Day 3: Riding into Sighișoara Citadel
Our morning highlight was the Bethlen Castle in Criș, a quiet, under-restoration gem tucked into rolling fields. We were lucky enough to be given a tour by one of the archaeologists working on site. He casually asked if we wanted to try our hand at a bit of medieval “training,” and before we knew it, we were aiming star-shaped throwing blades at a wooden target. Needless to say, we laughed ourselves silly trying.
Lunch was a roadside picnic, the kind you can only have on a bike tour. Robbie had somehow transformed the back of the van into a tiny kitchen: fresh bread, cheeses, tomatoes, cured meats, fruit, and a few homemade spreads he’d procured somewhere along the way. We ate sitting on the grass, overlooking a village laid out below us like a postcard.
Turns out locals really love to eat fat. First, Peter and Robbie showed us how to eat goose fat spread on a slice of bread with red onions and chilli. Then we tried greaves, which are similar to cracklings, prepared by slowly frying pig fat on low heat. Finally, we sampled some slănină, which I already knew from my parents. Slănină is basically salt-cured, and sometimes smoked fat, similar to bacon.
The afternoon, however, delivered another dirt climb that none of us will forget. Steep, loose, and long enough that at one point all five of us were off the bikes and pushing. But, just like the climb the day before, it was worth every step.
The reward was rolling into Sighișoara through a forest of ancient oak trees, some of them 7 meters wide. There’s something humbling about passing trees that have been alive since before the United States existed.
Rolling into Sighișoara felt like entering a living museum. With cobblestones under our wheels, every turn revealed some new detail: wrought-iron balconies, narrow stairways, bright shutters, and streets that seem to meander according to their own logic. Even with the tourists, it still feels lived-in, not staged. A short ride today, yes, but one that ended in a place that deserves every minute we can give it.
by elenawalsh