Why this ride
From Șaeș it runs 267 km to Șaeș; allow about 5 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of Village of Saschiz-Keisd, Historic Centre of Sighişoara, Village of Viscri and Hoghiz - La Cetate.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Village of Biertan and Hoghiz - La Cetate
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 267 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 19
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
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. 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. 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 Village of Viscri.
4. Village of Viscri
Viscri is the village people picture when they think of Transylvania's Saxon heritage, and it more or less lives up to it. A single long street of pastel houses, blue, ochre and white, stands gable end to the road, with geese in the ditch, horse carts at dusk and, at the top of the slope, a fortified church wrapped in thick white walls. It is part of the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania listed by UNESCO, and it is one of the best preserved.
Read the complete Village of Viscri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Village of Viscri, about halfway. Next is Hoghiz - La Cetate.
5. 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 sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Village of Viscri.
6. back through Village of Viscri
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Viscri 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 Viscri comes up about 169 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Historic Centre of Sighişoara.
7. back through Historic Centre of Sighişoara
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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 213 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Historic Centre of Sighişoara. Next is back through Village of Saschiz-Keisd.
8. 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.
9. 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
The route ends here after 267 km.
Leg by leg
Village of Biertan to Village of Saschiz-Keisd
Village of Biertan → Village of Saschiz-Keisd is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Village of Saschiz-Keisd to Historic Centre of Sighişoara
Village of Saschiz-Keisd → Historic Centre of Sighişoara is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Sighişoara to Village of Viscri
Historic Centre of Sighişoara → Village of Viscri is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Village of Viscri to Hoghiz - La Cetate
Village of Viscri → Hoghiz - La Cetate is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hoghiz - La Cetate to back through Village of Viscri
Hoghiz - La Cetate → back through Village of Viscri is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Village of Viscri to back through Historic Centre of Sighişoara
back through Village of Viscri → back through Historic Centre of Sighişoara is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Sighişoara to back through Village of Saschiz-Keisd
back through Historic Centre of Sighişoara → back through Village of Saschiz-Keisd is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Village of Saschiz-Keisd to Village of Biertan
back through Village of Saschiz-Keisd → Village of Biertan is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.