After 5 days in London, Timisoara was quite a cultural shock. I wasn't crazy about going to Romania especially because I was tired and full of impressions from London which I did not want to ruin. I just had one night in Zagreb to contemplate. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!
There are not any direct flights from Zagreb to Timisoara for any amount of money so I had to fly over Budapest 4th time this year. The Republic of Croatia should seriously consider improving its traveling-by-plane possibilities. We traveled with small planes that were half empty. Not many people travel to Romania let me tell you, especially not as turists to Timisoara. I was happy to find out that there are airports smaller than ours in Zagreb, kippis!
The suburbs of the City look really bad. Surroundings reminded me of the picture of Croatian people leaving the City of Vukovar in 1991. The weather was rainy and gray so I guess that it made my impression stronger. The city center is renovated and some parts look really nice. Still, kind of gray and cold. The architecture is interesting, both eastern and western influences can be seen. There are beautiful oriental buildings and also the ones that are more of a Hungarian and German style. It can be seen that they invested in development of the city center, hopefully they will do the same with outskirts one day. Timisoara is a student city and there are many young people around. I'm sure that it will ruin the gray impression with time. People are very friendly and nice. Styles are weird but as it turnes out there are weird everywhere. Women want to look very feminine so they overdo it with accesories and make-up. Most guys have some salesmen-of-used-cars styles. Fashion is probably the last thing on peoples' minds there. The average salery is 200-250 euro. Since they entered in EU they have new stores and shopping malls and the prices are the same, if not higher than in Croatia. Horror.
The food is cheapper buy how cheap does it have to be that 200 euro would be enough to get through a month, with paying rent, paying bills, eating... We do not even know how happy we are and still we complain.
If you consider the fact that they had Mr. and Mrs. Ceauºescu, you must say that they came a looooong way since then and made a huge progress.
I have visited some nice restaurants with good food and friendly people and also pubs that were crowded with young people any day of the week. Stores are open until 10 o'clock or sometimes even midnight. I do not really understand why, it's not like they have turists. I have heard some native music, watched their folklore dancing, national costumes and enjoyed their hospitality. All in all, I am happy that I went to see what Romania is like. It definitely improved my opinion and idea of that country.
Click to see the pics!
Post je objavljen 19.10.2007. u 17:15 sati.