Not long ago I had the chance to escape from the city and visit a wonderful place called Dracula Daneș Domainthat I've been posting about for days. Scroll down to find the links to my posts if you've missed them.
On the way home we wanted to visit the wonderful medieval city center of Sighișoara, even though we had very little time, far from enough to see everything.
Located in the historic region of Transylvania, Sighișoara has a population of 28,102 according to the 2011 census. It is a popular tourist destination for its well-preserved walled old town, which is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. source
Sighisoara (Schäßburg in German, Segesvár in Hungarian) is a multicultural city, situated in the historic region of Transylvania. According to Wikipedia, 75% of the population is Romanian, 17.6% Hungarian, 5.3% Roma and 1.5% German. Unfortunately most of the Germans left after the communist regime fall.
We left the car in a nearby parking lot and went on foot. You can go up by car but I guess only in special occasions as there's a gate that opens only if you have a pass. It's a good thing as the medieval city center was not built for cars, there's no space for them. Pedestrians however are welcome.
This is one of the ways up to the old city center. You can choose the stairs as well but be advised, it's hard work, not fun if you're not fit for that.
As you can see, it was raining at the time of our visit but who cares about a few drops of water when you're at a beautiful place like this, right?
This is one of the entrances to the medieval city center. The city is situated on a hill for a very good reason, the same reason these gates have grids.
As an entrance and exit point, this gate was of strategic importance.
As it happened in medieval times, these walls, fortresses had these bastions, towers that were occupied by craft masters, this for example was of the the tailors' guild. The grid was lifted and lowered according to the situation.
Please note the cobblestones are still exist. These haven't been replaced thank God! It would loom awful and would be a crime to replace them. These are part of the image, the history this part of the town represent.
These houses can be found right next to the entrance and I bet that are protected. I was wondering how it is to live in a house like that.
The date on the iron gate says 1933, however I don't know if that's just the date when the gate was made or of the house as well.
Inside the gate on the left there is this ethnic art souvenir shop that was closed at the time of our visit, unfortunately. The old city center is full of souvenir shops just like any other tourist attraction place. It's a great way to make some money, I don't have anything against these shops, even though sometimes prices are set to scratch the sky. However I do have a problem with those who are selling kitsch.
Houses on the other side of the road, not exactly in the best shape as both need renovation work as soon as possible. I love the windows, it looks great from the outside, plus the one on the left has some nice flowers, which makes it more interesting. Somehow I feel sorry for the people owning a house like that as they are not allowed to change the style of the house, which means those windows must be kept as they are.
It is know that those windows are made of a single layer of glass and can't hold the heat. I've seen a solution for that in another town, the new windows were set up behind the old ones, so no one can say anything about damaging the look of the house, but they can still keep the heat inside.
A house with arcades. That is another interesting building to see.
The wall is kept as it was back then, obviously must have went through of some renovation work over the years.
A narrow street paved with cobblestones and cute old houses, all protected by the municipality. even the street lamp is according to those time's style.
Another narrow street paved with cobblestones in the middle and stones on both sides. Imagine how it must have been when the only vehicle available was the chariot with wooden wheels, pulled by horses. Walking on these streets is like a walk back in time. It feels like you're in a medieval movie.
To make things more interesting, you can participate in the celebration of the city, a festival held each year during summer, when people can dress up in those old folk costumes. There are plays and demonstrations that are really worth to see. During these days the city is filled with tourists from all over the world. This year however there will be no party I believe, which is a huge loss both financially and culturally as well. An event like this can endanger the whole city and not only. As far as I know all the festivals were cancelled, even the biggest ones. Better luck next year, right?
Good thing that individual tourism is permitted so far, so even though we didn't have much time to spend in the historical city center, we're going to go back another time and visit this beauty properly. I'm going to take a bunch of photos and continue my series.
This is the first part, with the road that leads there. Stay tuned, the next part is coming soon.
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