Romanian Countrysides

I wish we had more time here.  Ten whole days allowed only a glimpse of this young but old country. What I will miss most is seeing more villages and the countryside that rolls in all corners of Romania.   

In the 12^th century, the King of Hungary invited Germans to settle and defend the Transylvanian territory for his realm’s sake.   The Saxons came and they prospered.  They built seven fortified cities and in important villages yet too small to justify a fort, the Saxon town’s people built fortified walled churches as places of defense and survival during attack.  The Saxons were initially Roman Catholic but became Evangelical Lutheran after the Reformation.  There are hundreds of fortified churches in Transylvania and why the people chose to preserve them, I do not know why but I am very grateful they did. They prove the stories of history are true.  The key to battle in those days was the question, of which side could sustain themselves and hold out the longest.  In those small villages, not only was the church a center of the community, but the walled church was also where the town stored grain and food, and they were typically the highest point in the town. In times of attack, the village’s people sought protection inside the walls surrounding the church.  The enemy often ran out of supplies long before the village people’s food stores were gone.

Brasov is Romania’s largest and most important Saxon city. While we could not visit all seven Saxon cities here, we did manage to visit Sighisoara.  This colorful picturesque UNESCO town is stunning, even fairytale-like.  It is one of the prettiest towns I have ever seen with its flower boxes, green hills, charming houses, and cobbled, rocky streets that wind round and round and go up and down.  We had heard that this perfectly intact 16th-century town is one of the most beautiful towns in Europe and all I can add is that I think it is.  The Sighisoara citadel sits at the highest point in the town and dates to the 12^th century . . . with additions and changes over time.  Its stately height gives it a lofty and regal air.

No one knows for sure, but Vlad the Impaler is thought to have been born here in the yellow house in the center of Sighisoara.  A pub with a dragon sign occupies the space now.

Like our experience in Gdansk, Poland, Sighisoara is a place that beckons me to simply come and stay a while, with no agenda to follow, just time to take in the time, the beauty, and the history.

Sighisoara is nearly a two-hour, very scenic drive from Brasov.  Along the way, we passed other fortifications, like Rupea Citadel which sits on a tall, massive basalt outcropping in the middle of nowhere.  This huge fort dating back to 1324, can be seen for miles.  Besides being built on a 400-foot-tall stone, it has rock walls that are probably 30 feet high.  How were those stone citadels engineered in 1200?  Did they use scaffolding?  I wonder, how did they do it?  Our guide suggested that they were motivated . . . build fortifications for safety or die.

This part of the country is purely farmland.  Fields of green clover lie next to corn stalks yellowing in the sun and freshly mowed hay fodder.  This is dairy land . . . sheep and cows.  Transylvanian sheep cheese is among some of the best in the world.  At the Dacia Market, very near the main train station in Brasov, we bought ripe tomatoes, a bunch of fresh basil, and a half kilo of sheep cheese. With a little good olive oil and salt. we had a superbly flavorful salad.

On the same drive, we stopped in Viscri, a prime example of an olden village with a fortified church.  Walking the cobbled, rocky streets of this village was a challenge.  Surely the first cobblestone paths had no plan but probably merely rocks thrown in the mud to civilize well-worn paths.  The well-preserved houses along Viscri’s cobbled streets are connected one to another like a wall for extra protection and the peasant fortress, the Church of Viscri from the 13^th century is well-preserved.

Aside from income generated by local farms, guest houses, and a handful of restaurants, pay-for-use toilets, and tickets to walk inside the Church, villages like Viscri are likely to die.  Opportunity for young people is non-existent; they leave for greener pastures.  What a loss it would be to lose this way of life and the insight it provides into ancient Transylvanian peasant life.

While we now know a little about two of the three regions that formed Romania, Wallachia, and Transylvania, we had not even a tiny glimpse of Romanian’s other early region, Moldavia.  Once part of Moldova, the country next door, this last piece of the puzzle became part of Romania in 1940.  The current Republic of Moldova shares its western border with Romania but its eastern border is with Ukraine.  

I feel sure we missed something very special in Romania’s Moldova region but perhaps we may get to visit there someday, especially when peace is nearby.

Because we dream of seeing it all, few places in this world command return trips.  A big surprise to me, Romania and all Eastern Europe are ones I would choose to visit again for a deeper, sweeter dive.

For now, goodbye, Romania, we are off to Croatia.

Will it be prettier, more historic? What will the people be like? It is more expensive? Will it be rustic or cosmopolitan? Is it still hot there? Is it walkable? As my sweet mother often said, “We shall soon find out.”

Real cobblestone