The Szekely area of Romania is unique and unpredictable, in terms of both its population and its natural environment. It’s the most densely populated Hungarian-speaking part of the Transylvania region, despite being the furthest away from today’s Hungary. It’s also a volcanic area full of springs, bubbling mud, and mineral deposits. The Szekelys are a […]
You don’t have to read a book to learn what an important trading center Targu Secuiesc, Romania once was. You can just read the architecture of this town of 20,000 people (largely of Hungarian ancestry) located in eastern Transylvania. All around the central square, you can see weird open gateways that carve into the buildings and open […]
Welcome to Cluj, Romania: a city that for centuries has embodied the religious diversity typical of its region, Transylvania. Survey downtown Cluj, Romania, from atop the citadel hill to its north, and you can see churches of six denominations. Scanning left to right, you first see the tall domed tower of the Romanian Orthodox church, […]
Visitors to Sighisoara, Romania, one of the most evocative Gothic cities in Transylvania (central-western Romania), might not be surprised when they come across a statue of Dracula and learn that the city is his birthplace. With its medieval walled city center on top of a hill, the place seems to have just the atmosphere you’d […]
I hurried along the dusty, cobbled streets of Sighisoara, Romania trying to find my way back to the empty hotel near the train tracks. Around every corner, I had to dodge open graves and the leers from men standing inside them holding shovels. The story raced through my mind about a 15th century prince who […]
Hunedoara, Romania, is the location of an amazingly well-preserved Gothic castle that looks as if it dropped out of some fairytale. With a drawbridge, a moat, pointy towers, colonnades and gargoyles, all it lacks is a resident dragon. It seems fitting that it is located in the evocative region of Romania known as Transylvania. Hunedoara […]