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Sighisoara old town, Romania

A walk through the alleys of Sighisoara in a gloomy and rainy afternoon. You must have seen this shot here and there, if not - now's the perfect time to stop and read.

The Crossroads point: 

Sighisoara is a really strange place. Mainly because the tourist industry advertises it as the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (or Vlad Dracula, as popular culture knows him). The town has nothing to do with vampires, though. It is a bit creepy and has an unique Medieval look but apart from that, nothing else. 

What makes it so unique is that Sighisoara is located in Transylvania - which means it is in Romania BUT the town and its population are actually NOT Romanian at all. In fact, you could hear German speech in the streets (but not the German you study at school, I can assure you). People there speak a Saxon dialect which remained intact for several hundred years. Even though the German-speaking population is a minority, it is proud of its roots and isolates itself against the Romanian 'intruders'. 

The reason behind that lies in the history of the place - in the 12th century the Hungarian king invited Saxon craftsmen to settle in the area in order to defend it against invasion (I suspect that the 'threat' was the Bulgarian kingdom across the Danube, but that is a topic of another post). The craftsmen did settle and became so prosperous, they managed to get autonomy from the king in the 14th century. To defend themselves, the guilds joined forces and each of them built one of the towers of the imposing citadel (all towers are 7 but now only 5 or 6 can be seen). 

Throughout the centuries, Sighisoara was regarded, along with the neighbouring Sibiu, as 'the gate to Transylvania' and it's strategic position dictated the change of rulers. The place was exporting goods to half of Europe and crafting other goods for the other half. 

The houses, though picturesque, are not a dream to live in - small, crowded, as within any citadel where space is the most valuable commodity, lacking sewers etc. They were restored (to the state you see on the pic) due to sponsorship (I think it was the Romanian government BUT I am not quite sure). 

The town has 3 names - Segesvar (Hungarian), Sighisoara (Romanian) and Schäßburg (German) - and now the predominant population is Romanian (around 70+%). Each of the minorities calls the town by the name in their own tongue :) 

The place is part of the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1999 :) It's deemed one of the most beautiful medieval towns (still inhabited, that is) in Europe and the moment you set foot there, you inevitably look for a knight in shining armour. 

More information on what to do in Sighisoara, on these websites: 

https://sighisoaraonline.com

http://romaniatourism.com/sighisoara.html