Sighișoara & Fortified Churches

Sighișoara (Schäßburg)

Sighișoara (German: Schäßburg) is the only still inhabited medieval fortress town in Europe — and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Upper Town (Cetate) with its colorful houses, the Clock Tower (Turnul cu Ceas), the Church on the Hill, and the covered wooden staircase (Scara Acoperită) feels like a time machine to the 15th century.

Here, in 1431, Vlad III. Drăculea was born — the historical Dracula. His birthplace (Casa Vlad Dracul) is now a restaurant. Sighișoara is small enough to explore in half a day, but atmospheric enough for an overnight stay — especially when the day tourists are gone and the alleys glow in the evening light.

Admission to the Clock Tower: 15 RON. From the top: one of the most beautiful views of Transylvania over tiled roofs and the Târnava Mare plain.

The Fortified Churches of Transylvania

The fortified churches of the Transylvanian Saxons are unique in the world: village churches surrounded by mighty defensive walls, towers, and battlements — built from the 13th to the 16th century as protection against Ottoman and Tatar raids. Seven of them are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The most important:

• Viscri (Deutsch-Weißkirch) — The village that Prince Charles (now King Charles III) called "the most beautiful in the world" and where he bought a house. The fortified church towers over a village of blue, green, and whitewashed houses, where horse-drawn carts are still a common mode of transport. Guesthouses with homemade food. UNESCO World Heritage Site. Admission: 15 RON.
• Biertan (Birthälm) — The mightiest of all fortified churches: three concentric rings of walls, 6 towers, and a grand Gothic hall church. The "adulterers' chamber" in the tower is legendary: quarreling couples were locked up here until they reconciled — with only one bed, one plate, and one cutlery. UNESCO World Heritage Site. Admission: 15 RON.
• Prejmer (Tartlau) — 18 km east of Brașov. The best-preserved fortified church in Transylvania with a complete battlement and 275 storage rooms in the walls, where the village population could endure sieges for weeks. UNESCO World Heritage Site. Admission: 10 RON.
• Saschiz (Keisd) — Less visited but beautiful: a Gothic church with a separate watchtower on the hill above the village. UNESCO World Heritage Site.