon there were decorated cars, with horns honking, driving through the town.





Victory Square had the most beautiful sculptured gardens. Most of the color came from using different foliage of begonias, dusty miller, ageratum and some other lighter green plant which may have been a type of herb (it didn’t have a flower). It appeared that these were pruned to maintain the patterns. Don't get any ideas about seeing something similar next summer at our house!





The square had a lovely fountain and lots of pigeons!



There was also a statue given to the town by Italian officials in 1926. It’s a copy of the 5th century Roman statue of Romulus and Remus and the she-wolf.



When we were touring the National History Museum, there were two students there who spoke English and were sort of guiding us. Finally, one of them asked Corwin if he had been in Timisoara before. When Corwin said that he had taught a short course there in 2005, the student said, “I know. I was in that class.” Talk about a small world. These two students are nearly finished with their studies in political science, and we enjoyed a great conversation with them.

The train trip back was also interesting. We sat near a man who spoke Romanian, Hungarian, English, and German. He talked with us off and on during the five-hour trip about conditions in Romania today. He was on his way to Germany where his mother lived and where he planned to buy a used car. Apparently used cars are much cheaper and more readily available in Germany. One of his friends makes a trip or two a year to buy several cars. He trucks them back and then sells them in Romania. We had noticed many fields of cars along the border. This man explained that if you bring more than one car across the border, cars are kept there until the authorities can determine that they are legally owned and appropriate to bring into the country.

It was a good weekend and it seemed good to get back to Budapest where we are beginning to feel more familiar.