The current incarnation of Sighisoara was built in the 12th C, on and around the original Dacian fortress built during the first Century AD. It is a gorgeous town, filled with pastel buildings, cobblestone streets and beautiful medieval architecture. We walk into the main square, soaking up the atmosphere a bit before heading into Gradina cu Tedera for our included lunch.
Today we have lunch with two couples who are going to take a side adventure day after tomorrow from Piatra Neamt to find the guys’ great-grandfather’s hometown and hopefully grave. Totally interesting story, one that makes me want to get back into our family ancestry as well. In between the ancestry stories, we feast on a traditional bean and ham soup, served in a huge bread bowl (like a chimney stack!), then either chicken paprikash (not at all like Ed’s mom Nancy’s paprikash, but still pretty good) or beef goulash. Dessert is a traditional plum cake which is good, but too cloyingly sweet, shockingly, even for me.
After lunch we begin our walking tour which talks us all through the town, stopping at the covered steps the school children use to climb the slope to school, passing brightly colored houses, old fortified gates and the ever imposing – but beautifully gothic – clock tower. You can climb the clock tower for views over the city, but we decide to pass on that opportunity as it isn’t the prettiest day, and we’d rather spend out time at sea level (well on the ground) looking at all the great buildings around.
Near to the clock tower is the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. Currently a hotel and restaurant, they do have (no surprise) a little tour you can take of the rooms where Vlad was born and lived for a bit. It is supposed to be really hokey, so we take a pass on that and continue our little walk around town, soaking up the atmosphere and snapping pictures of everything within our viewpoint.
With plenty of time left before meeting the bus, we decide to sit on the square, at a cafe in front of the stag house (a house with a stag head hung on the corner) for a glass of wine and beer. It’s a great people watching spot, even though there really aren’t that many people around (except for our tour folks). Every place we have been so far has been surprisingly and pleasantly uncrowded.
Back on the bus, it takes about an hour to get to Targu Mures, and the Privo hotel, which is a totally modern hotel constructed of glass and metal in the midst of a little traditional Romanian town. Wildly out of place, but totally amazing, I love it – from the sleek all glass window facade to the spacious yet minimalist rooms to the especially unique hallway that is all white and virtually flat in appearance – the hotel room doors seeming to disappear into the walls. The bathroom is huge, with this bizarre blue plastic ball-looking shower head (that turns out to be a rain shower) and while Ed isn’t quite as enamored with the whole thing as I am – he is at least happy with the A/C that actually works!
We hit the grocery store a few blocks away for snacks, where we see for the first time, 2L plastic bottles of beer. Crazy! There are also 1/2 L bottles, of which we purchase a couple (they will be easer to move than the cans) and some fantastic Moldavian Sauvignon Blanc. Good haul!
Later, we head to dinner in the hotel restaurant. We’ve researched, and it gets rave reviews, so we figure, what the heck. It will be the most expensive meal we’ve had (and even still, it’s not any more than we’d spend on a night out in Asheville), but it turns out to also be the best meal we’ve had in a long time. We start with an amuse bouche of soft herbed cheese on a cracker, then move onto this amazing seeded bread with paprika butter that is delicious. Ed gets onion soup so thick with onions there is barely any broth – and tons of gooey cheese to complete the thick goodness. For mains, I get the seared tuna, which is served as rare as could be with an excellent crust of sesame seeds and some sort of wonderful spice that I can’t identified. It is served over red lentils, which were exceptionally good as well. Ed had “Naturally Raised Country Side Chicken Breast” which was served with this creamy paprika sauce with mushrooms and dumplings that were more like spaetzle than dumplings. It was all totally excellent and well worth the cost – and staying in to eat at the hotel (which we so rarely do).
In the room, we hang out, organize and get our bags ready to move on tomorrow to Piatra Neamt.
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