
Near Cluj-Napoca, the village of Negreni ('Fekete to' in Hungarian) transforms into a vast open-air market on the second weekend of October. People arrive from far and wide to eat spicy sausages, drink lethal fruit brandies and catch up with gossip. It's a great place to find ancient musical instruments, crafts, antiques and local colourful characters.
Negreni (Fekete to)
25km west of Huedin on route 1/E60.
Buses and trains from Cluj-Napoca will be packed at fair time. Try hiring a car.
Just a tip about buying a ticket and recognising the train. This site is ace for planning times reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e.
Worth writing down the journey details and the Romanian for 'first-class ticket' and handing it over - no English spoken at the train station when I was there. But the Lonely Planet guide came to the rescue.
Once you have found the platform watch out. The noticeboard flagged two separate trains - one to Targa Mures and one to Bucharest. The Bucharest train stops at Sighisoara.
But the trains appear to arrive joined as one - late. So it can be confusing.
What seems to happen is that the first-class carriage is always carriage three.
If you are on the same train as me be prepared for 50 year-old rolling stock in first class.
The scenery is fantastic. Ranging from the awesome pollution of Copsa Mica to shepherds and their flocks.
Str. Garii 1-3
Nice looking restaurant on one of the main streets in Cluj - just up from the cathedral.
Lovely meatball soup - through be warned the meat balls are in fact strips of meat. But the best was to come - hare chop. Strongly recommended.
Washed down with a large bottle of Ursus Black. And all-in including tip at 60 LEI. Awesome.
21 Decembrie 1989 nr. 22
Friendly and cheap local restaurant. The chicken soup was brilliant. And the wraps of meat with polenta for a main dish were not too bad as well. And with a bottle of beer the whole thing came to less than 40 lei.
Al. Ciura, nr. 6A
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