3 days in Transylvania: Sibiu-Sighisoara-Brasov-Bran-Sinaia

Tasting Transylvania in 3 days is the best you can do if you don't have enought time for more.. You can cover the most importanta sights in a week-end. Ask for more!

Offert type: Round Tour
Transport means: Car, mini van or bus

Description

Meet the guide at 9.00 a.m. and start to Sibiu city.

We will start the tour heading north from Bucharest and will cross the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania and reach Sibiu. On our way will visit Cozia Monastery erected by Mircea cel Bătrân in 1388 and boasting his tomb, is one of the most valuable monuments of national medieval art and architecture in Romania.

One of the oldest cities in Romania, Curtea de Arges (in translation: The Court of Arges) used to be the capital of Wallachia (we, Romanians, call this region Muntenia, as there are many mountains here). Another name for Wallachia is Vechiul Regat - The Old Kingdom, as its history indicates it as one of the first regions where royal dynasties set foot.
It is part of Arges County, situated next to Pitesti (38 km northwest of Pitesti at the foot of the Fagaras mountains), on the bank of river Arges.
Monastery of Curtea de Arges was founded by Prince Neagoe Basarab between 1514-1517 years.

One tradition describes how Radu Negru employing Meşterul Manole or Manoli as architect. Manole being unable to finish the walls, the prince threatened him and his assistants with death. At last Manole suggested that they should follow the ancient customs of placing a living woman into the foundations; and that she who first appeared on the following morning should be the victim. The other masons warned their families, and Manole was forced to sacrifice his own wife. Thus the cathedral was built. When Manole and his masons told the prince that they could always build an even greater building, Radu Negru had them stranded on the roof so that they could not build something to match it. They fashioned wooden wings and tried to fly off the roof, but, one by one, they all fell to the ground. A spring of clear water, named after Manole, is said to mark the spot where he fell. This motif is widespread in S-E Europe, most notably also in Russia, like the blinding of the Masons of Vasili Blajenii Cathedral by Ivan the Terrible.)

Arrived in Sibiu, we will visit the medieval city, European Capital of Culture in 2007.

We will arrive in Sibiel in the evening, a picturesque village situated at 18 km away from Sibiu, where we can see the Glass Icons Museum. As well as its icon-museum, Sibiel has a rich heritage of the authentic spirit of a typical Transylvanian village. Its geographical position right in the centre of Romania also makes it a useful base from which to visit other areas and places of interest or importance in Transylvania.

In the silence of its cobbled laneways, accompanied only by the murmer of the more or less fragrant stream, the Sighiel, from which it gets its name, Sibiel with its typical small houses with their luminous courtyards, its fescoed votive shrines from the early nineteenth century, its school and village Cultural Centre (Căminul Cultural) still offers today, a glimpse of tradition and local culture.

In this village, we have the posibility to see how people live in the country side, how they grow their domestic animals and how they make traditional food and tipical drinks.

Dinner and accommodation in a family's house in Sibiel, to experience Romanian hospitality. Will serve a traditionally dinner with pure biological and home made food - very tasty. Drinks included.

After breakfast, we will continue our trip to Sighisoara, which Vlad Tepes called home, one of the most beautiful towns in the heart of Transylvania. The whole medieval citadel is a part of UNESCO’s World Heritage. German architectural influences are visible throughout the entire city.

It is located on the Tarnava Mare river in a picturesque setting. The citadel, a beautifully preserved medieval complex, dominates the town with its hilltop setting. The old town enclosed within the citadel walls has narrow cobblestone streets and brightly painted 16th century Saxon houses. There are nine surviving towers; the most beautiful is the striking Clock Tower, the main gate into the citadel.
From its balcony can see beautiful views over the whole town and countryside. You can take many pictures of the Clock Tower if you will look again you will see it looks like none is good enough and none looks as beautiful as the original in the afternoon light.
The city is a real medieval city which preserve the atmosphere from that times and in the same time here will find a former Dominican church, now protestant, a gothic protestant church which have inside three valuable things : the single crypt known from Transylvania, a represantation in fresco of Saint Trinity which does not exists just in another 2-3 places in Europe painted in the same style, and a painted theme very populare in the XV-een - XVI-een century Holy Kinship with very intersting symbols.

We have the possibility to enjoy a nice lunch on the terrace of Vlad Dracul’s House (Vlad the Davil's Home), the house where Vlad the Impaler was born in November or December 1431, today a famous restaurant. You can taste the famous Vampire wine and eat his favourite plate.

In the afternoon, we will admire the beautiful landscape, dotted with small villages, medieval citadels and fortified churches, on the way to Brasov. We will visit the medieval part of the city with: The Black Church, The Town Hall, The Black Tower, Ecaterina’s Gate and the Rope Street – the narrowest street in Europe.

Located right next to the famous Bran Castle, Bran will please you with its specific beauty.The breathtaking landscape invites anyone to walks.

Bran is famous for its home made smoked cheese, and the cheese in tree bark. Every meal here tastes better, because everything is home made and pure biological food.

...a new day to visit Bran Castle – Dracula’s Castle, where, along the dark corridors and in the inner gardens one can still hear the steps of the "prince of darkness".

Today we will visit Dracula’s Castle - as in Bram Stoker's legendary vampire story. Situated at 30 Km from Brasov, between the Bucegi and Piatra Craiului Mountains, Bran Castle is an important national monument and landmark of the Romanian tourism, due not only to the beauty of the Castle and the landscape but also to the legend of Count Dracula. The first documentary attestation of the Bran Castle is the act issued on November 19, 1377, by Ludovic I D'Anjou giving the inhabitants of Brasov the privilege to build the Citadel "on their own work and expense".

On December lst, 1920, the Brasov Town council donated the Bran Castle to Queen Marie of Great Romania, as a symbol of gratitude for her contribution to the achievement of the "Great Union" of 1 December 1918.
Between years 1920 - 1927 the Bran Castle was restored under the guidance of the Royal Court architect. He transformed it into a beautiful summer residence, surrounded with a park, fountains, a lake, walking alleys and halt terraces and built the "Tea House" of Queen Maria.
Since 1956 the Castle was opened as a museum of history and feudal art.

We continue to Sinaia, the beautiful mountain resort surnamed "The Pearl of the Carpathians" where we will visit Peles Castle: one of Romania's most beautiful palaces once the summer residence of the Romanian kings.

Peles Castle is the most notable residents Romanian Royal family, one of the most beautiful castles in Eastern Europe. A testimony to the 19th century ruler’s refinement, the wonderful edifice was built after the wish of Romania’s first king, Carol I, and it happily mingled everything that was most beautiful and representative about the neo-Renaissance. The intricate facades, with applications of brown silky wood towers that seem to scratch the sky with their sharp roofs, along with the fountains and statues all make up a harmonious ensemble designed by accomplished Viennese architects.

Peles has entered history as the place where some of the most important decisions were taken regarding Romania’s fate. Anniversaries, balls, music, literary events, and theater shows organized on the scene of the theater hall gave life to the castle and refreshed the Romanian high life. The atmosphere of this place preserves so much of the force of those times that visitors will be surprised when, at their departure, they will notice that no gilded carriage is waiting at the stairs!

Since 1953, the year when Peles Castle became a museum, any visitor can admire the elegant interiors and superb terraces, as well as the buildings belonging to the castle: Pelisor Castle, The Watch Tower and Sinaia Monastery, situated right near the castle.
The construction of the castle began in 1875 and the building was inaugurated in 1883. The castle has 160 rooms, opulently decorated with leather, ebony, walnut and mother of pearl, with invaluable collections of art and furniture.

Visit Sinaia Monastery - the name of the town comes from the Monastery of Sinaia, built in 1695 by the "spatar" (old high rank among the military nobility of the Valahian kingdom) Mihai Cantacuzino after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, at Mount Sinai; the monastery contains religious objects, icons, rare books and the exhibition of pottery and porcelain ware (dating from 16th - 19th cent.).

We have the possibility to visit the wine cellars from Azuga - built in 1892, by the Rhein family, official supplier for the royal court. Here, we can buy genuine Romanian wines and sparkling wines.

3 DAYS IN TRANSYLVANIA: SIBIU-SIGHISOARA-BRASOV-BRAN-SINAIA

Description

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