Transylvania 6-5-000

WELCOME TO TRANSYLVANIA, says George!!! Here he is greeting us in front of the restaurant in the building where Vlad the Impaler, Dracula, was actually born, in Sighasoara. The title of this section can be sung - its a variation on a Glenn Miller tune (Chattanooga Chu Chu).

Romania is my favorite country of the trip so far - here is the section on Transylvania. Another blog will talk about our roadtrip to the more remote areas of northern Romania.


My trip to Romania began in the Budapest Keleti train station. I had a 4 hour wait in the terminal before boarding an 11:15pm overnight train to Sighasoara, Transylvania, Romania (a 9 hour journey). I hate this train station. I sit for over three hours, the train is late, I actually manage to get on the wrong train and end up running through the station pulling a heavy rolling suitcase with two guys that made the same mistake - oh well. It worked out and I had a 2nd class room to myself. The border checks and sun rising at 4am meant I really didn't sleep much after 4am.... but that was okay since I was hypnotized by the countryside rushing by me...... a fog lingered over the hills and fields. Farmers were already hard at work at 4:30 - manually working, by the way. I have seen about 4 tractors in Romania in a week. Also loved the pear-shaped haystacks. Took about a million pictures. The locals think I am nuts since they are everywhere.

Transylvania is a region of Romania - kind of smack dab in the middle of the country. It has been overrun by Romans, Germans , Hungarians, but oddly enough, never the Turks. In the 13th century, maybe earlier, the King asked German Saxons to come to to Transylvania as protection against eastern invasions. The German culture is still very strong - many of the towns that they founded, including Sighasoara where I am now, have dual Romanian and German names. The language of Romania is related to Italian, since Roman troops established forts in the Dacia region in southern Romania - they intermarried with the local Dacian women and brought an Italian influence to Romania (which is named after this Roman influx of people).
My special nickname for Sighasoara is Land of a Thousand ATMs - since there are ATMs about every 100 feet in this town. My fave is Banca Transilvania, since its fun to say with a Dracula accent, and since they give out medium size bills, not big ones that are hard to break. I love the money here - it has clear holes in the bills with a groovy image, like a bird flying .






Sighasoara is known for its Citadel - its a walled compound on the hilltop above town, with several churches, a clock tower and houses for many people. It is the oldest cidatel in Europe to still be inhabited, and when you walk around its stone and dirt roads it feels like you are back in 1300. This pup was on a porch in the Citadel - I liked the clocktower images in the grillework.








One of the many towers built into the protective walls around the citadel, with a covered wallway leading to it.














I totally scored on housing. Showed up with no housing but the local Tourist Info office got me into a wonderful pension just below the Citadel. I took this picture lying in bed - which means I could see the lovely clock tower (from around 1350) from my room. This clock chimes every 15 minutes - it sounds like pots and pans being gently banged - very soothing. It also has carved wooden figures that come out on the hour.















Here are some beautiful Romanian women who indulged George and I on the top of the clock tower. You can see a tower and the church on the hill in the background.













Another view from the tower of the buildings in the Citadel - I have seen pictures of this view in winter and its stunning with the snow on roofs.













Leading up to the Citadel, there are several staircases. This one is called the Old Womens staircase... and this old woman appreciated the short height of the steps.

Vlad Dracula was born here - his dad was called Drac, so Dracula means Son of Drac. He was a Romanian Prince, who was effective keeping the everpresent Turks out of Romania - but became infamous as Vlad the Impaler, for his bad habit of sticking a pole along peoples backbones and them letting them dangle for days as they slowly died. Gruesome. But I did have a rare steak at the restaurant in the house he was born in. Bram Stoker was influenced by Vlad when he wrote Dracula - though all Romanians I have asked say there weren't any special myths about vampires before Stokers book.





A closer look at the clock tower with the figures next to the clock face. The roof of this building and many in Transylvania are covered in multi-colored ceramic tiles - very much like the buildings in Beaune , Burgundy, France - who were also influenced by German architecture.










One of the staircases leading from the citadel shows the condition of the buildings... and the huge pride of ownership of Romanians in their homes.












This is the courtyard that my pension room faced. These three kids playing soccer in the picture lived in the apartments up and to the right and were frequently playing there. The little girl Dinesa, on the left, truly ruled the roost.










I was VERY lucky to befriend Savu Mihai, the receptionist extraordinaire, at my pension. Mihai offered to guide me to several towns around the area on his day off. Here is a picture walking around the citadel walls of the town of Bierton, with some kids walking below us.

I loved this castle below - in the town of Cris. We couldn't get into it since they were restoring it, but it had a lovely multi-colored roof on the tower.

A corner of the Cris castle shows the stone workmanship . There are many slots for arrows to be shot from in the event of attack, and the corners of the walls came together like a puzzle.

Me and George on one of the towers in Bierton.

I loved this guy -guarding the castle at Cris.

A very pretty view from Bierton.

This covered stairway in Bierton is similar to one in Sighasoara that was built in the 14th century.

These are carved covers to coffins of some of the local gentry.

Mihai Junior, the son of Mihai from my pension, went with me to Sibiu, a larger local town, also founded by Germans 800 years ago. We spent some time downtown, which I found pretty, but also a bit too touristy, thus boring. We then went to the zoo -which was kind of fascinating coming from an American perspective. This is a picture of Mihai (who I have to beg to smile) next to the tiger cage - there were about 5 or 6 tigers sleeping. He is standing against a rail fence about 4 feet from the bars - that is it! No big moat or distance between you and the animals.


The wolves cage had no second fence... so the bars you see in front of the wolves were it between me and these guys - could have put my hands into the cage very easily. So wouldn't fly in the US. I like seeing the differences between the US and other countries like this.

Mihai and I also went to an outdoor museum that had probably 100 Romanian houses in a natural setting - its meant to show all the different styles of houses, churches and gates throughout Romania. It actually came in handy when we visited regions in northern Romania later in the week.

Nice architecture from the main square in Sibiu. A Catholic church with the green spire, I think. The tourist office is in the building on the left. The buildings in Romania are beautiful - not sure what you would call the style but its quite detailed in the decorations on the buildings, and Sibiu has been quite restored so they are all painted and spic and span.Sibiu is an official City of Culture in Europe for 2007 so has many art, music, and theatrical events going on.

I dunno - maybe I was feeling paranoid that day but I just felt like the buildings were watching me.

Very common architecture style for Southwest Transylvania - these are attic bedrooms with tiny windows.

Some painted furniture in the town square of Sibiu.

Ahh, the best part of Romania!. When Mihai Sr. befriended me at the pension, it was like a snowball heading downhill - it quickly picked up steam and became an avalanche of hospitality. First Mihai guided me a

round locally to Sighasoara. Then his son did the same the next day to Sibiu. On the first trip, Mihai Sr. asked if his 15 year old son could come with me to northern Romania to see the painted monestaries of Bucovina, and the remote villages of Maramures. Which just flabbergasted me since I has just met him the day before. Mihai Jr and I did go on that road trip - I'll detail in another blog post - but when we came back Mihai Sr. invited me to stay with him and his family rather than at the pension. Which was convenient since he had GIVEN AWAY MY ROOM for the next few nights. He really did...... but its been a great time staying with the Savu's. Here Mihai and his LOVELY wife Lenuta entertaining me in the kitchen. They kicked Jr. out of his room so I have a private room with the PC I am typing on included... I am like a second teenager since I have been on it updating my blog all day. Mihai's mom, Ileana, also lives here and has been acting as my surrogate mom, including chiding me for not wearing the slippers she gave me.

It was Lenuta's birthday the day we returned from northern Romania, so we walked to the Citadel for the evening. Here are Mihai and Lenuta discussing the menu at the restaurant in Vlad's house - Mihai is also trying to shush the exhuberant Lenuta!

And here is Mihai giving Lenuta the traditional Transylvanian neck bite for her birthday.

My one night stay has drifted into two nights, and odds are will be three since the Savu family has been so fun and warm and just plain good folks!. I am very grateful to have met them - we've had some amazing discussions about life and its mysteries in such a short time. They are threatening to lock me in here so I can stay and speak English with them... so get concerned if I don't return in a year or so.

Awwww, what a beauty!! The Savu's dog, Lisa, who is half wolf and half terrier. Check out the mustache on her!