Day 561: Fortified Churches

Today's WHS was the Fortified Churches of Transylvania. These are, well, fortified churches. During the middle ages the people of this area were sort of stuck between great powers - Holy Roman Empire to the west, Ottomans to the east, and Russians to the north. And because they weren't wealthy, they couldn't afford to fortify their towns so instead they did the next best thing - fortify the biggest and most important building in town, the church.

There's about 8 of these fortified churches on the list, so we spent the day driving around to three different ones in Transylvania. All were interesting and in various stages of preservation, usually just a small church surrounded by a high wall. There were also some storage-type buildings so that the inhabitants could wait out a siege.

Also got an insight into small village Romanian life - very rural and agricultural! Lots of horses and carts on the road. Ended up for the night in the town of Sighisoara where we'll have a look around tomorrow!Read more