Europe by van Day 11

We’ve had a very interesting day visiting both Sighisoara and Viscri.

Some traffic lights at a big junction in Sighisoara were out of action so there was a squad of police directing traffic, not too effectively. Eventually we got parked and had a lovely wander in the old historic centre. It was very busy with tourists. In the late Medieval period Sighisoara was at the frontier of the Ottoman Empire and faced repeated sieges and raids. Between 1300 and 1500 the city's various guilds built and maintained defensive towers, many of which are still intact.

We made our way up the cobbled streets flanked by colourfully painted houses, passing the one where Dracula was born. We saw the 13th century clock tower, currently being renovated. This led us into Citadel Square with more colourful houses and bars. The stiff climb from the Lower Citadel led us up to the 15th-century Gothic church, considered one of Transylvania's finest. En route we spotted, protecting the northwest walls of the citadel, the Rope-makers' Tower, a particularly quaint sight because a dwelling has been built into the side of it. This is inhabited by the groundskeeper of the Evangelical Cemetery.
From a distance you can see the filled -in loopholes on its lowest levels, going back to the 1200s.

At the church Mr C declined to part with his €2 so I went in alone. At an elevation of 429 metres, the church is built on an earlier Romanesque basilica and is noted for its frescoes that were painted in the 1480s. These once coated every surface of the interior, but were whitewashed in 1776 and fragments have been brought back to light after a restoration. I saw yet another fresco of George killing the dragon.

Linking the Upper Citadel with Citadel Square, the Covered Staircase dates to 1642 and is sheltered by a timber roof and walls. It was built to allow students to get up to the school by the Church on the Hill even when there was snow on the ground.
When the staircase was finished in the 17th there were 300 steps but now only 176 remain. We descended these and worked our way down the cobbled streets and through ancient arches back to the van.

Again we had a wait while the police continued to flail around with the traffic but eventually we were underway for the 40 minute drive into the hills to Viscri. With a history that goes back to the 12th century, Viscri is maybe the most famous village in Romania - because King Charles III has a house there. (He does not stay in it). He liked the village because it was olde Worlde Saxon. Queen Marie of Romania was Queen Victoria’s granddaughter. Through his father, Charles is also related to a Romanian king. In addition, his chum Patrick Leigh Fermor, whose books I enjoyed about his walk in the 1930s to Constantinople, lived here with a Romanian princess for 4 years till the outbreak of WW2. On reaching the village we parked up and had a sandwich in the van during a torrential downpour.

When it faired we walked to the fortified church via the Main Street which had grassy spaces between the road and houses. Some ducks took the opportunity of the recent rain to wash in residual pools. Two women were sitting chatting on a bench while knitting. There was a sign outside the entrance to the grounds of the church banning drones. Unfortunately we had no view down to the village. Returning to the bottom of the street we saw the king’s house. Mr C declined to pay the
£3 entry but there was a photographic exhibition on which I found interesting. It was by an Englishman who had photographed Romanian artists with the work before the fall of Ceaușescu.

On our way back through Sighisoara we had a quick shop in Lidl. Not quick enough - we got marooned in the shop as the rain was hammering down and the road outside was flooded. Then everyone’s phone blasted out what sounded like an air raid signal. It was an extreme weather alert, telling us to take shelter and not travel. We ran to the van and after drying off we watched the storm.

Walked 4.5 miles and drove 73 miles.