Village of Biertan and Historic Centre of Sighişoara

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Village of Biertan

   Biertan is a small village in the hills of southern Transylvania, and its church looks like a castle that happens to have a nave. In the sixteenth century the Saxon community, German-speaking settlers who had been invited into the region by the Hungarian kings in the twelfth century to farm and defend the frontier, enclosed the church on its hilltop with three rings of walls, towers, covered stairways and storerooms, so that the villagers could withstand a Turkish raid. Inside the walls each family kept a room for its food and valuables, and the bacon hung in the towers. The ensemble, listed by UNESCO in 1993, is one of the best examples of the fortified churches that dot the Saxon lands, and it has the feel of a place built by people with much to protect.

   Read the complete Village of Biertan write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Village of Biertan 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 31 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 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Centre of Sighişoara. 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 Village of Biertan.

5. 5. Village of Biertan

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Village of Biertan write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Village of Biertan. That is the ride.