Sibiu to Sighisoara

So my earlier, much longer post, got deleted so bear with me as I try to remember what we've done in the last few days.
Sibiu was a great little town with three piatas connected together in the center. Lucky for us we were there when a once a year gypsy and pottery market was taking place. Can anyone say Christmas presents!?





One step closer to the Hagia Sofia! The Orthodox church in Sibiu is supposed to be a miniature version.

One afternoon we biked out through the park and to an open air cultural museum with exhibits of traditional housing and living from around Romania. We could have spent an entire day there but only had a few hours.


Feeling a little like Don Quixote...

Driving in Romania has been adventurous as we've managed to get lost each day. Actually I know how we managed it: by only using the guide book maps and not a real map. As both Ben and my mother can attest to: "Keep going straight. We're not on the map yet." is a perfectly valid form of navigation.
Fortunately, the guy in the info center let us know the main road from Sibiu to Sighisoara had major road construction and that we should take the back roads. The back roads led us by multiple Saxon villages with fortified churches. The only dirt road, complete with huge car sized potholes, that we drove that day took us to Biertan which had the only open church of the day.


What's behind this door?


19 locks!

We made it into the walled section of Sighisoara before dark, though navigating the tiny winding streets in our car was interesting. Our lodging had kept the original floor plan of the family home it was in, complete with tiny narrow staircase low door frames.


Yep, those are our room keys...
Sighisoara's claim to fame is that Vlad Tepes aka Vlad the Impaler aka Dracula was born here. His house is now a kitschy restaurant. Yay tourism! Our main day here was spent wandering out to an oak reserve, climbing the clock tower, visiting the church, and various museums, and tasting palinca (local brandy).



Clock tower.

We finally figured out why we keep getting asked if we are German! Other than the huge tour buses full of Germans, we realized all of the Germans were coming to visit as Germany had given Romania large sums of money to help rebuild their country. At least that mystery is solved!
Up next: Brasov and then the wedding!