Inlăceni - Cetate and Historic Centre of Sighişoara

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Inlăceni - Cetate

   Székely Land, in the eastern part of Transylvania, is the home of a Hungarian-speaking community whose ancestors were placed here in the Middle Ages to guard the eastern frontier of the Kingdom of Hungary, and the same job had been done a thousand years earlier by the Romans. Near the village of Inlăceni, in the hills of Harghita county, stand the remains of a Roman fort, one of the eastern bastions of Dacia, facing the Carpathians and the passes beyond. The stone walls, gates and corner towers can still be traced in a meadow on a hilltop, and the setting, with forests all around and the mountains on the horizon, is one of the most beautiful of all the sites on the Dacian frontier listed by UNESCO.

   Read the complete Inlăceni - Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Inlăceni - Cetate is where the day begins. Next is Hoghiz - La Cetate.

2. 2. Hoghiz - La Cetate

   Where the Olt river bends around the Perșani mountains, between the Saxon villages of southern Transylvania and the Székely country to the east, the land rises into wooded hills, and near the village of Hoghiz, on a terrace above the river, lies an archaeological site known simply as La Cetate, the fortress. The Romans guarded this stretch of the Olt with forts, part of the defensive system of their province of Dacia, and the name hints at an old fortified place that once watched over the valley.

   Read the complete Hoghiz - La Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hoghiz - La Cetate comes up about 102 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Sighişoara.

3. 3. Historic Centre of Sighişoara

   Sighișoara is a medieval citadel that people still live in, and that is what sets it apart. Founded by German settlers, the Transylvanian Saxons, who were invited by the Hungarian kings in the twelfth century to colonise and defend the region, it grew into a prosperous town of craftsmen's guilds, each of which built and defended its own tower in the walls. Nine towers survive out of the original fourteen, named after the tailors, shoemakers, tinsmiths, butchers, furriers and others, and the old town on its hill above the Târnava Mare river was listed by UNESCO in 1999.

   Read the complete Historic Centre of Sighişoara write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 167 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Centre of Sighişoara. Next is back through Hoghiz - La Cetate.

4. 4. back through Hoghiz - La Cetate

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hoghiz - La Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Hoghiz - La Cetate, late in the day. Next is Inlăceni - Cetate.

5. 5. Inlăceni - Cetate

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Inlăceni - Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Inlăceni - Cetate. That is the ride.