Carousing in Carei

Have you ever heard of Carei, Romania? If so, congrats. You are either Romanian or a trivia beast who absolutely kills in the geography category. I thought I knew this country. I've been to Bucharest (a lot!!), Brashov, Bran, Sinaia, Sighișoara, Sibiu, the Danube Delta and a bunch of little towns in between. I really do love Romania. Yet when I learned that I would be spending a night in Carei, I had to turn to both Google and my good friend, Laura. The first informed me that this small town sits in Northern Transylvania, right on the border with both Hungary and Ukraine, an area I've never explored. The latter, a native Romanian, had also never been but was excited that I would get to visit the Karol G castle. 

I replayed her voicemail to make sure I was hearing her right. Karol G, the Colombian singer songwriter, is kicking ass but La Bichota is not 'buy a castle in a remote part of Eastern Europe' kicking ass. Then Laura sent me the link, which is how I found out I would actually be visiting Karolyi Castle.  That knowledge aside, I decided I still prefer to call it the Karol G castle. 

In a very fortunate turn of events, the castle was in a park directly across the street from my hotel. Not that the town is very big, but I checked into the hotel at 3pm, 2 hours before the castle was scheduled to close. There was no time to waste. I threw my bag in the room and ran across the park.

There it was, this 15th century defensive fort turned 18th century castle. Since then, it has served amongst other things as a sanitarium, casino, military hospital, library and its current role, city museum.

At first, I thought that perhaps I rushed for nothing. The entry hall was set up for an event of some kind, there was no ticket seller and the small souvenir stand was closing up. Were they closing for a private event? Maybe not, since someone eventually showed up to collect the entrance fee. Hoping for some guidance, I asked for a museum map, which was met with a blank stare. The only English speaker on property was beckoned and promptly ran off to a find a copier. Ten minutes later, he reappeared with a map of not only of the castle but the city itself. 

I got the distinct feeling that Karol G doesn't get a whole lot of visitors but who doesn't want to have a castle all to themselves? I started with the upstairs portion, which is done up in period furniture and features costumed mannequins in random spots.

I may or may not have taken the opportunity to stream some Karol G and dance in this ballroom.

It was certainly not the most lavish or interesting castle I've ever visited but given that this is a city I had never even heard of, I was willing to cut it some slack.

That is until the end, when I came across an absolutely disgusting and unnecessary set of rooms full of hunting trophies. As I sped through, I spotted an elephant, a lion, a giraffe and other assorted creatures that have zero to do with the city or castle's history. I looked in vain for a comment book to complain but will have to settle for bitching here. Really, Carei? Do better. 

Downstairs, there were signs pointing to various other exhibitions. Eager to try to forget the carnage of the last couple of rooms, I sought out the wax museum. There was still an hour to closing but I found it locked. Luckily, I was able to find the ticket seller and with the help of Google translate, ask him to open it. He didn't seem thrilled with my request but still searched through what appeared to be a junk drawer and came up with a key. 

Once inside, there was quite the cast of characters. Since it was just me and them, I took it as a sign that I should give them a backstory. 

There was another exhibit across the hall, this one of fine china, which was advertised via flags at the entrance. I returned to the ticket guy, google translate in hand, hoping to get into that locked room. "No" That is all he said. No attempt at an explanation. Simply no. Good thing I'm not really all that into china. 

I took advantage of the fact that I still had the city map to roam around and check out some of the other highlights. Right outside the park was the Monument to the Romanian Solider. It is a communist era style grouping of figures commemorating the 1944 liberation of Carei from Hungarian and German control.

Most of the other points of interests were religious structures of some kind. First up was the St Dimitri Orthodox church, with its very cool interior.

Next was a 2 for 1, adjacent Greek-Catholic and Orthodox churches with a replica of the area's traditional wooden churches between them.

Roman Catholics got their representation with the St Joseph Calansanz church. 

As does the Jewish community with a synagogue. 

It may look like I covered a lot of ground but the town is actually really really small. The helpful front desk guy from the hotel had marked out the route on my museum map and while it looked like it was going to be a lot, the whole walk took maybe 15 minutes.  

One of the benefits of being in such a small town is that I ended up running into some coworkers and joining them for a fabulous dinner at the Magnolia Restaurant. It had been a while since I'd had Mamaliga (think Romanian polenta) and Cascaval Pane (breaded cheese but so much better than it sounds) but it was just as good as I remembered.

Best of all, I got to introduce them to Palinca, a local brandy. If there is something I have learned, it is that if you, a foreigner, visit a Romanian home, you will not have a chance to sit down before someone produces a bottle of Palinca. Resistance is futile. You must do a shot, lest you set off an international incident. Seeing as all my Romanian friends were back in Bucharest, I happily stepped into the role of Palinca-pusher. 

What better way to celebrate this short stay in this new (to me) part of one of my favorite countries?