Crisana

This region is the gateway for most Europeans entering Romania by land. Crisana was long under Hungarian rule and the architecture of the two main cities, Arad and Oradea, is deeply Habsburg. Both have fine aristocratic palaces, public parks and wide avenues. Much of the population is Hungarian-speaking and some of the surrounding villages are entirely Hungarian. I have passed through Oradea many times after crossing the nearby border with Hungary at Episcopia, though I never stopped for a thorough visit. Only rarely, entering from the more southern border at Nadlac, have I passed through the smaller Arad, an elegant city of noble palaces restored in recent years. Otherwise Crisana has small plains and many intensely cultivated hills, sparse rural villages crossed by the main communication routes, which here are not motorways but comparable to our provincial roads.

The first times I travelled through these places the roads were uneven, big "potholes" opened up in the asphalt without being signposted, and the little vehicle traffic was slowed by herds of livestock returning from pasture. In recent years the road conditions have definitely improved but traffic has also increased, especially heavy traffic, given that Crisana is Romania's gateway to the West. It's certainly not worth making a journey just to come here, but you'll happen to pass through if you try to reach other regions of this country.