Turda sits on salt. Under the town, the Salina Turda, an old salt mine, has been converted into an extraordinary underground amusement park, with a Ferris wheel, a lake with rowing boats and a mini-golf course more than a hundred metres below the surface, inside vast chambers carved out over centuries. Above ground, on the hill called Dealul Cetății, the Romans built the camp of the Fifth Macedonian Legion, which moved here in the late second century to guard the heart of the province of Dacia. The legionary fortress of Potaissa, with its walls, gates and headquarters building, has been excavated, and it counts as one component of UNESCO's inscription of the Dacian frontier.
Turda has more history than its size suggests. In 1568, the Diet of Turda proclaimed freedom of religion in Transylvania, one of the earliest laws of its kind in Europe. In 1601, Michael the Brave, who had briefly united the three Romanian principalities, was murdered near the town; his tomb stands on a hill nearby. The surrounding landscape includes the Turda Gorge, a spectacular limestone canyon with cliffs over two hundred metres high and a path along the river, popular with hikers and climbers.
The riding is good. The motorways from Cluj and toward the south pass close to Turda, but the real fun is on the minor roads into the Trascău mountains to the west, with gorges, villages and forests. The road toward the Turda Gorge is narrow and twisty, and the road over the hills toward the Arieș valley and the Apuseni mountains offers curves and views. The surface varies from excellent to poor. Summer can be hot, and winter brings snow and fog. Watch for local driving habits, especially overtaking.
Turda has fuel, beds and plenty of places to eat. The cooking here is Transylvanian, with Hungarian influences: goulash, stuffed cabbage, sour soups and cakes. The salt mine is worth the queue for anyone who has never seen anything like it, and the air inside is said to be good for the lungs. The Roman fortress is on the hill above the town, and from its walls you look out over the valley of the Arieș, as the legionaries once did.