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GHEORGHENI |
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Forty-five kilometres north of Miercurea Ciuc, just beyond the
Izvoru Muresului pass, lies GHEORGHENI (Gyergyószentmiklós), jumping-off
point for Lacu Rosu . Piata Libertatii, the central square, is ringed
with tatty buildings redolent of the era of Austro-Hungarian rule; the
town's tourist office is on its south side, with a Bancomat nearby. To
the north of the square, the pedestrianized Strada Miron Cristea leads
to Bulevardul Lacu Rosu and the splendid high school ( liceu ),
completed in 1915; to the east Strada Márton Arón leads past the
Catholic church to Piata Petofi and the museum (Tues-Sat 9am-4.30pm, Sun
9am-1pm), on the far side of the square at Strada Rácóczi 1. Housed in a
former Armenian merchants' inn, and run by a dedicated young couple, the
museum contains some fascinating artefacts of both the Székely and
Magyar communities, including Székely fence posts, bark salt-baskets and
weatherboards carved with shamanistic motifs brought by the Magyars from
Asia. In the garden is a derelict steam locomotive that used to work the
narrow-gauge line towards Lacu Rosu. Just to the north of the museum is
the church of the Armenian community. Armenians fled here in the
seventeenth century to escape Turkish persecution, and are now almost
wholly assimilated into the Hungarian population. The church's interior
is standard Baroque; if you would like to look inside, the key can be
found at Bdul Lacu Rosu 23.
Trains arriving at Gheorgheni are met by buses to spare passengers the
twenty-minute hike east into the town centre. Getting back to the
station is not so easy and you'll probably end up having to walk. The
bus station is immediately south of the train station, but you can also
board eastbound buses on Bulevardul Lacu Rosu just north of the centre;
there are no buses on the DN13B west to Praid.
Gheorgheni's best hotel is the Mures (tel 066/161 904; $15-20), opposite
the Trade Union House of Culture at Bdul Fratiei 5, the road to the
train and bus stations. The cheaper Szilagyi hotel (tel 066/164 591;
$6-10), which has just a dozen rooms with between two and six beds, is
on the south side of Piata Libertatii, or try the SportHotel Avântul
(tel 066/161 270; under $6) at Str. Stadionului 11, off Strada Balcescu
(the Toplita road). There's also a campsite 4km east of town on the Lacu
Rosu road, near the newish Motel Patru (tel & fax 066/164 213; $6-10).
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