Our next heading was Sibiu, one of the bigger towns in Transylvania and of great cultural interest but there were no festivals going on, on a Tuesday…
It’s a cute old centre, based around three plazas, all Baroque prettiness and a good place to have some lunch and watch the world go by.
On the outskirts of the old town, there are other nice areas with buildings that could do with some restoration but it’s evident to see how prosperous this city used to be in the 1700s.
We spent the night just south of the city. The next day, our plan to visit the Open Air Museum were scuppered a little due to the weather. It was raining hard. Because of this the inside of a lot of the buildings were closed—much to Wendy’s distress—but it was still enjoyable and in any case we had our waterproofs and an umbrella. What more do you need!
The bad weather continued for the whole day—and in fact it rained for four days really…
In the afternoon, we drove towards Sighisoara, and into the heart of what can be called ‘Saxon Land’—well that’s what the Lonely Planet refers to it as anyway—seeing lots of colourful houses typical of the area, and a few Romani people on horse and carts.
This historic area is where Saxons moved to during the 12th century, well they were invited by the Hungarian king at the time, so as to keep good relations with the Germanic Holy Roman Empire.
We think of Transylvania firmly as a part of Romania these days, but like much of Europe, borders have changed time and again over the centuries, and it was only after WWI that it was firmly Romanian.
Even though the ethnicity of the region has been predominately Romanian for 100s of years, the territory was (mostly) part of Hungarian lands for nearly a millennia and there are still many Hungarians living in the area to this day.
We wild camped for the night just outside of the city in the Breite Oak Tree Reserve. Another one of these fantastic stumbles of ours, where we turn up somewhere really nice that we had no idea about.
It’s a large grassland plateau with lots of very old Oaks, between 200 and 800 years old. We’ve never seen so many old oaks in one place. It was quite spectacular.
It had stopped raining overnight but not long after we got up in the morning, the rain had returned.
We had the tailgate up so we were sheltered from the rain if we went outside, but the shelter wasn’t just for us, a very friendly sheep-dog decided he was going to sit under the tailgate too and keep out of the rain!
We drove the short distance into Sighisoara to visit the compact old town—yet another UNESCO—and which is also the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, AKA Vlad the Impaler, AKA Dracula!
Even in the rain it was pleasurable walking around the cobbled streets here, it had a very medieval feel, with a touch of tourist trap…
After some lunch and much deliberation, we decided to make our way back towards Sibiu, stopping at the small village of Biertan, famed for its fortified church. A first for us, to see one of these.
Unusual and quite rare in the rest of Europe but omni-present in ‘Saxon Land’, the churches were fortified with high enclosing walls and observation towers during the 1600s to ward off Ottoman attacks.
It was interesting to see, although in essence it really was a castle in all but name, the keep being replaced with a church.
We continued on through the countryside, seeing a few more examples of these fortified churches along the way, as we drove past, before getting back on the main road and heading to a campsite not far from Sibiu to hunker down for the next day, the rain was getting a bit tedious…
For a change we had an appointment to keep, we had to meet some people at a specific place and time, but more on that later…
Sibiu Old Town
Sibiu Open Air Museum
Beirte Oak Rerserve
Sighișoara
Biertan
It’s a cute old centre, based around three plazas, all Baroque prettiness and a good place to have some lunch and watch the world go by.
On the outskirts of the old town, there are other nice areas with buildings that could do with some restoration but it’s evident to see how prosperous this city used to be in the 1700s.
We spent the night just south of the city. The next day, our plan to visit the Open Air Museum were scuppered a little due to the weather. It was raining hard. Because of this the inside of a lot of the buildings were closed—much to Wendy’s distress—but it was still enjoyable and in any case we had our waterproofs and an umbrella. What more do you need!
The bad weather continued for the whole day—and in fact it rained for four days really…
In the afternoon, we drove towards Sighisoara, and into the heart of what can be called ‘Saxon Land’—well that’s what the Lonely Planet refers to it as anyway—seeing lots of colourful houses typical of the area, and a few Romani people on horse and carts.
This historic area is where Saxons moved to during the 12th century, well they were invited by the Hungarian king at the time, so as to keep good relations with the Germanic Holy Roman Empire.
We think of Transylvania firmly as a part of Romania these days, but like much of Europe, borders have changed time and again over the centuries, and it was only after WWI that it was firmly Romanian.
Even though the ethnicity of the region has been predominately Romanian for 100s of years, the territory was (mostly) part of Hungarian lands for nearly a millennia and there are still many Hungarians living in the area to this day.
We wild camped for the night just outside of the city in the Breite Oak Tree Reserve. Another one of these fantastic stumbles of ours, where we turn up somewhere really nice that we had no idea about.
It’s a large grassland plateau with lots of very old Oaks, between 200 and 800 years old. We’ve never seen so many old oaks in one place. It was quite spectacular.
It had stopped raining overnight but not long after we got up in the morning, the rain had returned.
We had the tailgate up so we were sheltered from the rain if we went outside, but the shelter wasn’t just for us, a very friendly sheep-dog decided he was going to sit under the tailgate too and keep out of the rain!
We drove the short distance into Sighisoara to visit the compact old town—yet another UNESCO—and which is also the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, AKA Vlad the Impaler, AKA Dracula!
Even in the rain it was pleasurable walking around the cobbled streets here, it had a very medieval feel, with a touch of tourist trap…
After some lunch and much deliberation, we decided to make our way back towards Sibiu, stopping at the small village of Biertan, famed for its fortified church. A first for us, to see one of these.
Unusual and quite rare in the rest of Europe but omni-present in ‘Saxon Land’, the churches were fortified with high enclosing walls and observation towers during the 1600s to ward off Ottoman attacks.
It was interesting to see, although in essence it really was a castle in all but name, the keep being replaced with a church.
We continued on through the countryside, seeing a few more examples of these fortified churches along the way, as we drove past, before getting back on the main road and heading to a campsite not far from Sibiu to hunker down for the next day, the rain was getting a bit tedious…
For a change we had an appointment to keep, we had to meet some people at a specific place and time, but more on that later…
Sibiu Old Town
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| A bit random this but, dinosaurs are old too, right! |
Sibiu Open Air Museum
 |
| Not seen ofne of these before, a floating mill |
Beirte Oak Rerserve
Sighișoara
 |
| The yellow house is Vlad's birthplace |
Biertan
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| The lock contains 19 locks in one. It won first prize at the Paris World Expo in 1900 |
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| Driving around, these houses are typical of the area |
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