It became a habit to me waking early and checking the weather. I was happy to see its deep blue colour. We took breakfast in the central street of the village again, but we chose cheese pie (pateuri cu branza) this time. Around 12am just before leaving Sinaia, Ploumisti bought 4 handmade big spoons from an old pedlar man (1Ron each!) He showed boundless appreciation by his thanking attitude…poor man… We took the E60 crossing over a very green but busy route.
We entered Brasov after a brief stop for fuelling. I should emphasize that in Romania you can pay for fuels using credit or cash cards in all petrol stations. Following the signs for Poiana Brasov and Centru, when we arrived in Brasov, we reached the old city. The central’s square name is Piata Sfatului and it’s the most crowed place of the city dominated by a big yellow building, the Museum of History of city.
We left our motorcycles in a prepaid parking nearby, for 2Ron per hour and head to the Black Church. Black Church is a german one well distinguished by its size that gained its name from the colour of the exterior walls. The initial colour was dark green, but when the Turks invaded the city, they burnt it, taking all of its gold. The only remaining green part nowadays is a ball above the belfry. To visit the internal the ticket costs 4Ron. Ploumisti bought from the open market of day two traditional Romanian woman's shirt sand later on we had a coffee in one of the cafeterias of square Sfatului. Many things have changed from the last time I have been here, but fortunately not the particular city character. We went to the Rumanian Orthodox Church and while Ploumisti was visiting the museum of History (which I did in the past) I was unsuccessfully searching for the Greek Church and the offices of the Greek community of Brasov…
Later on we met with Ploumisti and all together studied a hanging animated plan of the old city. By luck a local passing lady heard us chatting in greek and she approached. She was familiar with the language since many greeks live in Brasov. She gave us many information about history and sightseeing. More than our travelling guide during her fine minutes talk! I felt ashamed not knowing some basic things…
Following her instructions we finally found both the church and the greek community offices, not far away. The archway was renovated, that’s why I couldn't locate it before! Greeks of Brasov try to maintain their culture and customs with several ways such us meetings, greek and dance lessons and feasts. We crossed the greek church and found ourselves in the cemetery where graves names were written in greek!.
Leaving this neighbourhood towards northeast we passed by the Synagogue in the Jewish neighbourhood. People of different religions live harmoniously for a lot of years here. Somewhere near you can cross the narrower street of Europe, named "strada Sforii". Its width is 1,32m and its length 83m! Moving to the same direction we visited the north-eastern wooden tower of the walls that is saved in very good shape up to now. Impressive! A museum with arms and armours is there. Moving along the walls, we passed by the 2 central east gates of the old city and we finally got to the south. On this hilly area two more towers are placed: the black and the white. The view from up there is amazing. The city’s buildings roofed with tiles seem like from fairy tale! Brasov is very beautiful!
Around 7mm. because of the fact that we didn’t have enough daylight time to visit Poiana Brasov and try the local flavours, we left for another 105km to Sighisoara. Following the signs for Targu Mures and Sibiu we entered the E60 towards Targu Mures. The road to Sighisoara is very interesting especially after the villages Rupea and Dacia passing through a canyon full of trees.
As if we were cursed it started raining! Ones again we had to stop and wear our waterproofs. Shortly after the rain stopped, allowing us to enjoy the rest of the route. Around nine arrived at Sighisoara. “The hostel you have a reservation is located inside the historic centre” told me a taxi driver! That we didn’t know and it would be fantastic! To enter the old city walls you have to pay 12Ron per vehicle. So in order to confirm our reservation and the location of the hostel I phoned the hostel. Then we ascended the hill where overhangs the castle. Inside the castle it seemed like we were living in another era.
The Burg Hostel, an old building in medieval style (str. Bastionului 46 - www.ibz.ro ) is left after the entrance gate. Its internal courtyard is used as a restaurant, where we ordered semi hungarian semi romanian recipes later on. The whole area has many influences from Hungary due to historical reasons. The beautiful reception girl gave me the keys of the clean and well decorated room no 13 (40Ron per person).
How beautiful is Romania! What I have been missing for so many years! All these were bugging my mind…
