Clocks, eyes and organs!

Hard to believe its already our second to last day on the train!  Time is going so quickly!!!  Today would also be our last day in Romania – and Transylvania proper – and we were to visit the medieval towns of Sighisoara (pronounced “siggy-swaraah”) and Sibiu.  As I mentioned yesterday, Sighisoara (other than being fun to say) is known for being the birthplace of our dear spike-loving friend, Vlad the Impaler, as well as having the distinction of being the oldest continually inhabited walled town in Romania (its listed as a UNESCO heritage site).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighi%C8%99oara

We had a choice of two tours – one, to climb a wooden staircase up a hill (175 steps) to see a church, the other, to explore the town clock tower and museum (70 steps), with beautiful views of the city promised at both.  We chose the clock tower as ManpanionTM likes old mechanical stuff and, as we’d already seen quite a few churches, we fancied something a bit different.  We all decamped off the train, picked our guide and tour, and then took a short walk up a hill (indeterminate steps), passing through and under a big medieval stone arch that marked the entrance to the city.

Now, don’t get me wrong – it was very nice – old and medieval as promised, but it didn’t completely blow me away.  I think maybe I’ve been spoiled by some of the other places we’ve already visited – this place felt just a little too tailored for the tourist trade (I know, I know – I’d just come from Bran Castle which is totally geared towards tourists).  The museum inside the clock tower was pretty interesting (especially the collection of medical instruments from the 1800’s) but the clock tower itself was a bit underwhelming, if I’m being completely honest.  It was impressive in that it was built in the 13th century and was still standing – but as a clock tower, it sucked!  It didn’t keep time (you had one job) and when it finally chimed the hour (4 minutes late), none of the super creepy wooden figures moved about to mark the hour.  Maybe there’s more to it than we got to see (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighi%C8%99oara_Clock_Tower but after you’ve stood outside in the blazing sunshine waiting for it to put on a show, it was a little disappointing!

After our clock tower visit, we were then shepherded into a nearby house and cellar for a tasting of some local spirits.  Obviously every town has their own spin on mind-meltingly strong alcohol – and fruit brandies was this region’s particular specialty.  We tasted about 5 or 6, allegedly made with different types of fruit (apple, pear, apricot, plum etc) but all I could taste was burn!  It’s always kinda nuts to me how these types of schnaps and spirits are touted as being health promoting in some way.  Obvs, alcohol itself is NOT good for you already – but even less so when it is actively removing the epithelial lining from your esophagus as it makes its way towards your stomach, where it will then sit and corrode you from the inside out.

We bought the mixed berry one.

After the brandy tasting, we then had over an hour of free time to explore the rest of the town before meeting up to make our way back to the train.  Other than the clock tower, there wasn’t a huge amount else to see (we couldn’t be arsed to climb up the hill to see the church), so instead we found a bench under a tree with a great view of the valley below – upon which ManpanionTM immediately took the opportunity to take a nap, resting his head on my lap.  I woke him up once I could no longer feel my legs and we still had time to get a cold drink from one of the little cafes bordering the main town square.   Maybe we had to kill time while the train was in the station to refuel, take on supplies, whatever etc – but it was just way too long – perhaps the only excursion from the whole trip that felt like a bit of a miss.

Anyway, we finally got back to the train, had a delicious lunch – and then had another nap while we chugged along to our next stop, the town of Sibiu (drinking white wine in the middle of the day will do that to you).  Our afternoon was to be spent exploring the cultural center of Sibiu – another Old Town that was initially a Daco-Roman settlement (Wikipedia: The term Daco-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Dacia under the rule of the Roman Empire) before being established in the 12th Century by Saxon (German) settlers.  Although its an ancient city, its said to have a modern, youthful vibe and was named a European City of Culture, jointly with Luxembourg, back in 2007.   We were guided round various notable sights and buildings, including the Small Square, the Bridge of Lies and Huet Square.  One of the most distinctive features of the city is the prominence of the so-called “eyelid dormers” that you see lining the upper roofs of many of the houses, known as “the eyes of Sibiu”.  On seeing these, ManpanionTM immediately started theorizing how he could add googly eyes to them or make them blink or follow tourists around with moveable eyeballs.  I love him so much.

The other main feature of our visit to Sibiu was a private tour of the Lutheran Cathedral of Saint Mary where our Golden Eagle hosts had yet another surprise in store for us – a mini-concert featuring several of the organs that were housed in various locations within the church.  It was fabulous!   We first listened to a surprisingly loud one that definitely punched above its weight for a teeny organ – then we were treated to 2 more mini-concerts including one where two organs were playing simultaneously!  It was a real treat to hear how the different ones sounded – particularly the one that was able to mimic the tone and sound of other orchestral instruments (ie wind, strings etc).  I’d been a bit biased up to that point in thinking of organs as these huge, monolithic lumbering structures whose main feature was that they were LOUD and could make your innards vibrate – but these beautiful machines were capable of a lot more nuance and finesse than that.  It was a enlightening experience (which ManpanionTM also enjoyed immensely – particularly as he plays keys (I, sadly, do not)).  Here are a few snippets – enjoy!

After the organ excitement (steady), we had a bit of free time to wander round again before heading back to the train for our Farewell dinner onboard.  We did a quick detour to kill some time at a local market (apparently the train wasn’t quite ready for us) which was fine – it was only about a half hour and it meant I did get to see a ton of cute bunnies (we weren’t entirely sure if they were pets or dinner).  Tonight, we would be crossing the border into Hungary and leaving Transylvania behind, as we continued our journey towards Budapest, our final destination.   We had the chance during dinner to meet the team of chefs who’d been preparing us such delicious feed – it really is remarkable what they can churn out of a tiny galley kitchen – including freshly made breads and pastries every single day!!  Thank you, Golden Eagle team – your hospitality and service has been absolutely impeccable (and no prosecco in sight – only champagne!! (thanks, Jamie))