Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
So pretty it should be arrested; from the moment you enter its fortified walls, wending
your way along cobblestones to its centrepiece square, Sighişoara burns itself into your
memory. It's like stepping into a kid's fairy tale, the narrow streets aglow with lustrously
coloured 16th-century houses, their gingerbread roofs tumbling down to pretty cafes. Hor-
ror fans won't be disappointed either, for this Unesco-protected citadel, the best preserved
of its kind in Europe, was the birthplace of one of history's great monsters - Vlad Ţepeş
(The Impaler).
The area was settled by the Romans, and it wasn't until the 12th century that immigrant
Saxons established a thriving trading town here and the citadel you see today. It was later
extended and enlarged in the 14th century. Grab a caffeine burst outside Ţepeş' house (op-
posite the fantastical church with the onion-dome spire); visit the sights of the citadel then
wind yourself up for the climb to the church on the hill. Many use Sighişoara as a base
from which to explore the enchanting Saxon villages of Viscri and Biertan. Cartographia
publishes the highly detailed Sighişoara fold-out map, covering the city and environs.
