The author of the Bradt Guide for Transylvania goes on and on in her praise for Sighisoara: “… like taking a trip back in time, to an era crowded with vampires, evil counts, wolves, peasants riding through the untamed countryside on horse-drawn carts and tipsy old men tottering along the narrow, winding streets”.

After having visited the site myself, my conclusion is that she must have been living under a stone all her life, or just spent too many years in Romania. It’s a nice town to visit for half a day, but is it any better than a similar medieval city WHS? San Marino (much bigger and more spectacular location), Assisi, or Toledo (both more impressive individual structures) come to my mind. Only these cities were not on the route between Central Europe and the Ottoman Empire… (a regional aspect is what distinguishes it the most).

What I liked best about Sighisoara was the long-covered wooden staircase that leads up to the very top of the hill. It was built to cover schoolchildren and churchgoers from the rain. It reminded me of a similar one at Biertan Church that I visited earlier that day.