László Varga

Last weekend a training and a team-building weekend has been organized for our team from the company. The location was chosen to be something remote from our daily activities: the top of the nearby mountains, in a region dominated by village life, peace and relaxation. I must say, the chosen village, Marisel really did fit the profile. It has a disastrous road leading up to the place, but it is quiet, being situated on the mountain-top it provides an amazing view over the nearby valleys and it also offers a glimpse of the local Romanian village-life.

For accommodation, the Cabana Motilor Inn was chosen. The owner is really friendly and seems to know how to make “village-tourism” work at it’s best. The inn itself is in my opinion top-notch: it offers a really good insight of the village life through it’s decoration, food and overall atmosphere. It also offers modern accommodation possibilities from the nowadays basic fully equipped rooms to a home-cinema system in a lounge. If someone plans a visit in the area: don’t bother staying anywhere else (And I am not getting payed for writing this 😛 ). There is ample parking space and when we were there the garage could also be used by some colleagues arriving by motorbikes.

Some of the added values of such a team-event was the included special activities at the inn: polenta has been cooked in the outside, there was a campfire in the evening (although it was actually washed away by a torrential rain) and they offered all sorts of goodies like pine-syrup and some home-made cookies that we just couldn’t get enough of 🙂

Another great point of the “included-values” (well I think that has been payed for separately) was a “carriage-ride” in which two local people brought their horse-drawn carriages (well let’s say carts) and we went for a two hour ride in the village, visiting a sort of village museum and one of the clifftops overlooking a nearby valley (again, splendid view).

I never thought such a weekend can be so relaxing. Apart from the fact that in the end I did not get much sleep (it was a team-building event after all… ) it really helped to clear my mind and just get away from the daily problems that haunt all of our lives actually.

Some photos can be seen here… just as teasers 😉

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Apart from the obvious sign telling the visitor the name of the location, an old fortress is looking over the city of Deva from the top of the hill. The big grey building is actually the Fortress of Deva and has been an important position in the history of not only Transylvania but also of Medieval Hungary. Unfortunately since then the fortress (or sometimes even castle, depending on the time period) got greatly deteriorated and so not much is really visible of it.

In the last years, however, some important development has commenced on the fortress and the local authorities started an ample renovation program to restore the fortress to a more “visitable” state. For this reason, we gave a shot to go and visit the old ruin.

Actually getting to the hilltop to the castle is not easy-peasy (or at least we thought so). First of all, when entering the city from the direction of Hunedoara, it is not marked anywhere where to start the ascent from. If you ask the local people, first they will tell you to go round on the path to get to the top: that route however is not for everyone. Instead there is a nice new “vehicle” that can get you on top, you just have to know where it’s base-point is. The local’s told us, that if we go to the stadium, we can get up using a funicular… Wow, that is cool: but where’s the stadium? Well, look for a football-field (for the mentally challenged: soccer-field) and do not, by any means, look for a stadium. Then, maybe, you’ll get to the base point 🙂 . Getting up is actually quite fun: the funicular is modern and new (a bit shaky at some key-points), a two-way trip costs 10 RON (€2.40) (half price for students) and it gets you up to the top in a few seconds. Actually it seems to be quite unique, I have never seen such a funicular: it is kind-of a mix between a funicular and a cable-car…

Once up on the top, do not, by any chance, try the heroic approach, to first go around the fortress: the road towards the right leading a “just a bit” downwards will actually lead down to the bottom of the hill, so unless you are curious of the old gatehouses (which are in a really bad shape), that direction can be skipped. Instead follow the stairs into the heart of the fortress to get a glimpse of the interior. Although it is limited since construction has begun, much of the interior court is visible and if you have a good zoom on the camera, some details can also be admired. Hopefully when renovation works will finish, a better access will be allowed for tourists, to actually admire the cells and maybe even some of the intact rooms (sort of) of the fortress.

Apart from the actual fortress, a magnificent view opens up from the hilltop not only towards the city center but also towards the surrounding areas of the city of Deva. Now for this, the great zoom of the camera is really useful 😉 .

“All in all” it was a great half an hour visit and hopefully it will get better after renovations finish. Oh…. one more thing: there is a very important sign on the walls of the fortress: “Be careful Vipers”. They mean it: the hilltop is also a natural reserve for the horned viper. We did not encounter any, but I’m guessing they did not put up the sign just to scare off tourists…

Photos here

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There are a lot of castles in Romania. The sad part is, that most of them are in ruins and there is not much to see really on them. I have, however, been planning a visit to one castle in the country which is not in ruins… in fact it is in a quite good shape: the Corvinus Castle in Hunedoara. The castle belonged to the Corvinus family, which is very important in the history of both Romanian/Hungarian (Hunyadi János) and especially in Hungarian history (King Mátyás I). Apart from this great heritage the castle itself has a very imposing structure with excellent medieval aspect still admirable today.

The really big challenge of the whole trip was getting there: although 190kms should not be a problem by car nowadays (from Cluj to Hunedoara), here in our beloved country it can be a challenge. I was really thinking about organizing maybe a two day trip and sleep somewhere in the area for the night and maybe add another POI in the region to make the trip worthwhile. In the end I went for the single day trip and also added another POI (which I will describe in a separate post). I calculated 3 hours for the road (one way), but it is actually easily doable in about 2:45 hours following the E81 then E68 roads from Cluj. Basically we started off at 10:30AM and arrived to Hunedoara at 13:15PM.

To actually find the castle in Hunedoara is really easy: just follow the BIG signs (at last I saw an attraction in Romania which had big signs directing visitors to it). The castle can actually be observed from a distance, so there is no need to follow signs after a while… Just get there once you see it (mind the holes on the street-roads) and park the car anywhere on the street (which is free :D). Although parking on the street should be safe, we did not leave anything within the car at sight (take your phones with you, and your luggage in the trunk).

The entry fee into the castle is 10 RON (€2.40) for adults (5 RON for children) and there is also a photo fee of 5 RON if you wish to take photos (believe me, you wish 😉 ). There are also restrooms within the castle walls (I think this is useful info 😛 ) .

To get a classic full trip of the castle: just start with the sign which says “ENTRANCE”. I am only saying this, because we did not 🙂 and to be honest it might have been a better idea… From that point visit the castle history-room, then the “Mátyás wing” above. If you have the chance visit the chapel (sadly when we were there it was closed) then move on to the Dieta-hall (really cool 🙂 ) and then the towers. Be sure you visit some of the less renovated parts also in the Bethlen-wing. Include the knights’ hall in your visit, then visit the fountain and the bears pit. In any case, all main areas have information tables giving ample description about the items that the curious tourist is looking at, so simply make sure you get all of the hidden corners of the castle. It can be a great opportunity for photographers also: I am sure the castle presents various angles for making some wild photos, just go look for them 🙂 …

It is hard to describe the place accurately. It is better to just go and see, the trip is really-really worth it, even if it is the only place one visits in the area. The thing that it is a real plus to the whole story, is that the state of the castle is in constant development: even at the time of our visit, people were working non-stop on the full restoration of the castle, so I guess in a few years it will get to be a truly majestic place to visit attracting lots and lots of visitors from all over the world 🙂

I have uploaded some of the photos I have taken to my Picasa account.

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