As you might remember from the previous post, we had just left Sibiu after a beautiful sightseeing morning. It was the morning of Tuesday the 5th, November 2019, and it was going to be our last day driving through Transylvania. To put it in another way, that day would be the last with our faithful van. So, for our third and last day we decided to go visit Corvin Castle and Timișoara, where we would be spending a total of 3 days.
On the way to Corvin Castle
We had driven our van during three different journeys: from Bucharest to Peleș Castle and Brașov, from Brașov to Bran Castle and Sibiu and from Sibiu to Corvin Castle and Timișoara. The first journey was half motorway and half national road. The second journey was just national road. And the third and last journey would be a mix: motorway from Sibiu to Corvin Castle and national road and motorway from Corvin Castle to Timișoara.
Thus, ahead of us we had 1.5 hours of motorway. The weather was just perfect, with the sun shinning above us. The views were beautiful, with mountains, forests and lakes. I was enjoying the trip and the company when, suddenly, one of my favourite songs started playing. It was “The Nights” by Avicii. I love the song because of the messages it transmits. I think living a life to remember should be everybody’s goal because, after all, one day we will all leave this place. So, we rather have some nice memories before the moment comes.
Not sure if it was because of the emotion of the moment, realising where I was and who I was with but, when I turned my head… there was a horse in our van!
Corvin Castle
We arrived at Corvin Castle after a pretty epic drive. Like with pretty much the rest of the castles we had visited, we paid for a parking spot. It wasn’t expensive though, specially taking into account we were six. Around the area we found the typical food and drinks stalls. The walk from the parking lot to the entrance of Corvin Castle just took us around 5 minutes.
About Corvin Castle
Corvin Castle, aka Hunyadi Castle, is a Gothic-Renaissance castle in Hunedoara, Romania. It is one of the largest castles in Europe and appears in the list of the Seven Wonders of Romania. The construction of this masterpiece began in the 14th century by the “Voivode” of Transylvania John Hunyadi. The Voivode was the highest-ranking official in Transylvania within the Kingdom of Hungary from the 12th to the 16th century.
In 1456 John Hunyadi died and work on the castle stagnated. Two years later commissions were given to construct the Matia Wing of the castle. In 1480 work was completely stopped and Corvin Castle was recognised as one of the biggest and most impressive buildings in Eastern Europe. Construction went on and off for centuries. On April 13, 1854, a fire caused by lightning destroyed most of the wooden parts of the castle.
As of today, the castle is a large and imposing structure with tall towers, bastions, an inner courtyard, an impressive drawbridge, high buttresses, a huge moat, a chapel and several rooms with beautiful medieval art. It also houses a 30-meter deep well, which, according to the legend, was dug by 3 Turkish prisoners who were promised their freedom once they finished the task… But they didn’t obtain it. What a coincidence! Another legend said 2 Turkish prisoners were in charge of the construction of the well at Rasnov Citadel…
Visiting Corvin Castle
According to its website, Corvin Castle is open daily from 09:00 to 17:00 (on Mondays the opening time starts at 12:00). The entrance fee for an adult is 30 LEI (around 6.5 €). From the moment we started walking the main path up to the entrance of the castle we were astonished. It was a truly masterpiece. It was huge and super well preserved. We could see the buttresses, the moat and the impressive drawbridge. There were also tall towers with red-looking roofs. The sun was right above us so we couldn’t take the best pictures. Nonetheless:
Amazing, isn’t? We entered the castle and it was then when we really appreciated how big it was. There were so many rooms and corridors! We went downstairs and saw some torture tools. Nothing new at that point, we had seen a few back at Bran Castle. We went back to the main courtyard and, after turning right, we made it to the Knight’s Hall. It was then that the magic happened:
I really felt like I had travelled back in time to the Medieval Era. The music, the views, the ambience… It was amazing! If there was something kind of missing was a restaurant with a Medieval theme. That would have been awesome! So, if any of the people in charge of Corvin Castle is reading this, they know what to do 🙂
We kept strolling around and we saw the well from the legend. It had some writings telling the (unfortunate) story of the 3 Turkish prisoners. We were not following a plan, because we didn’t have any. Thus, after walking for a while, we arrived to the Corvin Castle Chapel. It was pretty cool and it looked like this:
From there, we found some stairs and we made it to a huge corridor that was taking us to Turnul Neboisa. The corridor was full of beautiful paintings depicting Corvin Castle at different times and seasons. Once at the top of Turnul Neboisa (I think it is the tallest tower of the castle), we enjoyed some impressive views:
The views were incredible so, make sure not to miss Turnul Neboisa. We kept walking around until we went back to the main courtyard.
From there, we arrived in another room in which some music was being played. This time though there was no physical musician, but just some speakers. Nonetheless, once again, the ambience was pretty cool. It was then that we ran into a plan of Corvin Castle lol. Thus, if you are coming to visit it, make sure to check it out so you know your way 🙂
After an hour or so enjoying such a majestic place, we decided to go back to our van and keep going with the trip. On the way there we saw a beautiful graffiti which seemed to be biding us farewell with the last glimpses of Corvin Castle…
So, how did you like Corvin Castle? Have you ever been there? It is a truly masterpiece, isn’t? Let me know your impressions in the comments below!
