We left monasteries in favour of churches as we wended our way back gradually from north Romania south towards Bucharest, which we will reach on Saturday. Our journey took us via some beautiful valleys in Transylvania, rather reminiscent of Austria with its peaks and chocolate box houses.
Every town we passed through, it seemed, was so nicely decorated with planting, particularly bedding plants, roses and trees clipped as standards. Upon enquiring, the town halls take it upon themselves to make their villages horticulturally pretty. Unlike the capital, very little graffiti is seen in these smaller communities.
The order of the day, particularly on Thursday, involved towers and fortified churches. We had never seen so many towers and that meant, wherever possible, we really wanted to climb for the best view over the towns. At this stage of the trip (my!) legs are beginning to feel the strain of yet more steps. Just one trip to reach a church involved 200 steps even before we got to its tower!
The town in which we stayed overnight on day five, Sighisoara, was architecturally beautiful. Sighisoara has buildings dating back to the 14th century. Its medieval citadel contains 9 towers dedicated to various trades including the ironsmiths, bootmakers, tailors, butchers and rope makers. Our first climb was up the 60 metre tall clock tower (also a museum) to see the workings of the little metal characters who chime the bells every 15 minutes. Six floors up I realised that I would not need my Pilates session this week.
This is also the town in which Vlad the Impaler (better known as Vlad III Dracula) was allegedly born. His birthplace is now a restaurant and, of course, it is customary to eat at this establishment. We could not resist the blood sausage and rare steaks!
After a morning tour of Sighisoara, we left for Sibiu and visited a fortified Saxon church at Biertan en route.
There are many of these Saxon fortified churches in this area of Transylvania and the church we visited was a UNESCO World heritage site. While larger towns under threat of invasion may have fortifications around their outskirts, smaller communities created fortifications around the church, incorporating defensive towers.
After the visit at Biertan we hit the road again to Sibiu where we had a tour of the old town that evening before a traditional Romanian dinner.
Tomorrow we visit Corvin castle and the rural Transylvania village of Sibiel.
I’m loving all of this, Sue, and the photography is beautiful! You’ve just encouraged me to add one more place to my bucket list! Thank you for posting your travels! Glad we shared a table with you early this year in Budapest! 😊👍
Hi. It is really good to hear from you over in the States. Thanks for your feedback. As per another reply I have just posted, I shall add a few words about tourism in Romania in our epilogue as it is not as developed as some other countries. We have scheduled a couple of trips to the States so might even be able to share a table once again 😉 Best wishes, Sue and John
So interesting!! Are you on an organised tour or doing this yourself? I am very fascinated by that part of the world as it is untouched in terms of tourism and would be a great to experience before the rest of the tours catch on. Keep the reports coming.
D and E
Hi Diane. We were going to get in contact as one member of our party is from Brisbane. Her name is Edwina, and as is always said: we guess you know her ;). As for the tour, we are with a group, but you have prompted me to get a few words together for the epilogue about tourism in Romania.