Transylvania #2 Photography - M1key - Michal Huniewicz

The most appealing feature of the historical Romanian region of Transylvania are, to me at least, its fortified churches.

They are silent witnesses to the complicated and often brutal history of the region, and they were built by the Saxons. Those Transylvanian Saxons migrated here from the 12 century onwards, coming from the Holy Roman Empire. Technically, they were not necessarily Saxons. [2]

It was their task to defend the the southeastern border of the Kingdom of Hungary against the Asiatic hordes. [2]
In the photo, a "secret" passage in a church.

The defence did not go so well, and as a result, fortified churches and fortified towns were created. Thus, Transylvania was called in German "Siebenbürgen" - the Seven Cities, referring to the the seven fortified cities. Cluj-Napoca or Sibiu or Sighișoara potentially being among them, although there is no certainty. [3] The three were respectively called Klausenburg, Hermannstadt, and Schässburg.

The Saxons would go on to become a privileged class, with the Romanians and the Hungarians being usually in the lower classes.

Today, very few Saxons remain (we're talking the low end of tens of thousands), as most of them moved to Germany during and after the Communist era.

The World Heritage Site of Sighișoara.

We drove on unlit Romanian roads for hours at night, and it wrecked me completely. We then had to drive uphill on some sort of mountainous dirt track, but we ended up in this chalet! I nearly passed out from exhaustion, so I don't remember much at all.

Not far from Brașov, we did a mountain hike.

Lush Transylvanian forest.

Romania has an issue with stray dogs. This one joined us in the woods.

Ammar viewing the landscape.

Dzinman looking at a tall tree.

Once again, I tried to nail that Alec Soth shot.

The dog just dived into this puddle.

In one of the hotels, I noticed they weren't taking any chances with luck.

By chance, we found this bobsleigh track, and followed it nearly to the top.

Here, we found a religious site dedicated to St. Anne. Behind it, there were people climbing, and we cheered them on as one of them had difficulties abseiling.

Nothing exactly straight about this building.

Stairs leading to the tower. The guide (I think a Transylvanian Saxon) hit me on the arm when I placed my elbows on something apparently precious for stability when taking a photo, the rough bastard!

Holy Trinity Cathedral of Sibiu and the wonderful, medieval landscape of Transylvania.

Man wearing hearing protection and hiding behind benches to study religious texts in peace and quiet (that I disturbed - well, he didn't notice me).

Dolls staring at passers-by.

We visited the famous salt mines of Transylvania, and I found this vending machine with meat in it.

We descended into the caves, not unlike those I saw in Colombia.

In the salt mine, we rented boats to row in a salt lake.

This was a quick and intense trip, but it didn't feel like we did as much as last time.