26 April 2025 – Alba Iulia

Miles driven today = 119

Total Miles to date = 4,298

Today’s drive wasn’t quite on a par with yesterday’s from an enjoyability perspective.  We had plenty of rolling scenery to admire but we spent a good deal of time driving alongside, and regularly crossing, a fairly major railway line.  We also had a couple of larger towns to negotiate in Medias and Blaj.  The road was generally OK, although there was one section of the 14B between Copsa Mica and Tapu which had us wondering if we would reach our destination with a full complement of fillings still intact.

Our initial destination was Alba Iulia, which in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries was the Capital of the Principality of Transylvania.  It also has the largest Citadel in Transylvania.  A star shaped fortification, most of which dates from the 17^th Century but was built on a much earlier settlement dating back to pre-Roman times. 

I have no idea how many bricks would have been used in its construction but it must be in the millions.

By the time we had parked the van up just outside the outer wall It was getting on for noon so, being a Saturday, we thought we would beat the rush and get ourselves an early lunch.  Our Lonely Planet book recommended a place called Pub 13 and Google Maps reckoned it was only 7 minutes on foot so we walked through a gate in the outer wall and followed what I assume used to be the old moat between the walls as we marched towards our destination.

Google Maps told us we had arrived.  The only problem was we were actually underneath the restaurant and it took us at least as long again to find our way back out so that we could approach it on the correct level.  We were getting hungry and a tad frustrated by that point.

But the food was excellent.  We shared an unusual starter of pike roe mixed with sour cream.  And then we both went for the slow roasted duck.

We ate at a table on the bridge over the moat but we popped inside to use the facilities before we left and just look at this place!  You could read about its history on your place mats but unfortunately it was all in Romanian.

Once sated we went to have a look around the inside of the Citadel, but before we did so we admired this 22.5 metre high “Uprising Memorial” which was erected in 1937 to commemorate the leaders of the 1784 Peasant Uprising who were imprisoned and executed near here.

We crossed the drawbridge and entered the Citadel through the Baroque style “Third Gate”.  The mounted figure on the top is the Austrian Emperor Charles VI.   

Inside the gate are these drawbridge winches.  I’ve no idea if they are original or in working order but they looked the part.

Some areas of Roman archeology have been uncovered.  Here is an underfloor heating system much like those we have seen in Sofia and elsewhere on this and previous trips.

There are a number of these humorous bronze statues to admire, together with the large Union Bell.  The building in the background is part of the local University.

This splendid looking gentleman is Michael the Brave who united Transylvania with Wallachia and Moldavia in the 16th Century.  The union fell apart after he was executed in 1601 and wasn’t reaffirmed until Transylvania united with the rest of what is now modern Romania in 1918.  The building behind him is the Princely Palace which was once the residence of the Transylvanian rulers.

The Union Hall was the scene of the signing of the Treaty of Union between Transylvania and Romania. 

Nowadays it is a National Museum with busts of famous Romanians lining its frontage.

Much like Liverpool, Alba Iulia has two Cathedrals and they’re right next door to one another.

St Michael’s is Romania’s most renowned Roman Catholic Cathedral.  Apparently it has an impressive organ with 2,209 pipes.

Whereas this is the Orthodox Coronation Cathedral, which was completed in 1922.

By this stage there were some seriously loud claps of thunder rolling around the nearby mountains so we made a swift exit back to the van for fear of getting a soaking.  Sure enough as soon as we had found our way onto the A1 Motorway the heavens opened for a short but quite intense downpour.

We made a late change to our stopover plans for tonight.  The place we had originally intended to stay at doesn’t have any contact details online and with no recent reviews on Park4Night we had no way of verifying whether they are currently open other than by turning up and banging on the door.  So we stayed on the motorway a while longer and have ended up at a great little place called Camping Tranzit near the town of Deva, which, despite being close to a major roundabout is surprisingly quiet.  They even had sufficiently strong Wi-Fi for me to watch the sad confirmation of the Tractor Boys’ relegation from the Premier League by way of a 3-0 drubbing by the Geordies.  It’s been a tough old season.  I look forward to us winning a bit more regularly in the Championship next year.

27 April 2025 - Island Life