Altitude: 91 m
Population: 303 708 inhabitants (2011)
The trips to the Mountainous Banat for those arriving by plane will have as starting point the “Traian Vuia” International Airport of Timișoara. From here, each group of tourists will be taken over by a guide.
All trips to Mountainous Banat from Europe are made comfortably and quickly by plane to the “Traian Vuia” International Airport in Timișoara.
Timișoara, the “capital” of Banat, is the third largest city in Romania, after Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, according to the number of inhabitants, and one of the most vivid and most beautiful cities from Europe.
While Bucharest is considered the “Little Paris”, Timişoara has won the reputation of “Little Vienna” grace to the architecture of the historic centre realized in the Viennese Baroque style. It is also called the “City of Flowers” due to its many parks, among which the most famous are: The Coronini Park (1868), The Central Park (1870), The Park of Roses (1891) and the Alpinet Park (1934). Its documentary attestation dates from 1212, when the fortress “Castrum Temisiensis” is mentioned for the first time. 800 years ago the ancient city was at the crossroads of commercial and military roads, fortified with walls, bastions, water ditches and earth waves.
Once you arrive in Timișoara, you must absolutely visit the “Bega City” for at least one day. A walk on the promenade, on the “Corso”, between the Opera House and the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral, offers you the image of the place where the flame of the Romanian Revolution was lit.
“A well, a monument and a cross remind of the heavenly uprising of December 1989.” [Haţegan I., 2010].
The Opera and the National Theatre are housed in the same Renaissance-style building built between 1874 and 1877, according to the plans of the Viennese architects Helmer and Fellmar. The interiors are made in the neo-byzantine style. The opera bears the traces of the cultural history of the city. Johann Strauss the Son and Franz Liszt gave concerts here. Timișoara is the only European city with three state theatres in three different languages: Romanian, German and Hungarian.
The Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral was built between 1936-1946 in an exquisite style, harmoniously combining elements of the Byzantine architecture and the old Romanian architecture, with the Moldavian-style embellishments. It has the shape of a “cross”, 63 m long and 32 m wide, and has twelve towers covered with scale tiles glazed with green and yellow. The towers are placed in geometric figures, and the main tower rises to 83.7 m. Nowhere else in Timisoara can we here the bells tolling like we do at the Cathedral, as the seven bells, made of rare metals, were harmonized and coordinated by the well-known Romanian composer Sabin Drăgoi.
Entering the cathedral, you walk on the floor made after the model of the carpets from the Banat region and admire the high vault of 52 m with paintings made in fresco, tempera and oil by a group of painters coordinated by the famous iconographer Anastasie Demian. The iconostasis has been made and covered in 22-carat gold by the Timișoara sculptor Ştefan Gajo.
Halfway between the Opera and the Cathedral, in the Victoria Square, right on the imaginary axis connecting the two monumental buildings, you can admire the Lupa Capitolina bronze statue, a copy of the symbol of Rome and Latinity, received from the capital of Italy in 1926. The surrounding flower carpet, which changes its colour every season, harmoniously integrates this monument. Stop at “The Corner of White-Violet Supporters” and in front of the Opera to feed the pigeons. Here, the winter fair, the martisor / spring token fair and many concerts are organized throughout the year.
Search for the Union Square in the city centre, built in Baroque style, with monuments full of history: the Roman Catholic Dome (1736-1774), the Monument of the Holy Trinity, built in the memory of the plague victims who died in 1738-1739, and the Baroque Palace (1754). Also in the vicinity of the city centre you can visit the Freedom Square, built in 1730. Go to the Banat Museum from the Huniade Castle. Almost hidden under the giant maple trees, the castle is the only testimony of the middle Ages, being built by the proud king Carol Robert of Anjou during 1308-1315. The name of the castle comes from Ion Huniade, former Count of Timiș. The present shape of the building dates back to 1856.
A two-hour visit can also be made at the Banat Folk Costume Museum situated at the Green Forest district, in a natural setting full of greenery and clean air.
The Citadel’s Bastion is another tourist destination to visit, and it was built in 1720
Located at the intersection of the roads linking the West and the Orient, Timișoara is a multi-ethnic and multicultural city where there have been several premieres in time. It is the first town from Europe with electrical lighting (November 12th 1884). The first tram pulled by horses (July 8th 1846) and the first electric tram (July 27, 1899) were put into operation also in Timișoara.
When you arrive from the North Railway Station of the city, you will cross the Eiffel Bridge, named given also to the current concrete bridge which replaced the metal one, designed by the Eiffel Company and built here in 1891 by the Reșița factories. Timișoara is the native town of the actor Johny Weissmuller, who embodied the Tarzan character in the movie
After walking around the city, you can relax during a boat trip on the Bega River or dine on the banks of the river at the boat- restaurants.