Westernmost part of Transylvania

On the following day after visiting Timisoara, our main destination for this weekend, and the beautiful city of Szeged right across the border in Hungary, all while enjoying a great time at the Spa Resort Hotel we booked for both nights, we spared Sunday to visit the small yet charming city of Arad, barely 60 kilometres north of Timisoara. The westernmost city in the Transylvania region, home to one of the fortresses built in the Vauban star-shaped style so typical in this area.

After all, we did have the time to visit in full every of the three cities we ended up going to in just 2 days, so the five of us decided it would be a great idea and a good opportunity while taking the chance to see more than originally we planned for this weekend. Distances are short in between the cities, and with a rental car booked for the length of our stay made it even much more convenient. However, after having visited both Timisoara and spectacular Szeged, our expectations were perhaps too high and did not see from Arad its beautiful historic centre as such but instead a more laid back place, where we were the only tourists in the entire city. We did not cross with any other foreigner at all! Not that we would mind, to be honest even better. You get the chance to take some nice pictures people-free.

Disregarding a bit my comment before, the city has charm and hosts a great collection of beautiful old buildings, more typical of a Central European city than East European, but as I described a bit on the Timisoara and Szeged guides, this was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire hence such urbanism and architecture, same you see in Vienna or Budapest, the main cities by excellence back in these times. (more…)