48 Hours in CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania | Best Things to Do (Turda Gorge, Salina Turda, & MORE)

Welcome at Tecluj-Napoca you guys and welcome to Romania's second largest city with over a thousand years of history. We arrived here yesterday by train. Pretty stoked. We haven't ridden the train in such a long time. This train journey is nine hours. It costs us $40 per person for the first class ticket. You can buy the second class for $25 a person. There are a few trains that leave during the day starting at 6 20 a.m. We're taking our train at 1 20 p.m. to see all this beautiful Romanian countryside and we didn't have to wake up super early so we wouldn't wake up too early. I felt you! We wanted to come to Tecluj of course to explore the city but we also got so many recommendations from our Romanian viewers that we had to come back and check out a couple of the day trips. So we just walked up to one of the main parks in Tecluj. I'm not gonna say the name. I'm not gonna butcher another Romanian name but check out these amazing views. It overlooks the entire city. The short walk is worth it for these views right? Oh my gosh it's so nice up here. You get such a great view of Old Town. You can see all of the red roofs. The churches with their crosses are like dotting the skyline. The city has so much greenery. It's just really peaceful because you can see like the river running through the town as well. It's really nice. Before we head out in some nature I'm in desperate need of a coffee and I have to get Sammy some food so she doesn't get hangry. That's awesome. You want coffee? Coffee? What about food now? I feel like, what happened to the food? Okay we got coffee. That's check one. Check number two we got some food and now we're heading to the bus because we're heading to Turda to go for a hike. So after a 30 minute van ride which is super easy the cost of it was 14 lei a person so not too bad. We made it to the town of Turda so we read there's actually a train that's more like a car that will take you all the way to the gorge at least every couple hours so we're trying to hustle and make it there now. Well we hustled but we just missed it by a couple minutes. Yeah so there's supposed to be like this train that takes you to the gorge and we didn't make it but it doesn't come for another two hours so I think we're gonna walk back into the city center see how much a taxi is going to be because the weather is really nice and we really want to go on this hike so let's go see if we can get a taxi. So we found a taxi for 50 lei. Alright we made it. Thank goodness. Oh my gosh. Taxi came through the clutch. I feel like it's really hard to pick up the camera when like things are going wrong and to be honest this morning nothing really went to plan. The bus was late. We missed the train but we got a taxi and we're here and it is absolutely gorgeous. The weather is perfect. It all worked out and we couldn't be happier. I'm just so excited to be out in nature. Isn't it nice? So nice. The air is so fresh and crisp and it has been so hot this last week. We were kind of thinking oh it might be too hot to go hiking and it is like overcast and kind of like chilly. It's perfect weather. Okay so once you figure out on public transportation or rent a car you figure out how to get here there's a couple options for hiking the gorge. You can hike through the gorge like out and back which I think takes like two and a half to three hours or you can hike up on either side of the gorge hike all the way around it or hike up on one side and then come back down through the gorge which is what I think we're gonna do so like a half circuit I guess because we want to get the views from the top but we also want to walk through the gorge and be by the river and stuff like that. So yeah we're gonna do a half circuit today which I think is gonna take like four and a half hours. We'll see. Oh I should set a timer. The first of many walkbacks today. Woo slippery. So it's really convenient they have these markings right here just to make sure you stay on the right trail. It's a little early to be getting into snacks already but I'm hungry. We've only been hiking for, has it been 30 minutes already? Felt like five. Mmm it's carrot cake. Carrot cake granola bar. Alright I'm gonna go. Woo steep right? Oh my gosh it is so steep. We are definitely out of shape though so. Yeah I think we've just gained like almost 700 feet in elevation in like a very short amount of time. I thought you're gonna say yeah we've been eating a lot lately and gained a bunch of pounds. 700 pounds yeah that too. Hopefully this hike does some good for us. It's so nice look how, do you see the sheep? I feel like you have to be a billy goat on this trail. Love those views. Everything's so beautiful up here. The birds are singing, the flowers are all in bloom, so many colors. And the weather day is perfect. Alright I think we made it to the gorge finally. New point baby. Here we go. That is a sheer drop off. Okay new, new. She looked for a minute that was good. Jelly knees. The views up here are pretty epic. As you're walking by you can kind of look down at certain spots and see the gorge way below you. Sammy got a little scared. Snack time with a gorgeous view. And another pretzel. I love these things. Snacks over we still have a long hike to go. Let's keep it going. I feel like somebody needs to come through and trim these trails a little bit. Oh my gosh. A lot of those bushes stick to you and they have huge thorns on there too. Look at this guy. Look at those thorns. It was hard going down. It's deep. So hard. It's beautiful. It's still hard. It's beautiful but it's deep. We're almost there. Yeah we are. I feel like I can hear people down there. Not a single other person on this entire trail so far you guys. You know you're getting old when your knees are aching. Heading straight down. I like having this tripod though as my walking stick. It is nice that way isn't it? Yeah. Especially if we're going down. Alright we officially made it down. Hallelujah. My legs are shaky. Oh please don't fall in the water. Meat and beer. You're already ready huh? I'm ready. I'm hungry. It's hard to believe we were all the way up there looking down. Well Sammy we officially made it baby. Not too shabby. We made it. 3 hours and 10 minutes. We did stop our time for the time we were up top like droning and eating our snacks and stuff. So overall for the half circuit less time than I thought it was going to take. We thought like 5 hours right? Yeah. It wasn't bad at all. No. And now it is finally time for meat and beer. I'm like trying to walk backwards but I don't know if I'm going to fall. Meat and beer. Oh my gosh. Feel good to sit? My legs are just going to like detach and float away from my body. Feels good to sit. Thank you. On the rock to an awesome hike. We had so many people tell us to come do this hike so we're very glad that we came back and did it. Cheers. Oh yeah I'm going to hit the spot. Oh my god. It's so cold too. Why does a cold beer feel so good after a hike? Oh my gosh this looks so good. Time for meat. Hot. No it's supposed to be smooth. I got a big mouth of mustard. You got a big plate of meat there. I know. We got too many. Hot. It's really hot. It's so juicy though. If I really want to take a bite so bad I'm so hungry. You already have twice. What are you waiting for? Wow that is a scene that's not getting cut. That's how she eats normally everybody. Just so you know. And? Is it good? Oh my gosh. It's really good. It doesn't compare to the Ober Market but. Honestly it does compare to Ober Market. Yes. I don't know because I'm just so hungry. I think the ones at Ober Market maybe were a little bit more seasoned. But these are a little bit more crispy which I can appreciate that. Oh yeah. Alright I'm getting in there. Wow I'm so stuffed. That meat was delicious. I didn't expect it to be so good here. Kind of out in the middle of nowhere. What an awesome hike though. Thank you guys for the recommendations. Don't miss it when you're here. Now we're stuck though. We had no service. And the bus slash train never showed up again. So. Hitchhiking. Hopefully getting service. Calling a taxi. I'm not sure. We're going to head back to Cluj now though. Zambia's never hitchhiked before so. Oh here we go. Somebody's coming. We got a ride. Woo. Thank you. Oh that was easier than I thought. First time. We got a ride. Heading back to Turda. Then hopefully catching the bus back to Cluj. Well we didn't quite go as far as we were hoping. We thought we were going to go all the way back to Turda but. We got dropped off just a few minutes up the road. Now what? So we met some other very friendly people. And now we're riding back with them. And with the dog in the back. People here. Super friendly. Two for two for asking for rides. Oh you were so sweet. Thank you. We really appreciate it. Bye. Have a great day. Bye. Okay. Now the bus. After two rides we made it. So this is where you catch the bus back from Turda to Cluj. Doesn't look like much of a stop but. It works. Sammy got the only seat. Alright. Made it back to Cluj. We are going to go freshen up. And head to dinner. In a couple hours. I need to take a nap. Yeah we're tired after that long hike. I'm so hungry. So I'm so ready for this. Okay so we have come to this restaurant Barzari. Our Airbnb host recommended it to us. It serves local Romanian food. And specifically we were recommended to get this dish. It's called Barza a la Cluj. So basically it's a cabbage dish with minced meat. With spices and herbs. It has rice and they drizzle sour cream on top. So this dish is very local to Cluj specifically. So we also ordered a bean soup. Now it has ham in it. Potatoes. Carrots. And some onions. Looks delicious. Wow this ham is so smoky. So homey. Delicious. Let's give it a go. I think I have a little bit of everything in there. It definitely has a very strong cabbage flavor. But whenever you get that minced meat mixed with the spices and herbs and the rice. It's really really good. And it has sour cream on top. It's not a dish that I would probably order every day. But I really really like it. We also ordered the cab. Romanian wine from here too. Comes in a cute little bottle this time. Wow what a delicious homemade meal here. Don't miss it when you guys are in Cluj. And super affordable too. Alright that's it for today. We'll see you guys tomorrow morning for another fun activity. Good morning guys. We are back in Turda. We took the bus here this morning. Right early. Because we were heading to the salt mines. Which was recommended by so many people. So we have made it here. And we are currently walking from the bus stop to the entrance. I think we're going to go to the old entrance. Because that was the one closest to the bus stop. Two people? Okay. Into the mine we go. Oh gosh it looks kind of scary. Oh it's already cold. It's freezing in here. All the TripAdvisor reviews said to bring sweatshirts and sweaters. So good top tip. Thank goodness we brought our sweatshirts. Okay. Do you think these walls are made out of salt? I'm ready. Yeah I just licked it. Oh man it's really salty. It is not. It is. Not as salty as that bacon for breakfast. But it's salty. Heel to toe. Knees bent. This is Tommy teaching me how to ninja walk. That's pretty good huh? Just trying to read. I'm going to get under. Just stand under a light and do like this to read the pamphlet they gave us. So this tunnel just keeps going. Sammy just told me it is 750 meters long just to get to the entrance. But that's from the old entrance. They did build a new entrance which I think brings you right to the elevators down to the salt mines. But that was a lot farther from the bus stop. So there are two different entrances that you can go in. This is a really cool tunnel. Looks like our first stop is the echo chamber. Open the door if you dare. Hello. Echo. That was epic. Your turn. Beat me. Echo. That's wild. That's fun. That's so fun. It's all the way because nobody else is there so you can just yell as loud as you want. That is so fun. I love all the curviness. Yeah, it's beautiful. That's cool. The trolley. It's all like small crystals and salt. Yeah, that's pretty. That is pretty. Very narrow stairs. There's a little amphitheater in here. We just went down to the bottom. So funny. Right when we arrived, one of the workers came up to me and says, Oh, you need to pay a fee to use your camera. I was like, okay, how much do I have to pay you? She goes, no, you have to pay at the entrance. I'm like, they saw me walking with the camera. So they radioed down, told her to make sure they tell me not to use it. So for me to use it, I had to go all the way up the 13th flight of stairs because the line's so long, it's not going to take the elevator. Walk all the way back through the tunnel to the entrance to pay a fee and then come all the way back down. I'm like, just the communication could be a little bit better. But we're here. Let's go check it out. How weird is this? They have massage chairs? I don't know. It feels like a very random collection of things down here. It does. It does. Amphitheater, ping pong, mini golf, and a playground. Okay, so once you pay your entrance fee, once you get down here, you do have to pay separate money for every other thing that you do down here. And it was 30 lei to go on the ferris wheel. Let's go check it out. Oh, it's so big. This thing is huge. The ferris wheel goes for eight minutes. And I believe it takes eight minutes for one loop. Oh, somebody's sleeping in that one. It's going so slowly. I also have to say, this is the slowest ferris wheel I've ever been on. I don't think you can go much faster or farther. It's more dangerous down here. I don't think you can go much slower. I think we can go down lower and do the boat thing. Oh, there's a boat thing? Yeah. Okay, cool. Surprisingly though, the bathrooms are free. They don't charge you for those down here. I have to say, I do love the salt mine part of this. Like, there's a huge cavern that we're in with the designs on the wall and the lake at the bottom. There's boats down there that you can rent and paddle around the lake. I feel like it's very, very cool. And it's very beautiful in here. So, I do love that aspect of everything. So, the price for the boats. So, we're not going to do the boat ride, but we're going to take the full tour of the bottom level. Which is really pretty, right? I do love this cave. Looks like you're in a spaceship. I know. So, it's kind of here in the sand. I wonder if it's because staying in the salt mine has healing properties. So, that's quite interesting. Also, I think it's very interesting that this wood has salt growing on it. Oh, that's cool. I didn't notice that. Isn't that really cool? Like, crystalline? I wonder if you looked at that, if it would taste like salt. Do it. No, that's disgusting. Look how many people have touched this. There was a long line going up, so we're walking up now. Look at that view I got though. Glorious view. The intrusive thoughts to lick this are so intense. Like, I never want to do that. She's a salt queen, you guys. So, this is for some reference. She loves her salt. The salt mine itself was so beautiful. Pretty epic. Absolutely humongous. I love walking through the different rooms. The echo chamber was my personal favorite. But, the main area was kind of a letdown. It felt kind of like a tourist trap. But, still awesome. So glad we came here to see it. Awesome for, like, if you had little kids. Such a family place, I'd say. Yes. More of a family friendly. For us, it kind of felt a little meh. Meh. I just, to play the mini golf or ping pong, like, to have to pay for those individually just didn't seem worth it for us. But, still a great trip. Don't miss it. Just to see the salt mine itself. Exactly. That's the end of the video, you guys. Such an awesome time here in Cluj. Thanks to all the Romanians for your great suggestions. We'll see you guys in the next video. We're visiting one more city here in Romania.