Wednesday, December 26, 2018:  Second Day of Christmas in Romania. 
Brezoi to Cluj:

            Romanians celebrate Second Christmas on December 26.  Not many places are open, it is still a holiday. However, we are going to be driving most of the day, or at least not needing places to be open.

            We were on the road by 9:05 this morning, driving basically straight north in Romanian, retracing our same road as the other day.  We did stop at several towns where there are Fortified Lutheran churches.  We were only able to see the inside of one church.  The rest were not open.  Hopefully we will be able to get into several more along the way.  The history of the fortified churches is that they were the fortress in the town/village.  If the enemy came, all the towns people entered the church fortress for protection.

Snow Covered Hay Stack

Fortified Lutheran Church

Fortified outer wall

            We continued north to the town of Turda, where we located the Salt Mine.  In the largest chamber they have entertainment activities.  Farris wheel, bowling, miniature golf, and other games. 

Typical Village with Painted Houses

Sheep Herder

Another Sheep Herder

Salt Mine 

Horse Drawn Winch

Large Cavity with Entertainment

Salt Veins

           Our next stop was for the night, in Cluj.  By now, it is beginning to get dark. After checking into our reserved apartment, we relaxed a few minutes before we drove to the Centrum for the Christmas market and to find an open restaurant for dinner. The downtown square and streets were beautifully decorated in lights.  After walking around the Christmas market, we found Olivo Café.  What a great find.  Cherie had perfect Salmon, I had an unusual salad that was wonderful, and Cal had goulash which was so good, he used a piece of bread to wipe out the bowl. 

            Today at the grocery stop, beside buying meat and cheese, we bought instant coffee and milk for the coffee.  Well guess what, we bought buttermilk instead of milk!  So, after dinner tonight we tried to find a corner grocery to buy milk.  No such luck as everything closed early for Second Christmas!  We finally found a petrol station that sold coffee.  They had no milk in their coolers, but they actually sold us a box of coffee-milk out of the behind the counter cooler, in their coffee making station.  We may not use all of it until we leave Romania, but it cost less than a cup of coffee. So, we have milk for our coffee in the morning! 

            We had a good day.         

Cluj Christmas Market

More Hungarian Sweets

Dinner - Salmon, Salad and Goulash - Very tasty!!