Sibiu, the Transfagarsan…and Wild Bears!

Today I was in Sibiu, originally a Roman village called Cibinium, then becoming yet another Saxon town and later an administrative centre for the Austrian province of Transylvania under the Habsburgs. Sibiu is also called by its Saxon name of Hermannstadt, and signs in German are visible everywhere, even if the language is no longer spoken here. The city is also an artistic centre. In the 19^th century famous figures like Strauss, Brahms and Liszt performed here; today the city has become a sleepier backwater, but still hosts Romanian’s most important jazz festival.

Sibui — The elegant squares of Sibiu in the early morning

Sibiu has lots of beautiful buildings dating from different centuries and is a great place to simply stroll around, hopping from one outdoor café to another and occasionally visiting a pretty church – which is exactly what I did.

Sibiu Orthodox Cathedral — Outside and inside the orthodox church, Sibiu

After a relaxing day in Sibiu, it was time to head back to Bucharest. I chose to take the famous Transfagarsan Road, claimed by the UK TV show Top Gear to be the greatest drive in the world. The road snakes steeply up a mountain, with lots of hairpin bends. It might be a great place for testing out a sports car, but in my opinion, it is far from being the world’s most scenic or most difficult route. The views were impressive, but I have seen better in the Central Asia, Alps, the US or Scotland.

After Top Gear’s endorsement, the Transfagarsan road became very popular; fortunately, I got there early and was visiting outside of the main tourist season, but there was still a steady stream of traffic. This included a few idiots in supercar Porches and Lamborghinis, who overtook on blind corners. The best view of the road is from the top, where nearly all the hairpins can be seen at once, but the parking area there was overflowing so I settled for photos I had taken further down.

Transfagarsan Scenery — More pretty scenery

Transfagarsan Hairpin Bends — Transfagarsan Hairpin bends

Descending back down from the mountain, the road plunged into a dense forest beside a large lake. I was driving along carefully when suddenly I had a very pleasant surprise – in a lay-by there was a young, friendly fellow bear – one of roughly 9,000 that live in the wild in Romania. I pulled over; he was unperturbed by my presence and let me stop to take photos from a few metres away (from the safety of my car – unlike teddies, wild bears can be unpredictable).

A few kilometres further along the road, I met another bear. He was older and looked rather tired and sad. Maybe he would be a good candidate for the “Libearty Sanctuary”…..

Meeting fellow bears in the wild more than made up for the slight disappointment of the Transfagarsan road, and after leaving the mountains I drove the remaining rather dull three hour stretch to Bucharest in excellent spirits.

Next Post: Bucharest

Previous Post: Sighisoara and Alba Iulia

11th September 2024 3

Sighisoara and Alba Iulia

I arrived at my destination – Sighisoara – in the evening, and immediately went out for dinner. On the way back to my hotel I admired the spectacular old town, sitting on top of a steep hill.

The next day I had breakfast in the small courtyard of my hotel with a great view of the castle, before setting off to explore.

Sighisoara was – inevitably – founded by Saxon settlers in the 12th century and grew to become an important trade centre in the Middle Ages. Today it is one of the best preserved and prettiest fortified towns in the world and is very popular with Romanian tourists in the summer. I climbed up some steep steps to the old town and spent a very pleasant morning strolling around and taking in the relaxed atmosphere.

A peaceful square in the Sighisoara backstreets

One curious sight was a long, covered staircase, built in 1652, to give children protection on their walk to the school right on top of the hill.

The school still functions to this day. I ended my tour at the central square, where, of course, I had coffee at one of the cafés.

…which is hard to photo without other tourists getting in the way!

It was time to move on. I checked out of my hotel and continued driving west. My first stop was yet another Saxon village, called Biertan, which of course had a fortified church.

One original feature of the church was a prison for unhappy couples. The local priest kept squabbling spouses locked up there in a small room, until they resolved their differences.

A prison for unhappy couples, Biertan Church

From Biertan I drove to the city of Alba Iulia in the centre of Romania. This had been the largest Roman settlement in the Dacian province of their empire, and housed an important fort, some of whose ruins are still visible. Centuries later, the city was a major hub of the eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, whose rulers built the impressive citadel that is the main tourist attraction of today.

A defensive gate at the entrance to the citadel of Alba Iulia

Later, churches and monuments were added inside the defensive walls. At the end of the first world war, the citadel was where the union of Transylvania with the rest of Romania was signed, creating the modern-day Romanian state, and a few years later in 1922 Ferdinand and Maria were crowned here as king and queen of all Romania in the newly constructed Coronation Cathedral.

I found Alba Iulia to be a pleasant change to visiting Transylvania’s charming Saxon villages and towns, and to be well worth the ninety minutes detour to get there. My next destination was yet another former Saxon stronghold, the city of Sibiu – to be covered in tomorrow’s blog.

Next Post: Sibiu, the Transfagarsan…and Wild Bears!

Previous Post: Transylvania – Bears and Churches!

10th September 2024 4

Transylvania – Libearty Bear Sanctuary, Harman, Viscri and Saschiz

My first stop today was to a very novel tourist attraction, and a must-see for any teddy bear – the Libearty (sic) Bear Sanctuary. The people here take in bears kept in appalling conditions in circuses or as pets and give them the chance to end their years in large, forested enclosures where they are cared for and fed (these bears would be too traumatised to survive if released back into the wild). Many of their 145 guests come from Romania, but some come from further afield – even from places as far away as the USA.

It was heartwarming to see some of my fellow species, even if the stories of what they endured in captivity were very sad. One of the residents spends their time walking around in circles, ignoring the open space of her enclosure – as she had been forced to do in the circus. Another had been blinded, his claws removed and then regularly drugged with beer, to make him passively accept having his picture taken with tourists outside a castle. Fortunately, it is now illegal to use bears in this way in Romania.

Libearty provides happy endings to sad stories

My next destination was a short drive away – the fortified church of Harman. This was built in 1240 by Transylvanian Saxons, people of German origin who were encouraged by the then Hungarian rulers of the area (Transylvania only became Romanian after the end of the first world war) to settle here to help protect the eastern border of their kingdom. Traces of the Saxon village have long since disappeared from the now Romanian town of Harman, but the church remains and deserves its reputation as one of the most beautiful of its kind.

Unlike Bran castle, there were very few visitors to Harman, and I had the church almost to myself. The man at the ticket office advised me to be careful of the steps. I was a little surprised by this until I saw the ladder/staircase leading up to the bell tower, which was steep, wobbly and crooked. I made the risky ascent, only to find that the views from the top were very limited. Fortunately, the parts of the complex which were accessible at ground level more than made up for this disappointment.

After Harman, my exploration of the Saxon influence in Transylvania continued with a visit to the village of Viscri, which felt like it had remained frozen in time since the Middle Ages. Unlike Harman, where a modern town had sprung up around the old church, here development had stopped a long time ago, leaving only the original houses built by the early Saxon settlers. Many of the original families had moved out – the region saw mass emigration back to Germany after the fall of the Iron Curtain – but the village remained well maintained, and some new Romanian arrivals had opened small cafés and craft shops. One notable new owner is King Charles III of Great Britain, who likes Transylvania so much that he has bought two properties there, one of which is at Viscri.

After strolling through the peaceful village, I headed for the fortified church, whose bell tower offered much better views (and a safer set of stairs) than the one at Harman. I stayed there for a while enjoying a gentle breeze.

From Viscri I drove towards Sighisoara (subject of tomorrow’s blog), where I had booked a hotel for the night. On the way, I passed through another charming Saxon town called Saschiz, whose fortified church was supplemented by a protective fortress. In total there are seven Saxon towns and around 250 Saxon villages in Transylvania. It would have been possible to spend my entire holiday visiting them, but Romania has many more attractions to offer.

Next Post: Sighisoara and Alba Iulia

Previous Post: Brasov and Bran Castle

9th September 2024 5