Tourist guide Slatina

1. Esplanada Park

I suggest we start our walk from the Esplanade.

Esplanade is city park and the best place for a stroll. There are several entrances to the park: from Independentei alley, Nicolae Titulescu Boulevard or Vederii Street. If you come by car, I recommend the last option, where you can park your car in free parking spaces, many of them located in the shade of trees. There is also parking in the Independentei alley where it is more crowded, as there is a shopping center.

I will start the description from the upper part of the park, from Independence alley. Here is an area with no access by car - esplanade. From here there is a beautiful view over the park, the lower town and the Olt. Once a kinetic fountain, the pride of the town. Today, break.

The park is very clean and neat. The paths go down through rows of trees lined up, offering a pleasant picture to the eye. They are paved with cubic stone in two colors arranged to form a certain pattern. Tree shadows can be short resting places on our walk. Longer rests can be on the park benches or by the fountain by the pond. There are two somewhat parallel paths that cross the park from top to bottom. Along the alley on the left as you look from top to bottom, there is an artificial stone waterbed. There used to be a waterfall flowing in steps here, but pause here too. You can cross the park in a couple of minutes, but you can't not stop to let time flow and forget more or less minutes of everyday worries, to take pictures, read or take a breath of fresh air...

2. Olt County Museum

Address: 1 Ana Ipătescu Street

Visiting hours: Tuesday - Sunday 9am - 5pm

The Olt County Museum was founded in 1952 and has sections of prehistoric archaeology, Romanian fine arts, history and ethnography.

The museum's website is http://www.mjolt.ro/muzeul-olt/home.

3. Eugen Ionescu Park

We are in the "old town". Our footsteps go smoothly without the stress of car horns because we are still walking through a pedestrian area, in another, smaller park, Eugen Ionescu Park. It is a public garden with a playground, children, parents, grandparents, sun, shade, and again an artesian fountain (said to be singing and with lights, but it didn't tell us anything on musical notes, although we took pictures of it, I think it was shy), and a life-size statue of the European playwright Eugen Ionescu make us make short stops. I noticed the shaded children's playground. There is also a wooden gazebo, which hosts the brass band for specific performances. I remember in my childhood I often went to Herastrau Park in Bucharest to listen to the brass band. Nearby is the house where Eugen Ionesco (Ionescu) was born.

4. The Albanian Athlete

We leave the park and continue on Dinu Lipatti street and admire other old houses, with a tear in the corner of our eyes. At the intersection of Dinu Lipatti street and Grădiniței street, we read the word ice cream. Yes, it is that place! I have known this place for a long time and although it is archaic from many points of view and apparently unattractive, it is a place well known by the people of Slatin. And not only! Above the entrance, situated right on the corner, we find the company that presents the essentials. Firma Atletul Albanez - Confectionery - Gelaterie - Braga - Citro. Do you understand?

The little confectionery sometimes gets crowded. A good sign! In the first shop window, on the right as we enter, we see a ... halviță. In the front window, several families of ice cream. But the place is famous for Dobrin Dobrin's spit. There's also shit and lemonade on offer. I ordered ice cream on the spot and lemonade, shit, and halvita to go. All products are the result of the hard work of the The Albanian athlete and its own laboratory.

On the walls we can read information about the Albanian athlete, about the braga, we find photos and press extracts. I can't read the lyrics either. The business is run by Albanian Memish family over 300 years (!). A visit and a relaxing walk in Slatina must be enriched with an ice-cream and a lemonade from the Albanian Athlete!