Last week we discovered one of the most woderfull places in Romania, Alba Iulia City and Citadel. The city it's very clean, with a very nice architecture and a lot of nice pubs and restaurants. The Citadel is the most interesting part of the old city. It looks even better than Sighisoara or Sibiu.
I recommend the history of the city dates back over 2000 years. The fort was built in three main stages: fist it was a Roman Fort, after that were added two bastions and became a medieval fortress and finalized as star-shaped fort in 1748
Great place to discover a bit of the local history and not only, considering that Transilvania and her fortresses played an important role in european history for centuries...So go visit and learn! leave the fun for later in night hahaha!
The Alba-Iulia Citadel it's a nice place to visit. Was recently renovated, and looks good. There are few restaurants and coffee shops.
The best city in Transilvania...great visit here, great people and Cetatea Alba Iulia is amazing! Just visit
really really nice! unique romanian atmosphere. alba iulia is not very old and not even beautiful as other cities in transilvania, as sibiu, or sighisoara or brasov, but the citadel is really worth it!!
In the Citadel are worth visiting several objectives - Orthodox Cathedral , Catholic Cathedral , Museum of History, Union Hall, with all amenities and historic city grooves . Also every day at 12.00 can track the changing of the guard fortress.
The fortress is restored and it is a great place to walk around and take some pictures. It is full of historical buildings, including two great cathedrals, one orthodox and one catholic. Here you will find a museum dedicated to the National Unity of the Romanians and also places to buy souvenirs and some decent places to eat or to have a coffee or a drink. Other attractions are the human scale statues with characters from different epochs, a monumental equestrian bronze statue of Michael the Brave (the first ruler that united the Romanian countries), a great stone monument dedicated to the peasant revolt from 1784 and the "guards" of the fortress, dressed in uniforms from the Habsbourg period.This place has a very important significance for the Romanian National History and it is considered "the fortress of the union", named like this after the reunification of most of the Romanian provinces in one big state after World War One and the coronation that took place here in 1922 of Ferdinand the first as king of all Romanians.Overall, the fortress itself and with the attractions within constitutes the main touristic point of Alba Iulia.
I took a day trip to Alba Iulia during my stay in Cluj-Napoca. From the bus station in Cluj-Napoca there are a number of daily busses that call at Alba Iulia. In the afternoon and early evening there are busses back to Cluj-Napoca. The bus ride takes about 2 hours.The citadel is situated on a hill where the Romans had established a fortress. Part of the Via Principales has been uncovered. Walking between the east and west gates of the citadel, you will come across the Via Principalis.Coming from the bus or train station, most probably, you will approach the citadel from the east. The first gate, columns that represent the second gate and a fortified third gate provide access to the citadel. The citadel and its gates date from the first half of the 18th century when Transylvania was part of the Habsburg Empire. Reliefs show the victories of the Habsburg rulers over the Ottoman Empire and the bicephalous eagle of the House of Habsburg adorn the main gates.The citadel was designed by Giovanni Morando Visconti who used a Vauban system. The citadel, almost fully, remains intact. If you leave the citadel through the 4th (west) gate and proceed to the 5th gate, there are some good views of Vauban system. Stairways will allow you to descend to the old moat. Within the citadel are some interesting landmarks that merit a separate listing. Alba Iulia played an important role in the unification of the former principalities of Moldovia, Wallachia and Transylvania into the present country of Romania in 1918.I can certainly recommend a visit of the Alba Iulia citadel. I found it one of the more interesting places I visited during my tour of Transylvania. And that is not because there is little competition from other Transylvanian towns.
It is way better than I expected, I saw a lot of people working hard to keep it clean and arranged.Our guide explained everything very well, and there wasn't any question that he could not answer.