Sighişoara

Mike Theilmann recommended this little town in Romania as "worth a day". Lonely Planet describes it as "so beautiful it should be arrested". We thought we'd better check it out.

We arrived on an overnight train from Budapest. Having sat up all night and consequently got very little sleep, we discovered that couchettes were available as far as Vintu de Jos and we could have transferred in the morning to a regular carriage.  Why didn't the booking clerk in Budapest know this?

Romanian trains do not display quite the same punctuality as those in Germany and Austria, so we were deposited at Sighisoara station about an hour late. Before long a tiny, ancient taxi arrived and the driver looked doubtfully at our luggage. He opened the boot and quickly decided that our bags could not fit, so he stowed them on the back seat. Eve squeezed in beside them and I nursed the small backpack on my knees in the front.

I showed the driver the address, printed clearly for just such an occasion. He looked at it doubtfully, but we set off. Within 50 metres he was on his cellphone, apparently talking to his dispatcher, and steering erratically with one hand. A couple of near misses did not disturb him. The taxi company apparently has only the drivers' cellphones for contact. I swear his phone rang 4 times before he started ignoring it - in a journey of just over 1km.

At the gate to the old town a policeman tried to turn us back. Our driver argued our case magnificently and we were allowed to continue. Barriers and tapes across the streets suggested either a bomb scare or a pop concert.

Luckily our street was one of the first in the old town, so all we had to do was drive to no. 24. The driver didn't know where it was. Neither did the two policemen at the barrier. Or any of the pedestrians who were asked. Eventually we drove the entire length of the cobbled street twice before locating it - on the corner we arrived at!

The meter had not been running. It seemed to be one of several inessential devices in the taxi that did not work. The driver asked for only 8 leu. Even with a handsome tip that was less than $4.

It turned out that the security was all part of a 4-day festival of folk music. So after taking about 1,000 photos of picturesque buildings we spent the afternoon listening to different kinds of Romanian folk music and watching the dancing. I may have taken a few pictures of pretty maids in traditional costume as well.

The canvas roofs in the distance are by the folk festival stage in the town square.

One of the towers in the defensive walls.  Each tower was maintained by a different guild.

The clock tower.  It's only a little clock on a big tower.

A street just outside the walls.  Still picturesque, though.

Another cobbled street.

Away from the centre, but still within the walls.  Just out of the picture to the right is a cafe that apologised, "Sorry, we don't offer free WiFi.  Talk to each other."

We saw many houses in Romania with similar dormer windows that reminded me of heavily lidded eyes.

This girl had a great voice.  She should be singing jazz!

Enough bling for you?

The guys were pretty colourful as well.

The school was at the top of the hill.  The steps were covered so that the pupils could get to school in all weathers.

The old schoolhouse was open to the public.  This bust was not labelled.  The first headmaster, maybe?

We had booked a tiny apartment through Airbnb. It was in a genuinely old building inside the mediaeval walled town. Gorgeous.

Strada Tâmplarilor no.24.  Our flat was upstairs.

Modern plumbing doesn't always fit mediaeval rooms.  The shower got us clean, but it spread a lot of water over the floor.

Part of the bed-sitting room.  It doesn't really show just how spacious it was.

Since the journey back to the station was downhill I reckoned we could walk it. Eve may one day forgive me. Google maps estimated 1.3km, which is less than a mile. Eve's suitcase has good wheels so it would have been OK if Sighişoara had wide, even pavements. But it doesn't. The walk did allow us close up views of the horse-drawn carts that are still in daily use in Transylvania. Based on observations from the trains they are roughly 50% of the rural traffic.

We arrived at the station in good time. Romanian trains maintained their punctuality record by running 90 minutes late. We were kept alert while we waited by the actions of what we suspected was a Roma family. The two smaller children went up and down the platform begging. The girl had a bandage on her arm, but no visible signs of injury or ill-health. She was not favouring the arm at all. The young men sauntered around in a small group, but we saw no signs of aggression or pillaging.