Tourists in Transylvania

After seeing virtually no tourists since Budapest things have changed dramatically in the last three days in Transylvania. We are relieved that it is September and the bus tour groups have diminished somewhat, because the triangle between Sibiu, Sighisoara and Brasov is tourism central. We first spotted the bus tours at the Unesco listed fortified Saxon church at Biertan. Earlier in the day we had a quieter and more solitary visit of another fortified Saxon church at Mosna. Not quite as grand as its neighbour but a treat to see without any other visitors. We had a lovely evening in Biertan even though we were a little disappointed to find out that the pension kitchen we were planning to cook our dinner in had all the appliances but no pots. I had to suffer a gourmet goulash with polenta in a nearby restaurant. The sacrifices we travellers have to make!

We are currently staying for a second night in a wonderful homestay right in the medieval cidadel of Sighisoara. Our host Nicolas has been offering us all kinds of local goodies, including his mother’s plum jam, his grandmother’s cherry liquor and wonderful homemade bread. I could fall in love with a man bearing such gifts if I hadn’t already fallen. The old part of Sighisoara is also on the Unesco list as a well preserved, living medieval city.