Oradea, aka Nagyvarád, aka Großwardein, aka Groisverdain; i.e. גרויסווארדיין.
A small city of nearly 200.000 inhabitants, capital of Bihor county.
A place of history. Hungarian, over most past centuries; Romanian, since World War I left the Austro-Hungarian Empire in shambles.
A bilingual city with a bilingual population: Romanian and Hungarian. Not Yiddish; the Jews were sent to Auschwitz in 1944. (Nevertheless, when I ask around in my Shul back home in Vienna, I notice how many of my friends and acquaintances have roots in this town, or in other places in Bihor county, such as Szatmár / Satu Mare.)
A small river flows through the town. There are bicycle lanes along the river banks. Most houses I have seen north of the river are ancient one-storey buildings from before WWI, some rather derelict, some beautifully renovated. It is said, that the real-estate bubble, that shook countries such as Spain in the early 21st century, also had and has it’s grip on Romania. Here and there, we found sights that reminded us of this fact.
