Village of Viscri and Monor - Dealul Braniște

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Sărățeni - Casa Sării.

2. 2. Sărățeni - Casa Sării

   Salt has shaped this corner of Transylvania for thousands of years. Beneath the hills of the Sovata and Praid area lies a huge salt dome, and in places it reaches the surface, creating salt cliffs, salty springs and lakes. Sărățeni, a village in the Târnava Mică valley, takes its name from the salt, and Casa Sării, the salt house, is the local name for the spot marked here. The Romans valued this salt as much as Dacian gold, and the eastern frontier of their province ran along these hills, with a fort at Sărățeni among the posts that watched the valleys and, no doubt, the salt routes.

   Read the complete Sărățeni - Casa Sării write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Sărățeni - Casa Sării comes up about 86 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monor - Dealul Braniște.

3. 3. Monor - Dealul Braniște

   This is the Transylvanian Plain at its northern edge, a land of soft hills rather than mountains, and Dealul Braniște is one of the rounded rises between the villages of Monor and Batoș in Mureș and Bistrița-Năsăud country. Braniște usually means a protected wood or reserved pasture, and the hill still carries patches of oak among the fields. From the top the view runs out over a rumpled carpet of meadows, orchards and strip fields, with the Călimani mountains a blue line far to the east.

   Read the complete Monor - Dealul Braniște write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 157 km into the recorded legs you reach Monor - Dealul Braniște. Next is back through Sărățeni - Casa Sării.

4. 4. back through Sărățeni - Casa Sării

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sărățeni - Casa Sării write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Sărățeni - Casa Sării, late in the day. Next is Village of Viscri.

5. 5. 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 at Village of Viscri. That is the ride.