Another long holiday weekend in Romania and it coincided with Emma’s birthday so we had to make the most of that. We decided to head to Hunedoara and visit Corvin Castle and the citadel at Deva. As it was Emma’s birthday we booked a couple of places that were usually out of our price range and were looking forward to a great weekend away.
As I have said before, trains don’t seem to leave at normal hours so we were up early to get to the station in time to catch the 6.20 to Deva. Now Deva is only 150 km east of Timisoara but the journey time was said to be 3 hours. Oh well, we had a comfy seat so settled in to enjoy another slow train trip in Romania. We arrived in Deva only 20 minutes late which is pretty good going but that was not the end of the road for us today. We were heading onto Hunedoara, a town just south of Deva and home to the famous Corvin Castle, said to be the most impressive in the whole of the country so we were excited to see if that was true. We jumped in a minibus for the short journey.
We had booked to stay the night at the Astoria Hotel, however we were way too early to check in but they kindly let us drop off our bags while we went to visit the castle. Hunedoara doesn’t get a good write up in the guide book but the town was pleasant enough and the hotel was located in a quiet leafy area 20 minutes’ walk from the bus station. The hotel was also handily placed for the castle as it was only a short stroll to get there. You cross a river near a park and then past some rather industrial looking buildings, and we were thinking is Romania’s best castle really down this road? The row of souvenir shops, cafes and a large car park indicated we must be heading in the right direction. Then we turned the corner and saw the castle.
And what a sight, it is a huge, magnificent, fairy-tale type of castle with a large wooden bridge spanning the moat and pointed turrets reaching towards the sky. We were impressed. There was already quite a lot of tourists around but we hoped we had beaten the main holiday crowds. We paid for our tickets (35 Lei), masked up and headed up towards the castle. We spent a good couple of hours wandering around the castle into the various rooms, down into the torture chamber and up to the top of one of the towers for a grand view over Hunedoara and the surrounding area. Each room had an information board with an English translation so we were able to find out about the history of the place. Originally built in the 14th century but burnt down and rebuilt 5 times before finally being restored in the 1960s. It has obviously had a lot of restoration but it really is a fantastic place. Probably visually more impressive than Bran Castle and Pelis Castle but all 3 of the famous ‘castle’ tourist attractions in Romania have the merits and I would say visit all 3. It was starting to get busy as we left the castle so we had timed that perfectly and now it was check in time at the Astoria and a dip in the pool to cool off was calling.
The pool area in the hotel was lovely but unfortunately the place was packed with families and screaming kids, and when you throw in loud dance music being pumped out of several speakers it didn’t bode for a tranquil afternoon. It was clear that all these people were not staying at the hotel. As there were no loungers available we thought we would grab a bite to eat at the pool bar. Again we were disappointed as the very sparse menu was clearly designed for kids, think chicken nuggets and fries. We decided to leave the pool and come back later when hopefully things had calmed down.
There was a restaurant next door so we headed there but it was also busy and all the empty tables were reserved. Plan C, we headed to La Crama at the end of the street. This place looked nice and there was a free table on the terrace so things were looking up. We ordered a Italian ham and mushroom pizza and a veggie one and a couple of cold Peroni beers. The beers were good, shame we can’t say the same about the food. The ‘Italian’ ham was spam and there was a serious lack of funghi. Emma’s veggie one was an abomination, it had peas on it and was stone cold. Who puts peas on a pizza? Probably the same person who puts pineapple on a pizza. Some things should just not happen. So, a very disappointing afternoon, especially as it was Emma’s birthday weekend. I couldn’t even cheer her up with a promise of a visit to the model train museum. We will have to save that experience for another trip. We headed back to the hotel and things had quietened down somewhat so we finally did get a dip in the pool and a couple of hours to chill by the pool while the sun set.
We were up early the next day to try and have a swim before breakfast and the crowds. Again we were thwarted, the pool was being cleaned so we went for breakfast. After breakfast we were the first back at the pool, bagged a couple of loungers. However, after only 10 minutes a large group came in from the car park and basically wanted all the loungers near us so we had to move out of the sun for people not staying at the hotel. We didn’t think that was fair and it was Emma’s birthday too. We decided to head on to Deva and hope for a better experience there.
We walked to the bus station and waited 20 minutes or so for the bus for the short hop back to Deva. I was keeping my fingers crossed that the second treat for Emma’s birthday would work out better and Silva House in Deva didn’t let me down. The guesthouse is located about a 20 minutes’ walk outside of Deva on the other side of the hill with the prominent Citadel on top. The location is fantastic and we felt like we were heading towards a little village surrounded by hills. Even though we were early, we were warmly welcomed at Silva House and shown to our room. The room was fantastic and had a huge balcony with a view of the citadel and surrounding countryside.
After settling in we headed into town in search of a decent meal to make up for yesterday’s culinary disaster. Despite the feeling of being miles out of town it really was only a short pleasant walk into town, around citadel hill and past the funicular station which takes people up to the fortress. It is the oldest funicular in Romania apparently. In the car park there are statues of famous Romanian Olympic gymnasts who trained in Deva before gaining sporting glory. The most famous being Nadia Cominech who was the first to score a perfect 10. She defected from Romania 2 weeks before the revolution in 1989, seems she just couldn’t wait any longer for freedom. From the funicular we strolled through a small park and found ourselves in the small old town area.
This was a real pleasant surprise, the cobbled street is lined with nicely restored old buildings and plenty of cafes and bars. From the street you get a great view of the citadel which looms large over the town. We plumped for one of the many cafes and had a delicious pasta meal and a couple of drinks which we really enjoyed and memories of peas pizzas were fading fast. After our late lunch we decided to head up to the citadel. We decided not to be lazy by taking the funicular but walk up, maybe had something to do with the long queue rather than keeping fit! There are 3 trails from the museum at the bottom of the hill and off we set. We found ourselves taking the steepest trail through the forest rather than the meandering options. Quite a mistake as we are not mountain goats and we had just eaten a huge meal washed down with beer and wine. However, we were soon at gate number one, took 10 minutes rather than the advertised 30 ! The citadel walls have been heavily restored and walkways added so you can walk along the top of the walls and take in the splendid views of the surrounding rolling hills. The citadel is quite extensive and we enjoyed wandering around and taking in the 360 degree views. We saw signs warning of snakes but unluckily we didn’t see any but we did spot a gorgeous bright green lizard. Quite a birthday treat for Emma as it was free to get in !
We had enjoyed glorious weather while up at the citadel but we could see the clouds gathering and a storm felt on the horizon. We headed swiftly down the road back into town to pick up some supplies from the supermarket. We just made it before it started tipping it down. Suitably stocked up for the evening we got a taxi back to the guesthouse and spent a lovely evening supping fizz on the wonderful balcony at Silva House. All in all it had been a great weekend, Corvin Castle is well worth a visit, Deva has a lovely small old town and the citadel offers amazing views. We just won’t be booking a hotel with a pool again and definitely not ordering a pea pizza ever again!
