Village of Biertan and Village of Viscri

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 Village of Viscri.

3. 3. 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

   about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Village of Viscri. 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.