Experience the best of Arad

Arad lies on the Mureș river in western Romania, where the river leaves the hills and crosses the flat Pannonian plain towards Hungary, about fifty kilometres from the border. The Habsburg-era centre is a calm grid of broad boulevards, with a town hall topped by a tall clock tower and the Palace of Culture among its grander buildings. A star-shaped fortress of the eighteenth century stands on the river bank.

In Reconciliation Park, the Statue of Liberty recalls the thirteen Hungarian officers executed in Arad in 1849 after the revolution, and faces a triumphal arch honouring the Romanian leader Avram Iancu. Arad's tram line dates from the nineteenth century, and trams still run. Lipova, a small spa town on the Mureș, and the Miniș vineyards lie within an easy drive, and Timișoara is about fifty kilometres to the south.

Cooking in this corner of Romania, where Hungarian, Serb and Romanian traditions overlap, brings stuffed cabbage, smoked sausages and fruit dumplings, and the Miniș vineyards supply local red and white wines. The plain is hot in summer and cold in winter. Spring brings blossom to the riverside parks, and the early autumn light is soft on the boulevards.