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Short, one day trip to Sighișoara, what do you recommend?

Short, one day trip to Sighișoara, what do you recommend?

Old Jun 30th, 2016, 07:27 AM
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Short, one day trip to Sighișoara, what do you recommend?

We'll be taking a trip to Sighișoara on the 15th of July. We'll arrive at 8:00AM and leave at approximately 5:00 PM . We were hoping to visit some interesting monuments and have lunch at a restaurant. (that isn't a blatant tourist trap.)

Do you have any recommendations? Which sights would you suggest we visit? Any restaurants that had nice, authentic Romanian cuisine?

Thanks in advance!
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Old Jun 30th, 2016, 07:39 AM
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Old town Sighisoara is all tourist trap.

This was my take on the town:

https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...soara-so-cute/
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Old Jul 3rd, 2016, 08:33 PM
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That's unfortunate to hear! Upon further examination, we have come to the conclusion that Sighisoara is not as authentic as it touts itself to be.

I thoroughly enjoyed your article! I ended up spending a good hour or two just reading your other travel journals. "Tour guide from hell" was an especial favorite!
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Old Jul 4th, 2016, 04:37 AM
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Well, I am sure the buildings are authentically old, and I did enjoy seeing them when the place was less crowded, but yes, it is all about tourism.

Glad you enjoyed my blog. Unfortunately, of course, the best stories are the result of the worst experiences. If I have a peaceful trip that goes like clockwork, there's not much to say.
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Old Jul 5th, 2016, 05:17 AM
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JadeDry, I found Sighisora very charming. I have to admit that we only spent a few hours walking though the historic center and going up to the church on the hill, but I can say that we all wished we had more time to walk these tiny charming streets.

We stayed two nights in Sighisoara spending the first day in Sibiu, so we only toured Sighisora in the morning (9am to about 10.30am) there were no day trippers at that time.

The town is indeed very small and you might consider pairing it with say a visit to a local village to see the a completely different life-style. That's what we did. We spent morning in Sighisoara and the afternoon in Viscri village --having home-cooked lunch prepared by one of the ladies from the village and taking a horse-carriage ride up into the hills to meet the shepherds. We loved the whole experience. We also visited the Biertan fortified church which is only 30km away from Sighisoara. That could be an interesting combination as well.

As for the restaurant suggestion. One of the best meals (if not the best) that we had in Romania was in Sighisoara. I highly highly recommend dining at the Joseph T. Restaurant & Wine Bar. Here's a review that I wrote about it on TA. https://goo.gl/mXvMWw

Whether you go to Sighisoara or not, I am sure you will have a blast in Transylvania. Such a magical place!
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Old Jul 5th, 2016, 10:33 PM
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That's unfortunate but true, thursdaysd. Thank you for making sure others don't fall into the same trap!

MinaMax10, we absolutely love your itinerary for this region! We will most certainly draw upon your suggestions. In particular, we adore the idea of visiting Viscri. Do you remember the name of the lady who prepared you lunch, by any chance?

Thank you for your restaurant recommendation as well! We will certainly keep it in mind.
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Old Jul 5th, 2016, 11:34 PM
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I surely do, JadeDry. Her name is Gerda. And she was lovely! I found her by doing a lot of research prior to our trip. Garda does not speak much English, but her son (whose name escapes me) does. He used to live in the UK for a while. Here's a link with some information about Gerda. I don't think there is an email address for her though and our communication with Gerda had to go through our local guide. But perhaps, you could challenge giving her a call --there seems to be a phone number. Or asking your hotel concierge to do that? http://www.discovertarnavamare.org/e...das-viscri-22/

Viscri is probably one of the most famous villages in that region and the fortified church there is... adorable! It looked like something out of a childrens' book. Apparently, that was the beginning of the love affair that his royal highness prince Charles has with Transylvania. I assumed that Viscri would be quite touristic by now, but it wasn't. Not in the least. We had an amazing time at Gerda's place (probably a good 1.5-2 hours of eating!) and then taking a 2 hour horse carriage ride. Amazing vistas. Just amazing. And you don't meet any people until you actually get all the way up to the shepherds area.

We didn't stay in Viscri, but I do know that there are guesthouses there. Gerda I think runs a guesthouse as well. That could be something interesting to try.
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Old Jul 7th, 2016, 04:33 AM
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Minamax10, we actually contacted Gerda just yesterday! The owner of Viscri 125 had nothing but kind words to say about her and her cooking. Can you believe she was going to cater for 47 people on Wednesday?

Her english was understandable and she was very polite and accommodating. (Although we had to re-schedule our trip for tuesday because she was fully booked otherwise!)

Thank you for the link as well!

A guesthouse also sounds like a great idea, but alas, our trip does not allow for it.

We're glad to hear you had an excellent time in Viscri, and we can't wait to explore this lovely place.
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Old Jul 7th, 2016, 05:36 AM
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JadeDry,

you will love Gerda and her food. She will feed you silly! We were seated around the tables in her front yard which cats and chicken walking around. It was an amazing experience. And yes, I can believe that she could manage 47 people! She will probably have to wake up around midnight to do that though. I forgot to mention that for our group of 17 people, she and her son started cooking at 8am AND that it was during a blackout. So they had no power the day we were there. Gerda also makes homemade wine and some sort of hard liquor. And we loved (and specifically requested) an elderberry drink.
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Old Jul 7th, 2016, 05:39 AM
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Gerda was the one who arranged horse carts for us upon request. If your group is small, you probably don't need to do that in advance though. But I highly recommend taking a ride after lunch. Well, maybe not all the way to see the shepherds cause that is at least a 2 hour ride.

I was actually regretting not having more time and perhaps arranging a small picnic basket to take with us on the ride. It would've been just idilic to sit down for a sip of wine and a bite of cheese. After the huge lunch Gerda prepared, we would not have been able to eat any more than that.
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Old Jul 7th, 2016, 05:40 AM
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Are you visiting Gerda this upcoming Tuesday?! When you see her, please send her my warmest wishes! Tell her that it's from Anna (Anuta) and that I visited her with a group of Japanese ladies in September of 2015. I hope she remembers us!

(sorry, for some reason I was unable to post as one message, so had to break it up in these smaller peaces )
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Old Jul 7th, 2016, 10:22 AM
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Minamax10,

Reading your replies just makes us more restless to visit! (For the record, we are a group of 3!)

I believe the hard liquor is called Țuică (Tzuica), A Romanian specialty. It's made from plums, if i'm not mistaken?

This lady seems absolutely driven! She must really enjoy cooking! However, we do enjoy our food, so I think we will be just fine. We're actually vegetarians and have asked her to shy away from meat and fish based meals for our lunch. We look forward to seeing what she comes up with!

Thank you for mentioning how the horse ride was arranged! We were just wondering how to arrange it ourselves, but if Gerda was kind enough to sort it out I think we will follow her lead in this matter!

Yes! This Tuesday! I will remember to mention your name to her, if anything, she deserves to know that she has left a lasting impression on her guests!
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 04:49 AM
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Minamax10,

I'd like to clarify something if it's not too much trouble! When you say that the shepherd's ride is 2 hours long, does it take 2 hours to /reach/ the herd or is it a 2 hour trip there and back?
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 05:33 AM
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JadeDry,

It took us about 2 hours (maybe even closer to 2.5) total of going from the village up to the hills, taking lots of photos with the sheep, and tasting cheese there. Unfortunately, it was my miss and we didn't really spend much time talking to the shepherds themselves, which I think would have been fascinating. If I do return and have another chance, I would love to talk to them about their life more. Also, they do milk the sheep there but I think it happens later in the day and we didn'T stay for that. Milking is definitely not something that you can easily imagine. It's not your typical "commercial farm" sort of experience. Here is a link that I found before to a video ) https://goo.gl/kCA1zX Fascinating.

That said, when I was making my plan for Viscri, I did inquire as to how long it would take to go up the hills. I think both Gerda and the manager from Viscri 125 said "about 30min one way". Turns out that it's at least double that time! We went up the first hill and then the next and then the next... And I was thinking how far are we actually going?! Our guide later said that in villages in Romania people don't really think in terms of minutes and hours, so when I asked them, they were pretty troubled and felt obliged to come up with ..any answer So I guess they picked 30min out of thin air. Apparently life in the villages goes according to this rule "if you cannot do it today, do it tomorrow. if you cannot do it tomorrow, it's probably not worth doing it at all".

You could perhaps ask Gerda (or the manager from Viscri 125) to arrange a shorter ride if you don't have much time to spend there. I think a ride around the village and going out of the village up on the (nearest) hills (the view of the village is very pretty from there) could be enough for a first try. Also, even though the manager at Viscri 125 told me that it's possible to arrange a cart on the day (there are lot of people who own horses and carts), we needed three carts, so I made a reservation in advance. You probably don't need to do that.
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 05:49 AM
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Not sure if you eat dairy products as a vegetarian, but oh my god...homemade sour cream that Gerda makes is not something that I will ever forget. I hope she provides it to you as part of some dish, you'll be in heaven!
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 03:00 PM
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We were in Sighisoara during a 2 week trip to Romania this past May. Loved the town, but it was not crowded during our stay, though on the day we left ( a weekend), there were some tour groups and I remember thinking it would not be enjoyable during the summer when our driver told us it would be jampacked with tourists! We stayed 2 nights, but spent the afternoon of the full day we had there touring Biertan fortified church, and also visited another Saxon village nearby, Malancrav, where Prince Charles has a house. Make sure to walk up to the church in the town, and to the graveyard next to the church. We also did some wine/fruit brandy tasting in the town at a place called Teo's - his tuica/brandy was delicious, authentic but more refined than some of the other versions we had in Romania. You can buy bottles to bring home too. After Sighisoara we went to Visci and spent the night at Viscri 125. I had read about Gerda's meals when I was doing research for the trip, but as we stayed at Viscri 125 we also ate dinner there, which was great. We did a horse and carriage ride organized by Viscri 125 when we go there. It took us through the fields and we visited the local brick and tile maker as well as the village blacksmith,and got to see them at work. The brickmaker in particular was a real character, he played his guitar and sang a song for us too. That might be shorter than going all the way to visit the shepherds. I would have liked to do that if we had another day in Viscri. After the horse ride, we visited the fortified church in town, and just wandered the town.
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 06:46 PM
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Lily3, your trip sounds lovely. And since I've been to the area, I can actually picture it. Seeing craftsmen at work was something that I wanted to do, but we just didn't have enough time. That's something for me to try next time I'm in Transylvania. As for visiting and meeting the shepherds, it's a bit more complicated to arrange. It also depends on the season--sometimes they are too far away from the villages. I understand they take sheep to pasture during summer times and are gone for longer periods of times. Also, shepherds are not tight to any particular schedule, so there is no guarantee that they are actually there. We were lucky. And also lucky to try the cheese they make. It was very nice. A friend from Romania did recommend seeing Malancrav as well. He says it's one of the prettiest villages. Maybe that's also something to do for next time.
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Old Jul 9th, 2016, 08:47 AM
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Minamax10

Thank you for the link! That's certainly an efficient way of milking! I don't remember seeing anything like it, I wonder if it's a method unique to Romanian shepherds?

A further thanks for your detailed explanation regarding the cart ride! We contacted Gerda and arranged a short ride up the mountainside (as suggested by you) at 7:AM in the morning, we're hoping to watch the sun rise and maybe have a bite to eat on the hillside. Like you also mentioned, the shepherds schedules are a bit erratic and time consuming and might not be the best for our time table. There's still plenty to do in Viscri, maybe we'll watch the sheep another time!

We all had a good laugh at your quote! I'd personally love to have that on a motivational t-shirt.

We certainly do eat dairy products! I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the sour cream since it comes so highly rated!

Lily3, thank you for your comment! I believe there is also some (medieval?) festival in Sigisoara very soon, I imagine tourists will also be arriving in anticipation of that. The holiday months unfortunately undermine most interesting places.

We've come to realize there's a wealth of villages similar to Viscri around this area. Malancrav seems like a suitable destination for a future trip! (Perhaps it is a bit remoter and less well known that Viscri?) Thank you for the suggestion!
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Old Jul 9th, 2016, 01:34 PM
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Yes, Malancrav is more remote. A pretty little village, not really a destination like Viscri - less to "do" there, just nice to wander around, visit the fortified church, and enjoy the atmosphere. We went because there was a nice supposedly 1 hour or so hike you could do between it and another nearby village, and we were going to do that. But ended up not doing the hike, because as someone mentioned above, I think their concept of time is a bit different, and it would have been more of a 2-3 hour hike, at our pace, also it started pouring rain. So I wouldn't say it's a must do, like Visci - but a great town to visit if you're in the area a bit longer and have time to explore.
We really enjoyed Romania, and also Bulgaria, which we visited for about a week right afterwards. It was our first trip to non western Europe, and I'd love to go back! JadeDry, hope you are going to get to visit Maramures and/or Bucovina, too.
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Old Jul 10th, 2016, 11:57 PM
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JadeDry, enjoy your wonderful day in Viscri. Please let us know how it goes.
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