Doria

This is a picture from...

by riverjude

This is a picture from Timisoara's Heroes Cemetery, where most of the victims of the 1989 Coup d'Etat are buried.

1104 people died in December 1989. Before December 22nd 162 people died, 73 in Timisoara, 48 in Bucharest and 41 somewhere else in Romania. 3352 people were wounded. Some of the first victims were sent to Bucharest and cremated. The military had 260 dead, and 545 wounded. The 'Securitatea' 65 dead and 73 wounded.

Unirii Square

by edvin_br

When you will visit Timisoara you must see the Unirii square. It is the second most largest and importent in the city. It has its own style, pretty colorful buildings, they are also very old and in the middle of the square there is a nice statue. In my opimnion its a beautiful Square that you should visit.

Hidden Gem

by Ramonq

This was the birthplace of the Romanian revolution which sparked the downfall of the communist dictatorship in Romania. The citizens of Timisoara are proud of their achievement that they named the main streets after important dates of the revolution such as 20 December 1989 Avenue. There are monuments and plaques all over the town to commemorate the heroes of the revolution, especially to those who have died.

Stinker and me in Timisoara - arrival day

by Mique

Am in Timisoara now (8 october 2004). Though it was quite a thing on getting here. I was dropped of at the station in Oradea. With everything with me in a big backpack and a daypack. Heavy stuff i must say. So i entered and tried to get a ticket to Timisoara in my best romanian. She understood me al right, but i had some trouble digesting her answer. And then it finally hit home. The next train to Timisoara would not go before 15.25. Which was a long way of since it was barely 11 in the morning. So i asked her to which destination a train would go sooner. Thinking i just would change my direction and would get to Timisoara later. She again said something i did not understand at first. It turned out that this train to timisoara was the first train departing between 11 and late in the afternoon. So i got a ticket. It was for a personal train so i new it would stop at every water hole between Oradea and Timisoara but i would at least be on my way. besides, the faster trains wouldn't go until later in the evening. And i thought that this way i would arrive a bit on time still. Big mistake.

Anyway, i thought it a bit beneath me to call the foundation and ask them to pick me up again so i could wait there. After all, i was finally on my way (for the second time since i also had this feeling when i left the Netherlands). And i felt i just had to sit it out. So for over 4 hours i watched people, stretched my legs a bit, wrote in my diary, read about Romania in the LP and finally decided to go and get some tea in one of the bars that are in the station.

That, honestly tasted like heated up soda. It was supposed to be fruit tea. And they had put in half a mountian of suger. Luckily the water wasn't too hot so without stirring i managed to keep most of it on the bottom. On the other hand, for around 10 eurocents you don't hear me complain. Though at the next cup i kindly asked them to lay off the suger. Apparently that was a strange request but they complied.
So with a lot of waiting it finally became 3-ish and i decided to take a look outside

The train was already there but i could make heads or tails from my ticket. Some railway men saw i was at a bit of a loss. They asked me if they could help. And i said yes (this all passed in Romanian). They told me it was the right train and that i had a tciket for 2nd class. This all passed with a lot of laughing because their english was as good as my romanian. Then i asked them how long the journey would take. That created a lot of confusion. I heard everything from 4 to 8 hours. But some had understood how long and some had understood when i would arrive i think. Eventually one of them went and got out the time table. By that time i had hoisted myself in the train. Meaning, i had first pushed in the backpacks because i couldn't navigate the small steps with that on my back if my life had depended on it. And then bridged the half meter deviding the platform and the first step and hoisted myself in after the packs. So when this man came back i had some distance to cover to see the time table. It turned out that i would arrive in Timisoara at 19.45. So a journey of over 4 hours!

This started to become a real enterprise!

The train journey was basically uneventfull. Yes we stopped at a lot of places where i really wondered where the people who had descended from the train would go to. No houses in sight. And i started to get hungry. I hadn't really counted on such a long time and hadn't packed much in the food department. But that subsided eventually.

On arriving in Timisoara i was in dire need of stretching my legs. So i covered the 2 kilometers or so to the centre on foot. And then of course the process of finding a place for the night began. And that turned out not to be easy. All hotels i found in the centre were expensive, business style hotels. Way above my budget. I did try to negotiate a bit but i never managed to get the price under 33 euro without breakfast. Way too expensive for me. So they directed me back to the train station since across it there should be a cheaper place. So i made the journey back on foot. By this time i was a lot less keen on stretching the legs though. I hadn't had much to eat yet and my backpack began to feel a bit heavier then before..
Luckily in the hotel across the station they had one room left. And that is where i am now. And will stay until tomorrow. When i have to face the tough decision.. am i going to Baile Herculane or to Bergrado...

Oh, the tough decisions in life...