Saturday 25th May

Our hotel is the Fronius Residence, a 17th century house with a huge, impressively furnished bedroom with a vaulted ceiling. It is in the walled town set above the new town down around the river.

After a leisurely breakfast we were led around the town to have the sights explained. The main square is dominated by a tall clock tower & the Lutheran church. On one side there is the house in which Vlad Tepes, 'the Impaler' was born in 1431.

Although he is the mythical model for Bram Stoker's Dracula, in reality, he is considered by Romanians to be one of their great hero figures as he tried to drive out the Turks who controlled Transylvania at the time. As with the villages, the area was largely settled by Germans & the architecture reflects this.

We walked around, down towards the river & returned to look at the tower of the tinsmiths which has survived. Each guild was responsible for part of the city wall, as in Brasov. From there we ascended a long set of covered steps up the old school on the hill top next to the church which unfortunately was closed, returning via the church yard cemetery for we went for a coffee.

After failing to get into the big Dominican church in the square we climbed up the fascinating clock tower museum with a model of the walled city & various aspects of life in the past. The old clock mechanism & the cuckoo clock like figures were fascinating. The gallery around the top gave us some wonderful views of the town & the surrounding country.

Leaving the clock tower, we descended & crossed the river to see the Orthodox Church but unfortunately there was a wedding on. As a consolation prize we toured a LIDL store & bought some chocolate.

That evening we all ate together at a small restaurant.