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Our first stop after Brasov was Sighisoara. It’s another town founded by Germanic people, the Transylvanian Saxons, who were invited by the King of Hungary to protect the southern borders of what was then his land. They built their medieval citadel on a hill and it has been UNESCO listed for being “an outstanding example of a small fortified city” which has been inhabited since the 12th century. It was also where we celebrated New Years Eve 2009/2010. But before that happened we had a few days to explore the (inevitably) cobblestoned streets of the old town. It was beautiful.

The Clock Tower was once the main entry to the fortified city and home to the town council. It was built in 1280 with walls 2.35m thick and is now a history museum. Inside you can see the workings of the 1648 clock, a fantastic tangle of wheels, cogs, chains and spinning things all controlled by the steady tick tock of the pendulum swinging.  Each day a different wooden figurine represents the day of the week and other figurines, carved from linden wood, represent characters from Greek and Roman mythology.

Nearby is a restaurant in the house where Vlad Tepes (inspiration for Count Dracula) was born, but we avoided it. Instead we opted for the delicious kurtos kalacs that were being sold in the main square. We first discovered kurtos kalacs in Brasov at the Christmas market next to the ice skating rink, and they’ve been a staple feature of any outdoor area that people wander around and might want to eat. Made from a thin ribbon of pastry wound around a thick wooden spit, they’re a hollow cylinder about 40cm long and 10cm wide which is slowly cooked over charcoal. The outside is crispy, covered with caramelised sugar and nuts, while the inside is still a little undercooked and mushy. Delicious!! Apparently they originate here in Transylvania but are now considered a Hungarian dish as this area was part of Hungary for hundreds of years. As you eat it the helix unwinds and we had an easy-to-eat street snack as we wandered.

Speaking of food, another thing that we’ve been enjoying since it got cold is mulled wine. There’s nothing like coming in from the cold to a warm room and sipping a hot mug of spicy wine. We made some in Chisinau with Kaatya and it was surprisingly simple. Just add some cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and orange slices to a sweet red wine and warm it up. It’s saved me on many a chilly winter day, when my fingers were about to go numb and my face about to freeze off. There have been a few more of those cold days than I would have liked but I guess my four year avoidance of winter had to end at some stage.

On New Year’s Eve we spent most of the night hanging out in our hotel room because all the bars and restaurants had expensive reservation-only parties. We hung out until a bit before midnight and then headed up to the citadel to brave the winter chill and join the other revellers. We weren’t the only ones with the same thought, as 2010 got closer more people joined us and we watched fireworks go off all over the city. You must be able to buy fireworks in shops because there were small displays all over the city as different parties counted down the New Year on their slightly different watches. Some went off on either side of us and we enjoyed the display while people all around us popped champagne corks.

The next day we left to head to Romania’s northeast. It’s an area famous for its 15th and 16th century churches which are decorated both inside and out with beautiful frescos. The designs depict stories from the bible, historical saints and martyrs, historical events such as the siege of Constantinople, scenes of Armageddon and historical figures that founded or funded the churches. Since 1993 seven outstanding examples have been UNESCO listed and we managed to see four of them while in the area. The first one we visited was the Church of St George at Voronet, built by Stefan Cel Mare in 1488 as thanks to a religious hermit who had given him advice during a crisis in the war with the Ottomans. It’s famous for the beautiful and well preserved fresco depicting the last judgement as well as the vivid shade of blue that is used for the background of most of the figures. It’s apparently known worldwide as “Voronet blue” though a quick Google search doesn’t show much international usage of it apart from describing the monastery frescos.

We also visited the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Humor which is famous for its interior frescos. Unfortunately we visited on a day that it wasn’t open. The outside was nice though, painted in 1535 with funding by Stefan Cel Mares’ illegitimate son Petru Rares. We didn’t stick around for long – without shelter from the bitter cold it wasn’t much fun to stand around and hope that someone would come to open the church. Up near the village of Moldovita we visited another one, The Church of the Annunciation. This one is notable for the fortifications that surround the church, which are a reminder that many of these churches were built at a time when the area was threatened by Turkish invaders. The fortified church area was where armies would wait to do battle and the exterior frescoes were designed to educate the illiterate soldiers who could neither enter the church nor understand the Slavic language used in mass.

We’re now in Suceava, the main city in this area and home to another of the painted churches. The Church of St. George was probably the most disappointing of the churches we’ve seen as the exterior paintings are very faded. Still, we had to pass through Suceava anyway on our way up into the Ukraine. Tomorrow we head up toward Kamianets-Podilskyi in the Ukraine then to Lviv and probably Kiev. If Brett doesn’t hear from work the plan is to catch the ferry from Odessa to Istanbul and spend some time in Turkey, or maybe head to Germany.

Tags: Humor, Moldavia, Moldovita, Sighisoara, Suceava, UNESCO, Voronet