As you might remember from the previous post, we left the astonishing Corvin Castle behind and got ready for our last drive in Transylvania. Our last stop in this beautiful region was the picturesque Timișoara, where we would be spending a total of 3 days.
Last drive with the van: on the way to Timișoara
We had 2.5 hours ahead of us. Half of it was national road and the other half was a motorway. It seemed like they were building a motorway to cover the first half. The GPS got confused and we took an even worse road. At some point, we found ourselves lost in the middle of the rural Transylvania. We turned back and went back on the national road. It was kind of narrow and full of curves. There were plenty of restless Romanian trying to overtake us. But, all in all, we made it to the motorway alive.
We were supposed to arrive at 20:00 in Timișoara. We had agreed upon meeting a guy from Alana Rent A Car in front of our hostel to return the van. That was all included in the original price. We called them and told them we would be arriving earlier. No problem whatsoever. At 18:20 we parked our van in a parking lot next to our hostel. Five minutes later the guy showed up, checked the van, shook hands with us and let us leave. I’ll say it one more time: it’s been one of the best renting-vehicle experiences of my life. We booked the van with them through Eurocars.ro. So, if you are considering renting a vehicle to travel around Romania, give them a try 🙂
About Timișoara
The first record of the city of Timișoara dates back to 1212. Over the years, Timișoara, the third largest city in Romania, has been influenced by many cultures. The Romans used it as an important crossroads fortress until the Tatars destroyed it in the 13th century. It was then conquered by Turkish armies in 1552, who took it under protection until 1718. That year, the region of Banat came under Austrian rule for two centuries. Timișoara eventually became a vital commercial and manufacturing town. Turks, Austrians, Germans and Serbs all left their mark in this beautiful city. Their influence can be seen in neighborhoods in the city even today.
This city holds quite a few interesting facts:
– It was the first city in the Habsburg Monarchy with street lighting, and the first city in Europe (and second in the world after New York) illuminated by electric street lamps.
– The city of Timișoara was developed on a swamp and, as a result, its Orthodox Cathedral has 5000 oaks supporting it underneath.
– The inhabitants of Timișoara triggered the revolution against Nicolae Ceaușescu’s Communism in December 1989.
Frequently referred to as the “Little Vienna”, as of today, the city of Timișoara is home to musical and theatrical performances, art galleries, museums and a buzzing nightlife.
Where to stay in Timișoara?
A few weeks before starting the trip, while I was doing some research and planning, I asked Nacho about the name of the hostel in Timișoara. He gave me the name but I couldn’t find it on the Internet. Weird, wasn’t it? He contacted Booking and was told they had recently changed the name of the place… What? I guess with these “peculiar” events in mind, I shouldn’t have been surprised when, after ringing the bell of the “hostel”, an old lady and a dog showed up.
It turned out “The Houstel” wasn’t really a hostel, but an Airbnb. Nacho had booked it through Booking but, yet, it wasn’t the hostel everybody is used to. It was basically an apartment divided in different rooms: the owner and his girlfriend’s, the old woman and the dog’s and a room for 6 people with 6 bunk beds. There was a bathroom (to be shared with the others) and a dining room.
The “hostel” itself was alright. The location was perfect, on Piata Victoriei, right next to the Orthodox Cathedral. We had breakfast included and we were paying around 10 Euros per person. The room was big enough, the beds were comfortable and towels were provided. Yet, it felt kind of “weird” to be there. Although, truth be told, we ran into the “locals” living there just a few times, and they were always nice to us. All in all, if you are a looking for a cheap and comfy place on a good location, you might give it a try.
Day 1 in Timișoara
It took a while before all of us were ready for the first of our 3 days in Timișoara. That’s one of the drawbacks of having just one shower. Nonetheless, we dealt with the situation the best we could and, at around 21:00, we went out to look for a place to eat.
From the moment we left the hostel we started to see glimpses of the beauty of Timișoara. We had the Orthodox Cathedral right next to our place. It looked like this:
From there, we turned back and walked all along Piata Victoriei. The square was beautiful and, as we reached its end, we ran into yet another spectacular building: the Romanian National Opera of Timișoara.
Dinner at Little Hanoi
Nacho had done some research on where to eat in Timișoara. There were local and Italian options but we wanted to try something different. And that’s how we ended up at Little Hanoi. The place’s setup was cool. It was decorated with the typical Vietnamese hats and lamps. The menu had plenty of options and prices were super cheap!
In fact, prices were so cheap that, being that hungry, I ordered a dish of fried rice with vegetables and another one of fried noodles with vegetables lol. The rest of the group tried different stuff like: duck, mango rolls, pad thai, etc. We had a great time. The service was good and so the food. We left the restaurant pretty happy and full 🙂
Where to party in Timișoara on a Tuesday night?
As we had been doing throughout the trip, after dinner, it was time for me to lead the way. As it had also been happening during the trip, out of the different party venues I had written down, we found pretty much all of them closed lol. Not sure what’s going on with the Internet nowadays. I mean, why would you put an opening and closing time on a venue if then you don’t go through with it?
Nonetheless, compared to Brașov and Sibiu, it seemed like a Tuesday night in Timișoara could be a promising one. We found quite a few people on the street. There were people drinking at terraces and some others inside the bars/pubs. As we were walking, we saw a venue with narguiles. We went inside.
The place was kind of shabby, which translated into cheap prices. It was full of students. Some of them were even doing their homework there lol. The guy working there was pretty peculiar. It seemed like, every time we ordered something, we made him feel bad. He was kind of lazy. He was the perfect example of people who “love” their jobs nowadays. All in all, we ordered some drinks, watched the football game they were broadcasting (Chelsea vs Ajax) and smoked a couple of shishas. They were cheap, but not very tasty.
According to my party plan, the places to go on a Tuesday night in Timișoara were the following:
- 80’s Pub: 80’s music. Open till 01:30. Strada Aries 19.
- Taine: rock music. Open till 03:00. Strada George Cosbuc.
- D’Arc: club. Open till 02:00. Piata Unirii 5.
- Craft Rooftop: beers and views. Open till 02:00. Piata Iancu Huniade 2.
Unfortunately, like throughout the trip, we found most of the places either closed (although the schedule at the website said different) or empty. We checked D’Arc on Facebook though and we found a party was taking place. They were doing 50% discount on some drinks and we decided to go check it out.
D’Arc
The music was nice. It was kind of electronic. The venue was huge. There were people smoking and drinking in a courtyard while some others were dancing inside. I went to the bar and ordered a couple of vodka-red bull. They charged me… more than I had expected lol. I didn’t ask and just assumed that that drink was also included in the 50% discount, but it wasn’t. And… that’s how we ended up ordering gin and tonics for 7 LEI (1.5 Euro). What do you say now?
There was a big group of locals inside and so I asked them where to go next. They said our only option was “Like Pub”. I checked it out in Google and apparently it was closing at 02:00. It was 01:30 and it would take us 30 minutes by walk. So, we decided to pass. And what happened next? The big group left, the place got empty and, we would learn next day that Like Pub wasn’t closing at 02:00, but later than 03:00. Thank you Google!
We didn’t have many options left. Throughout the trip we had checked different places to see if they had a real roulette. You see? That’s kind of a constant in our trips. We gather some money and bet half of it to the black colour. If we win, we bet again. And, if we win again, we leave. If we don’t win… We leave as well lol. We hadn’t found a real roulette in any of the cities we had been so far during the trip, but that was about to change.
El Dorado
Nacho did some research and that’s how we ended up at “El Dorado”. It wasn’t a huge casino but it was big enough. They didn’t have poker tables but they did have a real roulette. So, we decided to try our luck. Not sure why but we didn’t play the way we always do and that led to two different outcomes. The first one: we didn’t win. The second one: we spent a couple of hours there drinking “for free”. It reminded me to the good old times back in Las Vegas 🙂
One of the waitresses was from there but she had an American accent. It turned out she had been in California. More precisely, she had been in Southern California, next to Irvine. What a coincidence! I spent one year studying there! We spent sometime speaking with her. She was curious to see us there lol. She was the one who told us that, as long as we were playing, we could drink for free. And that’s what we did 😉
In a nutshell, it was a good night. Even if we didn’t go to Like Pub, we still had some fun. After a couple of hours trying our luck and emptying their fridge, we decided it was time to go back to “The Houstel”. On the way there, as we had reached the Romanian National Opera, we ran into a homeless guy. He asked us for money to buy tobacco. I said I would give him some to buy food, but not to buy tobacco. He walked with us for a while. We talked about different things: Communism, Revolution, the current situation of Timișoara, etc.
We made it to a 24 hour supermarket and bought some drinks and food. Our friend wasn’t very interested in any of them. But his eyes glittered when Nacho bought a packet of tobacco for him. We went back outside and, Nacho asked our friend if he gave him a cigarette, he said “no” lol. He then told us if we wanted him to give us a free tour about the city of Timișoara. I checked my watch. It was five in the morning… We thanked him for his time and went to sleep. What a night that was!
Day 2 in Timișoara
We woke up at different hours and with different spirits. That was the result of having made it to the hostel at different times. Yes, once again, the group got separated at night. The good thing about the Houstel was that each one of us had a key. Therefore, once we knew how to get to the hostel, we could come in easily. After having breakfast and getting ready, we walked outside. The second of our 3 days in Timișoara was cloudy and rainy. Nonetheless, we were looking forward to discovering the so-called Little Vienna 🙂
Wednesday morning sightseeing in Timișoara
As I mentioned before, the hostel had a pretty good location. We were right next to the Orthodox Cathedral, on Piata Victoriei. Thus, from the cathedral, we kind of needed to just walk straight and we would be seeing the different highlights of the city on the way. Our itinerary looked like this:
The Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral
We started our sightseeing morning by admiring and taking some pictures of the Orthodox Cathedral, aka the Metropolitan Cathedral. The construction started in 1936 and it was finished in 1946. This, as you might have guessed, happened during the Second World War.
Was the cathedral attacked? Yes. But, out of the 6 bombs that fell on it, only one exploded. Was it a miracle? Were the German soldiers too drunk to aim at it? Who knows. All I know is that, thanks to that, as of today, we can admire this Neo-Moldavian masterpiece and enjoy its original beauty from both outside and inside.
Piata Victoriei
Piata Victoriei’s construction started after the demolition of the fortress walls. Between 1910 and 1914, beautiful Secession palaces emerged, giving Timişoara’s center its distinct charm. Different buildings were built around Piata Victoriei, turning it into a closed urban space. In the middle of the square there is the “Lupa Capitolina” monument (the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus), a gift from the municipality of Rome in 1926. The reconstruction of the Romanian National Opera in 1923 closed the area to the north. And, the building of the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral between 1936 and 1946 closed it to the south.
As you can imagine, Piata Victoriei is a landmark in Timișoara both for its history and architecture. Another interesting fact to mention is that in Piata Victoriei, on December 1989, Timişoara was proclaimed the first free city in Romania. As you might already know (you should after reading this post!), this triggered the beginning of the victory in the revolution against the Communist dictatorship.
The Romanian National Opera
The construction of the Romanian National Opera began in 1871 and finished in 1875. The building was devastated by fire first in 1875 and then again in 1920. Its reconstruction started in 1923 and, after some years, they presented this building to the world:
Different architects worked on the building throughout its history but, it was Duiliu Marcu the one who finished it. As early as on 27 April 1875, the first performance took place at the Romanian National Opera. It was nothing more and nothing less than “Aida”, by Verdi. Ever since, the Romanian National Opera of Timișoara has hosted hundreds of performances, making it one of the most important public opera and ballet institutions in Romania.
Piata Libertatii
After a nice walk enjoying Piata Victoriei and its buildings, we made it to Piata Libertatii. The oldest of the Timişoara’s squares is the site where people first settled, leading to the expansion of the city as we know it today. The square hosts some of the oldest buildings existing in the today’s city: the Garrison Command (the former Generalate, a building existing in 1727), the former Chancellery of War (also existing in 1727, now forms the east wing of Old Town Hall), the Old Town Hall (1731 – 1734) and the Military Casino (whose construction started in 1744).
As of today, Piata Libertatii serves as a link between Piata Victoriei and Piata Unirii. As a result, the main public transport lines serving the inhabitants of Timişoara are crossing in the square. Among some of its highlights, we find a statue that is topped by the image of the Virgin with a crown of stars around her head. It was built with sandstone in 1756 by the Viennese sculptor Wasserburger Blim to honor those who died during the 1738 plague epidemic. There are also some modern statues as well as a man-made tree which uses solar energy to provide USB charging points.
Piata Unirii
After Piata Victoriei and Piata Libertatii, it was turn for the breathtaking Piata Unirii. Like with Piata Victoriei, it wasn’t until 1740, when the defense walls were demolished, that this square started to take shape. For three centuries, the square became the place of religious events, military parades and other political and prestigious cultural events. The square’s fronts were occupied by some of the city’s most important institutions.
Today, this picturesque square is the largest reserve of Baroque architecture in the city. The most important buildings are the two cathedrals, the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox, now Serbian, as well as the Baroque Palace and the Trinity Monument, all belonging to the Baroque style. Later on, other buildings were raised belonging to other styles. In its current state, the square was set up between the years 1988 and 1989 (architect Serban Sturdza).
Walking around such beautiful and colorful buildings was a delightful experience. We spent a while there, taking some pictures and enjoying the views. I wouldn’t lie if I said this square is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen (so far) in my life. The square is full of restaurants and bars, in case you want to admire its beauty while having some food and/or drinks.
After a while walking and awing, we ran into a pub with a very funny name: “The Drunken Rat”. I couldn’t let that one go and so we decided to sit down, order a beer and enjoy the views, the time and the company. The inside of the place seemed cool and you could order food, but we decided to sit outside and gave a try to their craft beer.
Lunch at Restaurant Dinar
According to the planning, we had one final stop: Piata Bratianu. This one was completely different from the previous ones. It wasn’t surrounded by beautiful buildings, but it was acting kind of as the traffic axis of the city. We saw the cardinal point fountain, which was kind of cool. But, other than that, there wasn’t much to see. We were kind of hungry at that time and Nacho told us to follow him. He was going to take us to a pretty nice restaurant, or that’s what he said.
The more we walked the further we got from Timişoara’s Old Town. We saw a park and the course of Bega River. After 10 minutes or so we realised we had made it to the suburbs of Timişoara. The skepticism against Nacho started to grow in the core of the group. We could see the difference in architecture and money as we were getting into this unknown area of the city. Five minutes later, when some voices started to complain and said it was better if we turned back, we arrived at Restaurant Dinar.
From the moment we stepped in we realised we had made it to a “different” place. There wasn’t much brightness and so it took a little while for our eyes to get used to it. But, once they did, we couldn’t help but awing to the setup. The decoration was sensational. It looked from a fairy tale. A kind man showed up and guided us to a table. We didn’t have a booking but the restaurant wasn’t full.
Our waiter didn’t speak much English but he was kind and funny. The restaurant was specialised in Central Europe (Romania and Hungary) and Serbian food. The menu was in several languages we couldn’t understand. It was also in English, but in a pretty complicated one. Thus, to help us make our minds, we ordered a couple of local wine pitchers.
A little while after the wine started to take effect, we were finally able to order. For the first time in our lives we tried “spicy cheese”. It was also the first time for others trying “stuffed mushrooms”. We accompanied it all with paprika bread, a big grilled meat platter and home-made potatoes.
The food was delicious. We all fell in love with the spicy cheese and promised to prepare it once we were back in Spain. In the end, Nacho was right and we couldn’t help but acknowledging and thanking him for having brought us there. Prices were kind of high, but it wasn’t like we would be going there everyday. To put an end to such a superb lunch, we ordered the strongest Palinka and we made a toast: to the new trips to come!
Wednesday night in Timişoara
We left Restaurant Dinar super full. Thus, when we found out that Like Pub (the one far away from Old Town) was around, we decided to walk there. It wouldn’t hurt to take a look at it while having a drink to help with the digestion. It would also be a good way to decide whether or not to go there later at night. Well, we were walking with these positive thoughts in mind until we made it to the entrance. And… we were told they were hosting some sort of a private school event and we couldn’t go in. But it wasn’t just that we couldn’t go in at that time, the same applied for later at night. What?!
Yes, so, it seemed our fate didn’t want us to go inside that pub. Why? We would never find out. With the disappointment of not checking the Like Pub out, we decided to take a couple of Uber and make it to the Houstel. We took a nap and, at 19:30, Nacho and I were taking yet another Uber. We were going to the “Gentlemen’s Poker Club” to play a poker tournament which started at 20:00.
A poker blackout
This time it was a lady who was driving the Uber. I wanted to let you know because I haven’t seen many women in Spain driving Uber. The same goes for police(women): we saw quite a few during our time in Timişoara. Why am I bringing this up? Just to draw your attention on situations we think (because of prejudices and stereotypes) are less common in other countries because they are “less” developed than us. And, when we go to those countries, we realised they might be more developed than us in some aspects…
Anyway, we made it to the poker’s venue and, when I opened the door, I saw nothing but darkness and a few tiny lights. What was going on? Was it a gentlemen’s poker club or just a gentlemen’s club? It was a poker club, but, with no electricity lol. The tiny lights were coming from the phones of the people working there. They greeted us and told us that, one hour ago a power outage happened on the street and it hadn’t been fixed yet. Thus, the tournament was suspended. What?!
Back to the roulette: our place in Timişoara
Yes, once again reality didn’t match our ideas. So, what did we do? We went to the only place where we knew they would let us in and it wouldn’t matter too much whether it was full or not. Indeed, we went back to “El Dorado”.
This time we decided to follow a different strategy. We would be just betting at black colour and at number 10. We decided to bet a small percentage of the total money to the black colour and a smaller one to number 10. Like that (we thought) we could spend a while there, drinking “for free” and, who knew, maybe becoming rich.
We started losing but after a few hours we made it back to the starting amount and we even started to make some money. Number 10 (D10S) showed up a couple of times!
The roulette was empty except for a girl and a guy in front of us. They seemed (and sounded) to be from South America. I asked them and we starting talking. The girl was from Colombia and the guy from Chile. They had met a few weeks ago. The guy (Rubén) had been travelling for a couple of years already. How crazy is that? He was doing volunteering and other stuff to get going. The girl (Grace) had been travelling just for a couple of months.
I asked them why they were there, playing roulette. And… it turned out they had also made it to the poker club to play the tournament but, after finding out the tournament wasn’t taking place, they went to El Dorado. It’s a small world after all! We told them we were there because of the same and they couldn’t believe it either lol. We spent around 4 hours there, made new friends, drunk a bit and, in the end… we were too greedy and we lost it all lol.
The rest of the team (you might be wondering) stayed at the hostel drinking there. We left the roulette venue and told them to join us. It was around 23:00 and we made it to a nearby club. It was kind of empty. There was a small group of girls sitting at a table. The four of us sat at another one and ordered some drinks. The music was alright and we started dancing. I did my typical steps but was overwhelmed by Nacho who, with some (unknown till that moment) crazy steps made the girls got up from their seats.
When we were about to leave, Manolo and Pau arrived. We ordered some more drinks and went back to dance. After a while though (and after checking the time) we decided to leave. Next day we will be changing countries early in the morning… I’ll tell you more about that later on 😉
Day 3 in Timişoara
So far, on this post, I’ve been describing what we did on Tuesday and Wednesday (the 5th and the 6th of November, 2019). The name of the post is “3 days in Timișoara”. We spent indeed another day in this beautiful city, but, from Wednesday to our third day in Timişoara, there was a time gap of 2 days. Why? Because we decided to spend 2 days in Belgrade 🙂
Remember when I told you above that we left the club after checking the time because it was kind of late and we needed to wake up early in the morning to change countries? That’s what we did on Thursday morning. We hired a private vehicle which took us from Timişoara to Belgrade. We spent two days there and returned to Timişoara the evening of Saturday the 9th of November, 2019.
Last night in Timişoara
We were destroyed after the amazing time in Belgrade. Once again, we spent the night at The Houstel. We didn’t see the old lady or the dog. Not sure if it was because of that but I knew deep down that neither Timişoara nor I were the same. The 2 days in Belgrade had taken its share.
After taking a shower the group got divided. Some of them fell to the temptation of Capitalism and made it to KFC. Pau, Nacho and I went back to our beloved Little Hanoi. The food was as delicious as always but the ambience on the street was different. All the bars, restaurants, pubs and clubs were full! Too bad that we were so tired but I didn’t regret it. All in all, I was glad to know that Timişoara on a Saturday night shouldn’t be taken for granted.
It was around 23:00 when we made it to Piata Libertatii, as we were on our way back to the Houstel. It was then and there that the magic happened. I started to hear the unmistakable sound of a piano. I looked around and saw a guy with a black hat on playing a grand piano. He looked like a magician and it could be that he was indeed one: his music was unreal.
We spent almost 15 minutes there, unable to move. We were possessed by his music. He played different amazing songs. I didn’t know all of them. But I knew one pretty well and, when I listened to the first chords… I couldn’t believe it. He was playing one of my favourite songs! He was playing Hallelujah!
We tipped him several times. He was so good! I approached him and asked him if he could play something by the great Ludovico Einaudi. He answered me in Italian and told me he knew him but he didn’t know any of his songs by heart. He was from Romania but he spoke a little bit of Italian. I (nonetheless) thanked him for his incredible music and, as I was leaving, he told me he would play one of his own. It sounded like this:
We walked back to the hostel after such an amazing time. It was then that I realised I hadn’t asked him his name! And that’s why I am calling him the “Piano Man”, which is also one of my favourite songs 🙂
So long Romania!
It was our last night in Timişoara but also our last night in Romania. Next day we were taking a flight to Bucharest and, from there, back to Spain. We had spent a total of 7 days in Romania and things couldn’t have gone better. The weekend in Bucharest was fantastic, with lessons about the Communism and with a great night ambience.
After that, we rented a van and decided to spend three days discovering Transylvania. Peleș Castle and Brașov were amazing and the same can be said about Bran Castle and Sibiu. We liked Peleș Castle better but it was also interesting to learn about Bran Castle, Dracula and Bram Stoker. Corvin Castle was one of the most amazing castles I’ve ever seen. And what can I say about our 3 days in Timişoara? I can tell you that they call it the Little Vienna for a reason: it’s incredibly beautiful 🙂
So, how did you like Timişoara? Have you ever visited the Little Vienna? How did you feel about walking around Piata Unirii? Did you go out on a Saturday night? And, more importantly, has anyone made it to the Like Pub? Let me know in the comments below!
