Sebeş is where the Transalpina comes down to earth, a town of about twenty-seven thousand people on the Sebeş River in Transylvania, and the northern end of the great mountain road. It belongs to the world of the Transylvanian Saxons, German settlers who were invited here in the twelfth century by the Hungarian kings to defend the frontier and develop the land. They built fortified churches and walled towns, and Sebeş, which they called Mühlbach, grew into one of the seven fortified cities that gave Transylvania its German name, Siebenbürgen.
The Evangelical church in the centre, a large Gothic building with a high roof and fortified tower, dates from the thirteenth century onwards and is among the finest in the region. Parts of the old town walls and towers survive, and the old streets near the main square have a quiet charm. Not far away, the village of Lancrăm was the birthplace of Lucian Blaga, one of Romania's leading twentieth-century poets and philosophers, and the local wine, a crisp white, is often drunk with his lines in mind.
The Sebeş Gorge and the mountains behind the town are a wild area, with bears, wolves and lynx, and the Transalpina climbs into this country through pastures and forest. Coming down from the pass, the road drops through dense spruce and beech forest with a series of bends, then crosses the valley floor. The surface, now well maintained, is smooth, though frost heave and slides can cause patches of damage, and the lower stretches carry trucks.
Sebeş is a practical stop. Fuel stations and shops line the main road, and there are cafes, bakeries and restaurants in the centre, so it is a good place to eat after a long day in the mountains. Local dishes include grilled meats, stuffed cabbage and a sweet pastry called cozonac. Fill up here before the climb if you are going the other way, since stations on the pass are almost non-existent.
Arrive in the evening, when the light is low on the church walls, and the long descent from the mountains is behind you. The high road, with its clear air and sheep bells, will feel like a different country.