Cluj-Napoca in Summary
It's hard to sum up Cluj-Napoca in a few sentences. There are so many little oddities that sum together to define the city. First check out its skyline -- the tallest building around is the giant gothic church at the center of downtown's Piaşa Unirii. I had never seen an example of 'gothic architecture' before, but it is quite commonplace in this region. This church, which dates back hundreds and hundreds of years ago, is pretty bare on the inside. Check out the sepulcher in the center of the building though, such elaborate woodwork and really just plain creepy looking.
I couldn't capture the large student population of Cluj in a photograph. There are 2 big universities here, UT (Technical Univ.) and Babes Univ. (Liberal Arts). It adds up to a ton of late night food options, a very youthful look to your average passerby, and a crazy set of nightclubs and bars to satisfy the masses. That also means that there's lots of student housing around as well -- which accounts for the hundreds of dingy little apartment buildings dotting the outskirts of the city.
Here are some other sights I took in during my walk around town a few weeks ago. There's a common statue of this really thin archway, but no one has been able to tell me what it signifies. Adjacent to the arch there's an old orthodox church right down from one of Romania's most famous opera houses. I thought this guy randomly painting a building here was kinda neat as well. There are a lot of different colors on the buildings here, though really more than 50% of them could use that extra coat of paint.