Viscri and Sighisoara

Funniest thing we've learned on the whole trip. Prince Charles has bought and restored 2 houses in Viscri, an ancient village. It is said two women invited him to the town and he was intrigued so he went and fell in love with the area. If you look online,  you can see pictures of him with local farmers, farming with traditional tools and methods

. He also bought a hunting lodge in the mountains.  He visits 2 or 3 times a year. Other famous people like Bill Gates hunt in the area. Deer and wild boar are the popular game.

Prince Charles house; you thought it would be fancier

In Viscri,  he bought two adjoining houses and combined them with one courtyard which we could see by looking through cracks in the ancient gate. The houses have been restored with authentic furnishings. Look online to see it and you can book rooms there. Expensive by the town's standards. Romanians didn't visit the town until Charles started visiting. Of course,  he brings an entourage of body guards. Vlad claims the villagers don't mind but I'm not sure. The town is like stepping into the 1800s. Lots of babushkas. Also a large gypsy population.

Most Handsome Viscri Rooster; I don't know whether he belongs to the Prince

To get to Viscri, you exit the main road onto an unpaved road with a pothole every 6 inches. It's 4 miles long but takes a long time to drive it. We thought the prince should pay to fix it but he can't.  Keeping the original road is part of the agreement when it became a UNESCO heritage site.

A fortified church is the main attraction of the town. It was built in the 13th century. It costs to tour it now but the price includes the history museum. You climb around in what looks like a barn to see artifacts like looms and traditional clothing and tools on each level. Here and in many other collections are wooden chests where food and other household goods were kept. The wood itself is beautiful, lots of walnut with carvings, but the drawers are painted. Same with items like wall pegboards. They seem to have had a lot of artists.

Viscri fortified church

Speaking of artists,  our last stop was at the gypsy blacksmith's. He can make anything metal and is the examiner for students graduating from the London school of blacksmithing. He wasn't there but his wife was happy to show us his shop. She gave us tiny horseshoes as souvenirs.

Sighisoara, our next stop, is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Romania. It's a walled city with a fortified church. Of course,  the history of every town is different,  but the basic facts are the same. Each fortress was attacked multiple times and sometimes captured. The residents would hide either within part of the fortress or in the church while the soldiers shot arrows and poured boiling oil through the defense windows.  When Christians were the attackers, they wouldn't destroy the churches so the people were safe. There is one fortress high on a mountain outside of Brasov that was defended by 7 soldiers for a year against an army of hundreds. The fortress had a small room stocked with food and water corresponding to each house in the village. After a year, they ran out of water and had to surrender.  The attackers were so impressed they let everyone live.

The trip to Sighisoara almost did us in. We knew about climbing 174 steps in the tower. That was relatively easy since the tower is the history museum so you stop on every floor and look at things.

What we didn't realize is that we had to climb a mountain to see the church. I don't know why we didn't know that--it's right there. There are two ways to get there--a covered tunnel or a path. We were told the path was easier. The cobblestoned street was made of cobbled boulders. It was very hard to walk on so we had to stick to the sides of the path.  Going down was easier but it was hot and not a lot of fun.

Sighisoara Tower

We climbed a mountain to see this and I don't even remember it