The Ham Nomads

10 Jul 2015. <RO> Sighişoara —

Today we went up into the Sighişoara Citadel, arguably among the best preserved and prettiest medieval fortified cities anywhere. It's so close to our campsite, that we only had to walk across the river, and about another 400 metres — although this last was all uphill!

The town below the citadel is worth looking at in its own right, but is totally overshadowed by what is up on the hill. As you walk up the steps, you see above you an old clock tower. The clock in the tower is still functioning, with its original clockwork, and forms one of the main exhibits of the Museul de Istorie that now is housed in this building. While we were up on the balcony at the top of the tower, we had it brought home to us just how far we are from our loved ones

After checking out this museum, we went into Piaţa Cetăţii (The Citadel Square), where we found an ample selection of restaurants to choose from for our morning cuppa. We went into the Taverna Romaneasca, whose menu made a fair case for us returning later for lunch! While sitting there, we were entertained by a group of children from what must have been a summer camp, who came into the square brandishing flags, singing, dancing and bouncing around to the sound of a drum. They did a few of the routines they had obviously learned in camp. much to the delight of all the spectators. They were having a great time!

There's a saying about the fortress ... "The whole fortress is a museum and each building is a monument." In the middle ages, the fortress had about the same number of houses as today, about 150.

We explored a little further, finding the House with the Stag, dating back to the 17th century. We walked past the birthplace of Vlad Ţepeş (Vlad the Impaler). (We were a little confused, as it was advertised as the birthplace of Vlad Dracul, and as we all know by now, Vlad Dracul was the father of Vlad Ţepeş, aka Vlad Draculea.) We went down to the Tailors' Tower, one of the towers in the citadel's defences, and which dates back to the 14th and 15th centuries — although little of what we can see could really date back past 1676, when the gunpowder works housed in this building exploded, destroying much of the neighbouring city.

We then went back up to Piaţa Cetăţii and turned up Str. şcolii (Schulgaße) to the Scara acoperită (the Covered Stairway) up to the Church on the Hill, a Lutheran church dedicated to St Nicholas (remember our day in Myra in Turkey, the home of St Nicholas?), dating back to 1345,  and the School on the Hill, dating back to 1607-08. Suzie found herself reliving her old school days here — Warren didn't have the heart to tell her that all the textbooks were in German or Romanian!

Scara acoperită

St. Joseph Roman-Catholic Church

We came back up to the square and had lunch at Taverna Romaneasca, were we shared two traditional Romanian dishes — Gulaş de porc pregătit cu cârnaţi iuţi şi Fasole Roşie (goulash with hot sausages and beans) and Mămăliguţă cu brânză frământată la cupor (Romanian corn meal with minced cheese, served piping hot from the oven). Both of us sampled each dish, and gave each a brilliant passing grade!

We left the square, and made our way out, passing the Biserica Mănaăstirii, aka the Minster. This Monastery Church was built in the Gothic style in the 13th century. This church was Dominican from the start, but during the Reformation, and since, it has become Lutheran. It was burnt out in the 1676 fire (see the Tailors' Tower, above), so what we see dates from then. Another place with a camera ban so, sorry, no pictures.

We've been annoyed by beggars all the way round Romania — some of them very persistent. It's obviously a big problem here, because we noticed official signs about the place, "Stop the abuse. Don't give money to beggars".

From here, we walked down into 'Down Town' — literally — and then back via the Orthodox Cathedral (Biserica Sfânta Treime) near our campsite, to Camping Aquaris and the van. A wonderful day in an exquisite location!

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 23,753 miles ( 38,227 km )