G’day folks. Today’s blog is going to focus on one of the more amazing things I saw/visited when in Romania last year. An easy day or even half day trip from Cluj-Napoca, and I did it mostly by public transport this time around.

In 2004 I visited Turda with a couple of friends I had made staying at the very cool ‘Retro Hostel’, which I do recommend if you are backpacking and you’re looking for a place to stay in Cluj, even if I did visit it 22 years back now. Which is probably enough time not to recommend it now as it’s probably very different. Anyways…

When I visited in 2004 I had a whole day and the little group I was in also visited the Turda Gorge and went for a hike down it. After that we visited the Salt Mine which I remember as being pretty deserted and we wandered around with a guide and marvelled at one of the main chambers which was very deep and had a balcony many tens of metres from the bottom. We also entered via the old entrance, which I walked all the way to so I guess it’s at the furthest point from the current entrance/exit. This is also where the buses will take you from the town of Turda, which is about 20-25 minutes away.

Getting there – I would like to give you some advice, but it’s tricky because you go to different websites and they will give you different information. I got different information from the web, my Air BnB host and my guidebook. Then I visited Retro Hostel to see how it was going, and got different information again telling me to go a bus stop near a bridge where I was able to catch a mini-bus the 31 kilometres to Turda. I believe the intersection near the Traian Bridge is where it was, corner of Strada Ion Popescu Voitesti, and Piata Mihai Viteuzu. But I could be wrong.

For around 3 Euro it took around 45 minutes to get to Turda, where I found myself on the highway, so I walked into the town, looking for the bus to the Salt Mine. I was rather unwell by this point, and I couldn’t see a clear bus stop so in the end I hailed a taxi to the Salt Mine. It got me there in around 15 minutes. There is a large roundabout just before the river near a Fabric Museum and just over the river I got off the minibus, but it had gone through town and I think that might have worked better. It’s hard because I wasn’t well and on my own to get it right. The bus FROM the Salt Mine back to Turda actually stopped just before the roundabout and I was able to grab the mini-bus that was speeding back to Cluj by basically making it stop by stepping in front of it lol as it was coming as I had just got off the other bus and hadn’t got to the bus stop on the highway. The driver was not amused but took me back to Cluj nonetheless.

So, the Salt Mine. Now, the entrance has a big building at the entrance now, and the price for an adult foreigner on a Sunday was 85 Lei, around $30AUD, $20USD or 22Euro. It’s cheaper on the weekdays. At its deepest I believe the mine is 120 metres underground.

I headed down into the mine, and there was much more walking than I remember from 2004. I walked down some damp tunnels, and off to the side I saw some old equipment used for mining and the occasional salt sculpture. But there are two main chambers that are the highlights. From the main entrance you find yourself near the top of the biggest, which is  the ‘Rudolf Mine’, itself 42 metres deep.

I walked around the top of the mine on the balcony I had looked up at last time. Maybe I had been up there in 2004, I’m not sure. At each end of the Rudolph Mine are wooden staircases, and I walked down the 42 metres all the way to the bottom. Once at the bottom, basically an empty space in 2004, things had changed!

It was now filled with things to do! For starters, a little theatre in one corner, billiard tables, and even a Ferris wheel! And there was a lift all the way to the top at the other end, which I would take to return – the lift wait was something like 45 minutes FYI.

There was another lift over to the side, almost hidden a little bit, which would take you down to the other major chamber, the Theresa Mine which you can see at one end of the Rudolph Mine which is still far above the Theresa Mine.

This chamber isn’t quite as big but probably deeper, and there’s a sort of boardwalk and tables and benches I think for people who want to eat there. There are boats for hire too, because the wooden structure I have labelled ‘boardwalk’ (because I couldn’t think of another word) is on a big rock in the middle of an underground lake. Anyway, the it’s really awe-inspiring and you feel so small.

Along with the other throngs of people there, it was a Sunday which probably made it busier than the usual day, but well, boy was it packed, hence having to wait 45 minutes for a lift to the top. There’s a few passages too to explore which is rather fun, and would have been much more fun if I wasn’t under the weather, but I am glad I went, although it was a poor choice in terms of my health the day after exploring Cluj by foot. This salt mine receives over 680,000 visitors annually which for this kind of attraction in Romania, is a LOT.

The buses are super easy to find outside the main entrance, and I made it back in good time to Cluj and my Air BnB to pack and ready myself to travel across the country by train to Suceava. This is where my condition would get very bad, but I would also get to experience the amazing monasteries of the region. So the next two written blogs will focus on Suceava and the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina. Until then….

Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!