Baraolt - Véczer and Călugăreni - Cetate

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Baraolt - Véczer

   In Baraolt you are more likely to hear Hungarian than Romanian. This small town lies in Covasna County, in the heart of the Székely Land, where the Székely Hungarian community has lived for centuries, with its own traditions, carved wooden gates, Calvinist and Catholic churches and a fierce sense of identity. Véczer, near Baraolt, is one of the points on the eastern frontier of Roman Dacia, where small forts and watchtowers watched over the passes through the eastern Carpathians, and it belongs to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listing for Dacia, added by UNESCO in 2024.

   Read the complete Baraolt - Véczer write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Baraolt - Véczer is where the day begins. Next is Village of Saschiz-Keisd.

2. 2. Village of Saschiz-Keisd

   The clock tower of the fortified church in Saschiz looks oddly familiar if you have just come from Sighișoara, and that is no accident: it was built in the image of the famous clock tower of the nearby town, a statement of local pride by the Saxon villagers who built it in the late fifteenth century. The church belongs to the World Heritage inscription for villages with fortified churches in Transylvania, a group of German-speaking Saxon communities that fortified their churches against Ottoman and Tatar raids. Above the village, on a wooded hill, are the ruins of a peasant citadel, where the inhabitants took refuge during attacks.

   Read the complete Village of Saschiz-Keisd write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Village of Saschiz-Keisd comes up about 83 km into the recorded legs. Next is Călugăreni - Cetate.

3. 3. Călugăreni - Cetate

   Călugăreni lies in the Niraj valley in Mureș county, in the heart of the region known as Székely Land, and here the signs, the conversation and the church spires announce that you are in a Hungarian-speaking part of Romania. The Székelys are a Hungarian community who, for centuries, guarded the eastern borders of the kingdom, and their villages, with carved wooden gates and whitewashed churches, are among the most distinctive in Transylvania. In Hungarian, the village is called Mikháza.

   Read the complete Călugăreni - Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 173 km into the recorded legs you reach Călugăreni - Cetate. Next is back through Village of Saschiz-Keisd.

4. 4. back through Village of Saschiz-Keisd

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Village of Saschiz-Keisd write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Village of Saschiz-Keisd, late in the day. Next is Baraolt - Véczer.

5. 5. Baraolt - Véczer

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Baraolt - Véczer write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Baraolt - Véczer. That is the ride.