April 30, 2011: Transylvania, Romania Day 2: Kolozsvar, Torda Canyon, Torocko

April 30, 2011: After breakfast, we traveled toward Koloszvar (Cluj Napoca in Romanian) which was the former capital of Transylvania. On the way, we stopped in a small village which specializes in embroidery.

We spent some time looking/buying embroideries and left for Kolozsvar.  We visited the big square there and saw the St. Jacob Church which is the second largest church in Transylvania. It was built from 1486 to 1586 and is in the Gothic Renaissance style. The church has a very high tower attached to it which is significant: in ancient times, if a church had a high tower, then those in charge in the church were allowed to behead someone without the permission of the king.

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church with St. Matyas Statue

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church

St. Jacob's Church - note high tower enabling beheading

There were other interesting buildings around the square and nearby.

After Kolozsvar, we headed for Torda Canyon. Because the road going into the canyon was congested with too many people and cars, we opted to view the canyon from above and not walk down into the canyon. We saw parasailers flying from the top of a nearby mountain down to the valley.

Torda Canyon

Leaving Torda Canyon, we went to Torocko (Rimetea in Romanian) to spend the night with a Hungarian family. Torocko is a medieval Saxon-Szekely village that is part of the world heritage protected by UNESCO. Our room was very cozy. Note the brown ceramic stove in our room:

room in Torocko

room in Torocko

room in Torocko

sitting room adjoining room in Torocko

room in Torocko

The village was quite rural. It was in the midst of some tall mountains so that the scenery was very beautiful to look at during all times of the day. The people of the village still use animals for transporting equipment and use the main square water pumps for feeding water to the animals.

Torocko

Church at Torocko

Torocko

Torocko

Watering trough at Torocko

Torocko

The dinner that we had was outstanding. As was true for the previous day's dinner, and in fact all dinners on the trip, we were served a glass (plus all the refills we wanted) of palinka, an extremely potent drink that is similar to brandy. Much of the palinka I tasted was homemade and was quite tasty. I particularly liked the carraway seed palinka, although the plum palinka was good, too.