Inlăceni - Cetate and Village of Prejmer-Tartlau

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 83 km into the recorded legs. Next is Village of Prejmer-Tartlau.

3. 3. Village of Prejmer-Tartlau

   In the Burzenland plain east of Brașov, the village of Prejmer, known to its Saxon founders as Tartlau, is home to one of the most remarkable buildings in Romania: a fortified church surrounded by massive circular walls, with hundreds of storage rooms built into them on several levels. The church was begun in the thirteenth century by the Teutonic Knights, who were invited into the region by the Hungarian king to defend the frontier, and later strengthened by the Saxon villagers, who built the walls to protect themselves against Ottoman and Tatar raids. It is part of the UNESCO listing of villages with fortified churches in Transylvania.

   Read the complete Village of Prejmer-Tartlau 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 Village of Prejmer-Tartlau. 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.