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Barsana Monastery
1h · Admission ticket included
Built in early '90s, the large Orthodox monastic complex at Barsana is a great example of modern ecclesiastical architecture deeply rooted in the local tradition.
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Merry Cemetery
1h · Admission ticket included
In 1935, a local popular artist has started to carve and paint in vivid colors the wooden crosses of his defunct neighbors from the village of Sapânta. Then, the artist added an ironic epitaph resuming the life of the deceased or the conditions of his death. It has resulted in a joyful collection of naive drawings and funny, short stories -- the Merry Cemetery of Sapânta.
The funniest epitaph reads as follows:
“My poor mother-in-law
Under this heavy cross you lie,
And yet, if you had three days more,
You’d be here too see me die.
So, passer-by, do not disturb her,
For if she were to come again,
We’d never stop her tongue for wagging
Her words and curses fell like rain.
I will keep quiet, please do so too,
And she’ll not wake to curse all you.”
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Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance
1h · Admission ticket included
The dreaded Communist prison of Sighet has been converted in a Memorial to the victims and the resistance against dictatorship.
At this prison located on Romania’s northern border with the USSR, the Communist regime tried to exterminate the political, religious, academic and cultural elite of the country. From 1950 to 1955, 211 of the most important Romanian statesmen, former prime-ministers and political leaders, respected intellectuals, 22 members of the Romanian Academy, all the bishops and many priests of the Greek-Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches, high ranking army generals, most of them old or already sick, were imprisoned at Sighet in dreadful conditions.
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Desesti
30m
The wooden church of Desesti - UNESCO World Heritage monument - is famous for its naive, well preserved old picture.
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The Wooden Churches of Maramures
30m
From the core of the Romanian rural Maramures we head South, to the Saxon heartland of Transylvania. It is a long drive. We have a short stop at Ieud village, in the heart of Maramures. There are two traditional wooden churches in the village of Ieud. The ”church on the hill” (Orthodox, XVII century) is an UNESCO World Heritage monument. As for the ”church in the valley” (Greek-Catholic), its slenderness and well-balanced proportions earned it the fame of the "The Wooden Cathedral". Ieud Valley Church was erected in 1718, after the last invasion of Tartars in Maramures and their stunning defeat in 1717 at the hands of a local army of Romanian peasants led by a priest. The church was never painted, yet it hosts a rich collection of glass icons.
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Biertan Fortified Church
1h · Admission ticket included
After a long drive we arrive in the village of Biertan. The village's fortified church is a UNESCO World Heritage monument. Built from 1486 to 1524, Biertan church has impressive defense walls, a beautiful nave ceiling, and a collection of tombstones of former bishops and notabilities.
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Centrul Istoric Sighisoara
2h · Admission ticket included
We end our day in the medieval citadel of Sighisoara – UNESCO site. We enjoy the late afternoon and evening visiting the citadel, the birthplace of the famous Wallachian ruler, Vlad the Impaler.
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Viscri Fortified Church
2h · Admission ticket included
This day is mostly dedicated to discovering the rural Saxon Transylvania and seeing another two UNESCO Wold Heritage monuments – the fortified churches of Saschiz and Viscri. In our way from Sighisoara to Brasov we enjoy our lunch time in Viscri, the remote village Prince Charles fell in love with. This Transylvanian region of fortified churches became a famous tourism attraction after he bought an old Saxon household in Viscri -- no. 163, a blue house built in 1753. Prince Charles use to come here every few years, to ride horses, and to travel.
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Saxon Church
Pass by
In our way from Sighisoara to Brasov we gaze at Saschiz fortified church - UNESCO World Heritage monument - built at the end of XVth century with a tower reminding us the Clock Tower of Sighisoara.
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Cetatea Rupea
Pass by
In our way from Sighisoara to Brasov, after Saschiz fortified church, we also catch sight of the Rupea fortress, one of the oldest fortifications in Romania (built over preexisting Roman and Dacian fortresses).
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Brasov Historical Center
2h · Admission ticket included
With a strong industry during the past century, Brasov was a magnet for people from all around the country and has become one of the most vibrant Romanian cities. This booming city has been developed around the initial fortress established in 1211 by the Teutonic Knights and later on, after a quarrel between the knights and the king, by German settlers. Once in Brasov, after the check-in, we visit the impressive Black Church – a 14-th century Gothic monument, the fortifications, bastions and towers of the medieval fortress, the curious Rope Street (one of the narrowest in Europe).
