15 March 2012
We left Sibiu early for a day trip to Sighisoara, one of the best preserved medieval cities. However, we stopped on our way there to visit the location pictured on the cover of our Lonely Planet Romania book: The Biertan fortified church. The town of Biertan is one of the most important Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania.
Upon arrival a few of us desperately needed the restroom, which led to a very interesting toilet experience. The closest thing to a bathroom in the vicinity was an outhouse. I have to say, that was my first outhouse experience in my lifetime. Never again. Unless its an emergency, again... Anyways, restrooms aside, the place was beautiful.
After a few snow ball fights and pictures we headed back on the bus to continue our way to Sighisoara. Upon arrival we immediately marveled at the medieval clock tower that stood in the center of the old town. Sighisoara is another saxon city, however, it also has had a large Hungarian population. It is most well-known for being the birth place of Vlad Tepec.
Luckily for us, Ursula had asked her friend Theo, a resident of Sighisoara, to guide us through the city. During our tour we passed by the home of Vlad Tepes, and continued on to a Lutheran Church where Theo explained to us the history of the church and its importance to the Saxon people in the area. In addition to touring the church, Theo gave us a private organ performance. We all gathered around shivering in the frigid air and listened to him play various songs. At one point Luiza joined in and sang Ave Maria while Theo played the organ. It was a spectacular performance. Afterwards we visited a somewhat new Hungarian church in order to compare and contrast the Lutheran church with the Hungarian one.
Afterwards, our frozen group made our way into a local cafe to warm up inside with a nice hot cup of coffee (kindly bought for us) and some truly amazing home made pastries. Once we had warmed up and finished our treats we headed back out into the cold. Luckily, it was starting to wam up a little as we continued our tour. Next we went to the medieval clock tower where we saw the little figurines that move at the chime of every hour. We learned that these figurines are in fact the originals from when the clock tower was built. Eventually we climbed the tower, and saw Sighisoara from above.
When we finished with our tour we were allotted 30 minutes of free time to wonder the city. A few of us used this time to visit a few souvenir shops in the vicinity. Eventually we sat down at the place where our group would meet again. Here we met a new friend. One of the local stray dogs meandered towards us begging for attention and food.
Once our group reconvened we walked down to the bus so we could drive to our final destination in Sighisoara: The Orthodox Trinity Church. This allowed for our final comparison between the three churches: Lutheran, Hungarian, and Romanian Orthodox. This church was by far the most intricate and largest of the three.
We left Sighisoara and drove back to Sibiu for our final night.
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