More Religious Edifices
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2007
1
40
90
Trip End
Apr 19, 2008
Sighisoara,
Romania
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Matt and I had wanted to visit the fortified Saxon churches around Sighisoara, and the more people you fit in your hired taxi, the cheaper it is per person
1-Copsa Mare Church
. We quickly recruit these three to our cause and at 9:30 the next morning, we head out.Saxons, mostly from western Germany, were invited to populate Transylvania (yes, I'm in Dracula country now) in the 12th century. In the 15th and 16th centuries as invasion threats from the Ottomans increased, bulky city walls and fortified churches were built for protection.
Our first stop was the tiny village of Copsa Mare. Our taxi driver had never been there before, but the church up on a hill wasn't difficult to find. The place was over-run and deserted, leaving us to explore the yard, discovering an open door leading inside. No services had been held in a while and all the hymns for the next service had been set to 666, but it was a nice enough sanctuary. Before leaving, we took a stroll down the main street, Paul telling Taylor the lack of people was due to most of the townsfolk being vampires and needing to sleep during the day.
Our second church has been put forth as the best in the region. Biertan's church was constructed in the 15th century and for four hundred years, couples wanting a divorce were locked in one of the smaller bastions for two weeks as a last ditch effort to resolve their differences. They had one bed and one set of cutlery. The method was so successful that it's said only one couple went through with a divorce in all the time it was in place! The church has lovely grounds and inside, a lock with actually 19 locks in 1. The lock is such a marvel of engineering, it won first prize at the Paris World Expo in 1900.
Our final stop is Atel, whose church is closed
2-Men and Horse Cart
. Our taxi driver locates the caretaker who unlocks the big wooden doors for us, pushing them open with a massive shove. A cheery, older man with only one tooth remaining, jutting up from his lower gums, he shows us into the church, jabbering his life story to Paul and me in German. He is not originally from Atel, but he came here 15 years ago after his parents died, having no brothers, sisters, or family of his own. He looks after the church, crawling up to ring the bells in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. He shows us the bell tower and we clamber up rickety stairs, duck under wooden beams, and do our best to avoid placing our hands in pigeon excrement, finally reaching the top and some beautiful views. I have never been up a bell tower quite like that before. Back on the ground, I ask Paul to take my picture with the caretaker and find the old man's arm suddenly vice-like around my waist. We smile, but the smell is something awful!The five of us have been so efficient in our sight-seeing that there is time to visit Sighisoara's old town in the afternoon. WE visit the location of Vlad Tepe's birth, the man Dracula is based on, and hike up a covered passageway to the town's church and cemetery. The old town is interesting in that it is such a touristed place, yet the ground is a 50-50 mix of packed sand and deteriorating cobble stone. Odd. The old town is rather small, but still quite lovely, and we enjoy a round of beers in the sunshine on the main square.
