Hello again!

How are you these days? I know I am swimming (but not drowning) in deadlines and tasks to do. 

Yet, somehow, I managed to make time for a quick getaway with my boyfriend.

We packed our bags on Saturday morning, and around noon we drive off to Oradea. It’s an almost 6 hours drive, depending on traffic, from Brasov. You can fly there if you travel from distant realms, cause it has its airport!

Now, I have to mention that I started my first blogger project and I accepted to be part of a team of travelers that promotes Romania, another article about this topic, is found here, fully written in Romanian.

I am happy to be involved in such a project, but that doesn’t mean I will quit my baby and YOU, my lovely audience!

So, let’s start talking about the reasons why you should visit Oradea, and why you shouldn’t.

I am big on promoting my country, but I was a bit disappointed about some things so, today I am going to talk about them too.

Yet, first things first, let’s be positive!

Why you should visit Oradea:

1. Old town and its architecture
2. Crisul Repede (Quick Cris) 
3. CroissArt
4. Zoo
5. The overall vibe
6. The road trip to Oradea
7. It’s museums

Well, now it’s time to share a bit more about each topic, shall we?

Old town and its architecture.

Just taking a walk around Oldtown, you’ll find plenty of architectural treasures, many being UNESCO monuments. Some of them are colorful and their details are stunning, sametime with more simpler and elegant ones.

Crisul Repede.

Well, I think that, after a long day, this river that crosses the city saved the day. I took a long and relaxing walk with a view, of both sides of the river, and a state of peace and calm took over my body. The view, as I mentioned before is amazing, and offers different perspectives. You can see everything from the two bridges, from the sides, or under the bridges, but no, not from the water.

CroissArt.

I might say I fell in love with a patisserie from Oradea. It’s a small cozy location, worth all of your brunches. They have a huge variety of fresh products, baked at the location. And they are insta worthy too!

Zoo.

Well, I know this topic is a sensible one, but I think seeing Zoo, has to be on the list. It’s a clean one, with good conditions for the animals. The fees are reasonable and they have a variety of animals to show.

The overall vibe.

While sitting at different pubs and restaurants, on terraces I got the chance to observe the vibe of the city, and let me tell you, this city is alive! You’ll see people walking, driving, and just chatting. You’ll see all kinds of people, young, mid-age, kids, and grannies.

The road trip to Oradea

Well, as I said, we took a road trip from Brasov to Oradea and, after the highway you’ll find amazing views in Cluj county. It’s a hill to mountains area and it’s covered in greens at this moment.

It’s museums

Well, the fun thing is that we arrived on Museum Night when there was no entrance fee. Yet, we arrived pretty tired and the lines were huge and we skipped it. Still, we found out that there were several museums worth visiting, mostly historical.

Now, that we covered the bright side, let’s get back on the ground and cover the worst side too.

Why you shouldn’t visit Oradea

1. The cleaning level
2. The people
3. The traffic
4. The prices
5. The menu options
6. Their lifestyle
7. The citadel

The cleaning level

Well, well, Oradea, to me it seemed dirty. Some beautiful buildings were destroyed by time and graff, the parks weren’t mowed, the river smelled pretty bad like the frog and I even saw a snake on the paved walk around it. The city was also under construction so sites made everything worse.

The people

Well, maybe it’s my patriotism speaking but, come on! You have businesses based in Romania so please speak Romanian or if you want to be different speak English, but not Hungarian. I feel like lots of hate might follow this affirmation but that’s it. 

Also, overall people seemed cold and one kid even hit me with his skateboard and swear me in Hungarian.

The traffic

Maybe it was because of the construction sites, maybe it’s like this all the time, but seriously, the traffic seemed like hell on Earth to me.

The prices

I know that it’s a crisis coming, but the prices were kinda the same as up in the mountains. And in the mountains, it’s harder to get different foods because of the roads so I get why the prices are steamy, but there.. well, it’s been said that they have higher incomes so maybe I am just underpaid for that region.

The menu options

So, the food was amazing, everywhere I ate, with many options, but the drinks.. well, let’s just say that somewhere I wanted to drink lemonade, and they only served food and Pepsi family. Also, didn’t have a card payment. Speaks a lot when it comes to a pub with one of the most wanted views…

Their lifestyle

In a world of rushing, people who live there are really chill… For the road, we wanted to take some FAST FOOD, and I am bolding FAST FOOD because we wanted it FAST. And, we also wanted a drive-through. We got none of this, but a walk to a construction site and my order after 30min. And no, it wasn’t a busy day. It was just people living their lives.

The citadel

I thought and I thought if I either liked it or not. And I didn’t like it. Oradea citadel seemed like kitsch to me. The try to renew the old, historical place, with pubs, and different expositions didn’t merge. I don’t know about you but the old brick doesn’t go well with PVC windows.

Yeah, that was my 2 days experience with Oradea. The truth is that the words are no match for feelings so, it’s best to experience it yourself.

Now, I’m leaving you to get ready for another work week dreamers, as I should do too!

Have #adremerlife,

Cristiana