Rosie and The Operator are currently crisscrossing the province of Transylvania in Romania. Today we are driving a couple of hours from Brasov to Sighisoara, (pronounced See-Ghee-Shwaa-ra), home to 28,500 and known as The Pearl of Transylvania.
This is the smallest, brightest, cutest and most colourful town we have stayed in during our time in Romania and Rosie thinks she saved the best till last! Yes, yes, you all sigh and roll your eyes, Rosie says that all the time, each town we arrive in seems to be better than the last….its just true. Maybe its because each town is unique and special in its own way, that’s the difference that makes them all seem so beautiful. Ps – The cobblestones in this town are treacherous, so Rosie is treading very carefully!
This is another town in Transylvania that was settled in the 12th century by craftsmen and merchants known as the Transylvanian Saxons. These families came from Germany on the invite of the King of Hungary to settle and defend the frontier of his realm from the Ottomans and Tartars.
Driving into this town was amazing! Up the narrow, cobbled streets we drove right into the old town with the spires of The Citadel looming over us!
We are staying in a small Hotel called Taschler House that had just won the accolade, we were informed by our hosts, for the third year in a row of being the Best Boutique Hotel in Romania! Well golly gosh, it was a lovely place to stay alright, more akin to an olde worlde B&B.
On arrival we were given complimentary shots of homemade local liquor, Palinka for the men. Cherry Liquor for Rosie….we chinked glasses and dutifully knocked the spirits back. Wow, we shook our heads and grimaced. That sure made our eyes water! Rocket fuel on arrival, guaranteed to rev us up and get us out and about.
This little chap was our neighbor. The first couple of times we came home he barked and barked from his doorstep where he was securely tied during the day. After coming and going regularly…he stopped barking and watched us so quizzically with his cute little face as we passed by.
Entering The Citadel is like taking a step back in time. The stone edifice of the huge double defense gates are impressive as you walk through them as are the real life cannon ball craters in the stone, permanently scarred from attacks long past.
A genteel covered wooden walkway leads from the town gate through to the next gate and The Clock Tower above watches over everything. Its delicate four turreted spire can be seen from every part of the old town.
The day was sunny and the pastel coloured houses were glowing in the sunshine. Rosie and The Operator wandered into The Town Square which had a brass band seated playing under the shade of a tree and kids, dressed in National costume were doing traditional folk dancing in the middle of the square in the blazing sun.
The square was full of people watching, sitting outside under umbrellas on restaurant and café terraces that stretched out onto the cobbled square tapping their feet and clapping along to the music. Every piece of shade was occupied by observers and the atmosphere was relaxed and quite festive.
The best known house in the town square is The House With The Stag, glowing white in the sunshine on the corner. Built in the 1600s you can see the exterior has been repainted and freshened. The painting of the stags you can see on either corner and the stag head is the original though…five hundred years old! Awesome!
Rosie and The Operator wander back to the Clock Tower which was first built in the 13th Century and has been added to over the course of 400 hundred years. Getting a little taller and a little fancier over time with new additions being added like the clock and bells. It is 64 metres tall, brutally dominating and solid looking. This tower was the towns main Watchtower and first line of defense for the town gate from the time it was first built and through the ages.
We climbed the tower which now houses the town history museum displays on every floor. The boards of the tower are squeaky and slightly soft under foot and announces your arrival floor by floor with every step you take. There is no sneaking up on anyone in this tower that’s for shore.
As you would expect, the views over the new town from the top are magnificent.
It is hard to get a pic though of the upper reaches of the citadels treasures sitting on the hilltop as it is quite wooded and leafy and the sights are hiding amongst the greenery. That will be another discovery later in the day.
The two clock faces on the tower are hand painted and there are many curious figures that rotate in and out of the public view hourly and daily depicting life in the citadel. There are two figures that represent sunrise and sunset and let the townsfolk know the start and the end of the working day which was normally 6am – 6pm.
Another carousel of hand carved rotating characters depict the day of the week and can be seen quite well from inside the tower as they await their appearance on the allotted day for the townsfolk outside to see.
The Monastery Church is the original in the town and was first mentioned in 1298. After a couple of rebuilds due to Tartar invasions through the centuries this church stands as per its last rebuild in 1676. It looks so story book perfect and like something off a chocolate box.
As does the rest of the town as we wander around it. Between the 14th and the 16th centuries the Saxons built a huge thick and strong defense wall around the entire town. This wall had 14 watchtowers and multiple bastions each manned of course by one of the Trade Guilds as was the custom of the day.
The Rope Makers Tower is one of the prettiest 9 towers that remain today on the original wall and sits in a small secluded beautiful square. It seems to a favorite place for loved up young teens to meet and sit together on the park benches. This is also the furthest square away from the school…so maybe they were all skivving off.
Strolling along the edge of the town following the line of the wall we next come to The Tailors Tower, one of the few constructed in the 14th Century and is situated opposite the Clock Tower right over the other side of town.
This was the sturdy, blocky, secondary, back gate point of access to The Citadel and is still used today for getting in and out of the town. The walls are so thick and imposing, yet its two tunnels are still a perfect fit in width for modern cars to whiz in and out of…..just!
Walking around the town the remaining towers pop up everywhere, each so unique and beautiful in their own way.
The grey tower below, in the middle of the pic that Rosie spied from the the top of the clock tower is the prettiest in the town and looks like a real life Rapunzel tower. Rosie never did find out which guild manned this tower.
At the bottom of the hill that leads to the highest part of the Citadel is The Covered Stairway, it is something we have never seen before in any town, anywhere, and is literally just that.
A covered walkway that goes all the way up the hill. It was built in 1642 and is entirely original, can you believe that this totally wooden structure has lasted so long? Amazing! It has 175 steps to the top and was built to keep the school kids dry when they walked to school, because the school, which was built in 1619 is at the top of the staircase!
The ancient, School on the Hill, as it is officially called is still the town school by the way. Rosie was gasping for air at the top of the staircase. Then the school bell rang and the kids all piled out of class. The older ones all slouched around the school door and steps, lit up their fags and started puffing away! The teachers came out last, also lit up….and joined them.
There was quite a substantial smoke cloud rising from the playground Rosie might add….nothing unusual there though in Romania. It seems like every kid is given a pack of fags for their 13th birthday in this part of the world and becomes a life long habit from there.
More Romanians seem to smoke than don’t. In 2017 they finally banned smoking indoors, thank goodness, but every outdoor terrace with the best views around is still hit and miss if you are a non smoker.
Rosie loves the names of The Citadels ancient wonders, they are so simple, The Church on the Hill, is the oldest monument in the citadel dating from 1345! It is very simple and said to be one of only a few examples of purist Romanian Gothic architecture in the country. Still feeling a little hot and bothered from the climb up the stairs on this stinking hot day, Rosie takes refuge in the shade of the trees that grow in the wonderful graveyard that spills down the hill behind the church.
Rosie isn’t the only one seeking shade, this pooch has found a nice place to while away the day with a gentle breeze fanning his fur. There seem to be a lot of stray dogs in Romania. Most other countries are plagued by cats, here it is dogs, one dog seems to own and live at every layby in the country. We drive by and a pooch will be lying in the sun waiting for a car or truck to pull in so it can go and beg for scraps.
In the towns the dogs roam singly as well. They will come and sit by your restaurant table and look at you with those big brown doggy eyes. The Operator can never resist, Rosie wonders why they are so persistent at our table and why specifically they are ignoring her, do they know my heart lies with their nemesis species?
No, The Operator is already slipping them food as soon as they arrive and of course, they only have eyes for him. In this town over a few days he has begun to know then quite personally, and them him….The Operator has even gone as far as giving them names….
Inside the church it is peacefulness personified, and so chilly, it is like a fridge! Rosie now knows why the ticket seller was sitting outside on a folding chair in the sun instead of in the wee indoor office, way to cold!
See these frescoes painted on the walls in the pictures below…original…along with remnants of a few others. These paintings from the 14th – 16th Centuries are the most important in Transylvania due to their age and authenticity. Rosie feels very privileged gazing upon them.
This is the highest point in Sighisoara, just around the corner from the Church on the Hill, and this is the view over the new town from the very top of the ancient Citadel, looking down and out to the suspension bridge crossing the Tarnava Mare River that flows through the province in the distance.
The historical sights of this town are pretty, compact and easy to visit, to get the full experience of this town it is just a pleasure to wander the streets and see what you stumble across. Or, pick a terrace and, with a drink in hand while away the time in the shade with an icy beverage.
The pastel colours of the houses and their window decorations just put a smile on Rosie’s face and keep her camera clicking out of control.
Plus, Rosie loves her food whilst sitting also on said terraces. Maybe a little to much according to her jeans, the food is heavy here in Romania, but so tasty. Rosie has enjoyed way to many servings of the Bean and Smoked Ham Hock Soup….served in a dish of delicious carbs of course.
Rosie also tried a Hungarian Platter….sorry Romania, theirs looked nicer than yours. Potato Soup, Sour Cabbage, Beef Goulash with Spaetzle….oh, and a Strudel. Sensational!
The Operator of course went full Romanian. Rosie was too busy tucking into hers she forgot to take a note of what he was having…Rosie’s does look nicer though.
As we are talking food, another night we shared Ribs with Grilled Veges and a nice tart Beetroot Salad with Horseradish…..yum, yum. Yes, salads aren’t really a thing here and Rosie had a real hankering for one and this one had to fit the bill.
Rosie and The Operator had walked past this tourist spot a few times and grimaced at the people going in. Now, having walked past for the tenth time we turned and looked at each other and agreed….the likelihood of us coming back to this town are zero, we are in Transylvania and we should embrace this whole Dracula thing…if the whole town can fall victim to it with its tacky souvenirs and T Shirts…why cant we?
So let Rosie and The Operator welcome you to the bright yellow house that Vlad The Impaler….aka ‘Dracula’ was born in, and, lived in up until the age of four years old.
Yes, seriously, here is the sign on the wall of the house proclaiming this. Rosie must say that the Dracul family did have prime real estate back in the day, so close to the town gates.
Looking left and right, we, a little embarrassed, snuck furtively through the door. This house also houses a Dracula themed restaurant and bar with suitably tacky Dracula themed menu items like the Chicken Roll with Dracula Sauce…yip, its gotta be red tomato sauce, doesn’t it?
We walked into the bar area which seemed to be hosting a tour group. We were ignored so up the stairs to Dracula’s bedroom we ventured and were called out on the squeaky staircase for not paying our entrance fee to the bar.
The Operator handed over $3.50NZD each and up the staircase we went to view The Bedroom of Count Dracula. On the landing was a classy wall art painting showing Vlad as he looked in the heyday of his impaling fame. Maybe Rosie was getting a little excited now, after all the restaurant was quite classy as is the entrance way to the main attraction.
This visitor attraction is number 19/24 things to do in Sighisoara on TripAdvisor and has a solid 2 star average rating out of 5. The reviews are pretty fifty/fifty on it being an average attraction and good for a bit of a laugh to a very poor rating and wanting their money back outrage….you decide how you would view this experience.
Are you ready? We stepped over the threshold and entered The Bedroom of Dracula and wow, Rosie cant see a damn thing, its pitch black with red low lights. Crikey said Rosie can you see anything? She asked The Operator…. My eyes are adjusting said The Operator, and there in front of us was a slightly raised coffin with Dracula….reposing in it.
Mwaaaahhaaaaha deeply intoned Dracula as he raised himself slightly into a sitting position in his coffin and spread his arms in welcome….OMG, said Rosie Serious! As she burst out laughing.
Would you like to leave a tip? asked Dracula, in perfect English, gracefully gesturing to his tip box next to him.
Where are your fangs? Asked Rosie.
Oh shit, said Dracula and leaned out of his coffin and started rummaging around the tip box, looking under his book and mobile phone before admitting defeat at the lost fangs and shrugging his shoulders.
No fangs, no tip, said Rosie.
Like he was going to get one anyway, mumbled The Operator, shuffling Rosie out of the room.
Over a drink in the shade on a terrace overlooking the bustling square, we just had to laugh at that experience. It was so crap it was actually genius. Good to see an entrepreneur taking advantage of a legend and getting away with it! We had paid just little enough to carry on laughing and not be bothered with wasting it. Cheers to them.
Tomorrow will be a pretty relaxed day, we are venturing into the Romanian countryside again to visit Viscri, one of the finest fortified churches in Romania that is built within a village that time and the turning of the centuries has forgotten. Can’t wait.
Romania is Fantastic! Check out Bucharest Old Town where we started our journey.
Sibiu was our next stop and was unforgettable.
Corvin Castle was a fairytale treat.
Bran Castle and The Romanian Countryside was also a sight to behold!
Brasov – Heart of the Transylvanian Countryside
