Bucharest – Sinaia – Bran – Brasov – Sighisoara

Departing from Bucharest to Sinaia. Visit the most representative tourist objectives in Sinaia: Sinaia Monastery (17th sec.) and Peles Castle (royal palace, one of the most beautiful in Europe). From Sinaia we are heading to another famous castle, Bran Castle, where we stop for a visit (the castle is surrounded by the mystical legend of Dracula) and then a sightseeing tour of Brasov will be paid ( including visit of the historical center, the Black Church in gothic style, the Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas). After these spectaculous highlights of Transylvania, we will stop in the evening for accommodation in Sighisoara.

Sighisoara – A place to remember

After having breakfast prepare yourselt for a tour of Sighisoara.
Founded by German craftsmen and merchants known as the Saxons of Transylvania, Sighisoara is a fine example of a small, fortified medieval town which played an important strategic and commercial role on the fringes of central Europe for several centuries. The Sighisoara Medieval Citadel is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and serve as living monument to more than eight centuries of Saxon history.

Sighisoara’s Towers.
Around the citadel walls are the towers that the guilds erected during the 14th to 16th centuries to protect the town from Turkish raids. Each tower was built by one of the guilds and bears the name of the guild. 14 towers were erected but only 9 are still standing. We walked around the perimeter of the citadel and spotted The Rope Makers’ Tower (Turnul Franghierilor), The Taylors’ Tower (Turnul Croitorilor), The Showmakers’ Tower (Turnul Cizmarilor), The Butchers’ Tower (Turnul Macelarilor), The Furriers’ Tower (Turnul Cojocarilor), The Tinkers’ Tower (Turnul Cositorarilor), The Tanners’ Tower (Turnul Tabacarilor) and The Blacksmiths’ Tower (Turnul Fierarilor). The ninth tower still standing is the Clock Tower itself.

The Clock Tower.

Sighisoara’s most impressive tower was built in the 14th century and expanded to 64m height in the 16th century. Its role was to be the main gate into the citadel and to house the town’s council. The clock was installed in the 17th century. Two niches show moving figurines; on the upper town side, the goddesses of peace, fairness, justice, a drummer and two angels rotate. On the lower town side, there’s an executioner, another drummer (striking the quarter hours) and figurines representing each day of the week. Inside the tower, the History Museum exhibits objects from Sighisoara’s past; make your way through the warren of rooms and staircases to reach the clockwork and the balcony with fine views over the town and countryside. At the foot of the Clock Tower is the Torture Room, a small and eerie museum that details the barbarous methods used to extract confessions from prisoners during the Middle Ages. Some ancient instruments of torture are still on display here.

Vlad Dracul’s House.

The large house where Vlad Tepes (alias Dracula) was born is now being put to use as a restaurant, bar and beer cellar. Along the ceiling of the dining room are fragments of 15th century frescoes depicting the Vlad and his dad.

The House With Stag.

The House with Stag gets its name from a stag head fixed on the corner of the building. This type of construction is specific to the Transylvanian Renaissance of the 17th century. Nowadays, the building houses a modern pension, a cafe-restaurant with traditional dishes and a Romanian-German cultural centre.

The Covered Stairs.

Next to the School Street there is a covered wooden staiway named the “Covered Stairs” or “Schoolboys’ Stairs”. The stair was built in 1642 to facilitate the schoolchidren’s way to the School on the Hill during winter. Originally the stairs had 300 steps, but today their number was reduced to 175. The Covered Stairway leads also to the Church on the Hill.

The Hill Church.

This beautiful Gothic church dominates the hill at the southern end of the citadel. It can be reached by climbing the 175 steps of the covered wooden Scholars’ Stairs. The building of the church started in 1345 and ended in 1525, 180 years later. Also inside the church there are beautiful religious sculptures and paintings like the pulpit carved in 1480, an old stone holy water front dating from the 15th century as well as shrines brought from the churches of Saes and Cund.

Sighisoara – Biertan – Bucharest

Breakfast. On the way back to Bucharest we stop to another place included on the UNESCO List of Patrimony – The Fortified Church from Biertan.

Biertan Church

The fortified church of Biertan was built in the place of an old basilica at the end of the 15 th century with architectural elements from the late-Gothic and renaissance style. The walls, which surround the church in three rows, were built in several stages; the inner enclosure was already built in the 14 th century to protect the old basilica. The second enclosure was erected in the 15 th century and the third one as well as the 8 towers and the bastions were built the 16 th century. The altar is the “gem” of Biertan church, as it is considered not only one of the biggest, but also the most beautiful Gothic folding triptychs in Transilvania. It is made-up of 28 pre-Reformation plates, dating from 1483 and attributed to the Vienna “Schottenmeister” school. The Sacristy Door is another of the churches “jewels”. The oak door, with inlaid work, dates from 1515 and has a huge lock with a complicated mechanism on its backside. This was awarded a prize at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 as it was considered a masterpiece of Transilvanian arts and crafts. The Church of Biertan served for 300 years as the residence of the Lutheran bishop of Transilvania. Today it is one of Roumania’s most important historical and architectural monuments, included in 1993 on the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage.