Transylvania Trip

At our picnic stop before heading into the mountains. It was a beautiful spring day!


March 15 is a public holiday in Hungary, so we all had Monday and Tuesday off from work. Quite a while ago we made plans to use the four-day weekend to go to Transylvania with our flat-mate Justin and our friends Joco and Renáta. The main reason for Jack, Cindy, and Justin going was to visit with the Visky family in Cluj. Joco and Renáta were mainly going to visit with Joco's mom and to do a repair on his grandma's back porch in Ozd. Going by car certainly makes the trip much more enjoyable than traveling by bus or train; we could stop any time, and be spontaneous in our route planning.

(A quick review lesson on Hungarian history: Transylvania is the northwestern third of Romania which, before the Trianon Treaty in 1918, was part of greater Hungary. Many of the people living in that region today consider themselves Hungarian and speak Hungarian.)

We left at 8:30 on Saturday morning, heading southeast toward the border crossing outside of Oradea. Rather than take the more direct route, we decided to take some back roads. We had our sights set on a mountain-pass crossing that would add only two hours to our trip. After a short, leg-stretching, fresh-air break and picnic lunch, we began the zig-zag climb to the pass at 1200 meters. At the top we found ourselves surrounded by two or three feet of snow on the ground, and discovered that the plows had given up on keeping the road open beyond that point! So back down we went and took another more southerly pass to get through the mountains.


Jack, Joco, Renáta

The next attempt to get through the mountains was successful. We followed a beautiful river down and out of the mountains, staying in the valley bottom for nearly two hours.



Once we arrived in Turda, we turned north for the last 45 minutes of our trip to Cluj. So our six hour journey ended up to be nearly eleven, but we had a wonderful time experiencing it. At 9:00 we arrived at the home of András and Saci.


András showing Jack photos of the time he and his mother,Juliet and six siblings spent in a prison camp after his father's arrest. András spent the first 7 years of his life in a prison camp. Juliet is the name of the play that András wrote focusing on this time. In the background you can see Saci preparing another of her wonderful meals for us. The kitchen table is where we spent most of our time while at the Visky home.

Sunday was a great day of fellowship, worship, good food, and especially for us enjoying Visky hospitality. In the morning we went to the Hungarian Reformed Church where András' brother Peter is pastor. Taking communion with the congregation there was a great memory. After a delicious Sunday dinner that seemed to go on and on, we went into the center of Cluj to conduct our own personal walking tour.


Interior of Greek Orthodox church.


Exterior of Greek Orthodox church.


The National Theater.


Birthplace of Hungary's King Mátyás (Mathias, Matthew).


A statue of King Mátyás. He ruled Hungary from 1458 to 1490. (We normally default to the Hungarian form of the name!)

On Monday morning Joco drove back to Cluj, from his mother's house in Ludus, to pick us up. (Ludus and Cluj are over an hour apart!) We drove back to Ludus to get Renáta, and then proceeded the last 20 kilometers to Ozd. Ozd is literally and figuratively at the end of the road. It's like going back 200 years. Joco dropped us off, then went back into Ludus to pick up the supplies he needed for the repairs on his grandma's house. We used this time to tour the old castle and the Reformed church in this village of 300 people.


A common sight in Ozd.


Joco's grandma unloads her apron after gathering eggs in the barn.


The pastor showed us a Hungarian Bible dated 1650 and this communion goblet from the 1700's.


The view from the hill above Ozd. The castle is in the center of the picture.

On Tuesday morning we toured the Reformed Montessori Primary School that Saci is director of. We were able to visit classrooms and meet the principal and some of the teachers. The school is a wonderful Christian presence in Cluj.

At 10:00 A.M. we were on the road back to Budapest, stopping along the way at a string of three beautiful lakes formed by the construction of dams just outside of Cluj. Our next stop was in the town of Körösfa. (The Hungarian name for the Romanian town.) This place is known for all of the shops along both sides of the highway. But we left the main road and found an old Reformed church at the top of a hill.




The interior of the church. The ceiling panels are all uniquely different paintings, dating back to the 1800's.


One of the lakes outside of Cluj.

After stopping for lunch in yet another mountain pass, we headed for home, stopping only for fuel and the border patrol. The long weekend ended with the six hour drive back to Budapest, on another beautiful spring day. We really enjoyed the fellowship of our fellow-travelers Justin, Joco, and Renáta. Thanks to God for providing us with such a wonderful world.