A Taste of Three Transylvania Towns

It’s understandable that vampires have chosen to spend their eternal lives in Transylvania, as it is one of the most beautiful areas (countryside and cities) we have visited. While our visit to Transylvania was short-lived it definitely got in our blood.

Our first stop, Brasov, had it’s own “Hollywood sign”, and deservedly so, as it looked like a movie set, the picture perfect walled old city.

The iconic centerpiece of the town is St Mary’s church nicknamed the Black Church, although it is gray, due to discoloration from a fire in 1689 during the Great Turkish War.

The walls included seven towers and gates, and as was customary at the time, each was built, guarded and maintained by different guilds-Tanner’s, Draper’s, Weavers etc.

The wall with two of the towers just below the hill

One tower is called the Black Tower, which is actually white. So, Brasov apparently is colorblind as a bat. The walled city was impressive, but like every walled city we’ve visited, so much effort to build but doesn\’t work as we easily got in.

Due to its location, Transylvania’s convoluted heritage includes Romanian, German (Saxon), Hungarian and even some Bulgarian roots which maybe explains our airbnb’s incongruent name,

The Roberta Long Suite. This history has led to a distinct blend of architecture and culture.

We knew that all of the buildings were special as almost every single building had a historic marker, although the marker did not identify what the building was, it\’s age or why it was significant.

Brasov’s location was also a perfect base for traveling in the area so we took a day trip to Sighisoara.

It was very enjoyable despite some record heat and humidity. It felt like the sun was always directly over our head because we never saw our shadows (!). It was a smaller, less well maintained version of Brasov, with some unique attractions including the birthplace of the gruesome and real Dracula (Vlad the Impaler) which was an interesting contrast to our visit to Whitby, England where the writer Bram Stoker was inspired to create the gothic and romanticized Dracula. (https://thechosenfugue.blogspot.com/2018/10/scarborough-fair-moor-or-less.html).

Dracula\’s house and neighborhood

The famous hilltop Dracula\’s castle (Bran Castle), another major tourist highlight is located in Bran about 15 miles southwest (as the bat flies) of Brasov. We didn’t go.

The train ride through the Carpathian foothills between Brasov and Sighisoara was very pleasant.

In Sibiu we serendipitously stumbled on the last two nights of a crazy 10 day international theater festival. Each evening there were open air performances in the exquisitely charming squares and malls which were packed with people and ice cream stands.
French marching bands with bagpipes, Italian faux-military bands, and Spanish samba dancers dancing with Dundu the giant of light from Germany. Stilts were well-represented by giant glowing chameleons from Germany and waltzing dancers from Italy.

The finale from Italy was a hyper Thanksgiving Day like parade of balloons and music celebrating Leonardo Da Vinci, capped off with fireworks to end the festival.

These were our first stay-out-very-late nights, but of course, in Transylvania we should have realized the party doesn’t get started until after the sun goes down.

In addition to the festival, there was Sibiu itself.