Day 25 - Friday 19th June

We went downstairs soon after 8am to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Although it was a limited choice, they offered homemade jam and homemade bread. There were also menu options and I asked for an omelet.

They was only one other couple there in the small restaurant area. When they got up to leave, we noticed they had a dog with them. He must have been sitting quietly under the table while they ate breakfast.

We met Alex in the reception at 9:30 to go on the postponed tour of the old town. He took us through the plaza and around the cobblestone streets explaining some of the history of the town and buildings as we went. From several vantage points, we looked down on the "new" town.

Next we went to the clock tower which is the most significant building in the town. In the lower few floors there is a museum. Then we climbed up the staircases that took us to the top of the tower. This gave us a great view of the old town, the new town and the countryside beyond.

On the handrail at the top viewing balcony, there are a series of brass plates indicating the distance and direction of world cities, The plaque for Sydney shows that it is more than 15,000km away.

We also saw the puppets that form part of the clock system. These puppets move at various times during the day - such as on the hour or at 6pm.

Last night we'd had dinner in the house where Dracula was born. Alex took us today to a small museum in that building which had information about him. His name was Vlad II Dracul Tempes and he was a descendant of the first king of Wallacia.

Alex had previously told us that he was referred to as Vlad the Impaler because of a particularly brutal and unfortunate method he used to torture and kill his enemies. The legend of Dracula was embellished by an Irish author called Bram Stoker.

Inside one of the nearby buildings, there is a museum for armour and weaponry. We also walked around the edge of the old town to have a better look at the walls and the view beyond.

The next task was to check out of our room. Alex carried our bags downstairs for us and packed the car. The left at about 10:40am.

The first stop was to visit a fortified church at Biertan. This church is notable because of its tall towers and three sets of protective walls.

We climbed to the top of two of the towers to get a better view. This wasn't easy because the staircases were narrow, steep and rickety. We used the flashlight app on our iPhones to light the way for some of the ascent. You also have to be careful not to hit your head on stonework arches or timber beams. It was all worth it because of the view.

After leaving the church, we stopped for coffee in an adjacent cafe where we all had an espresso coffee.

At about noon, Alex turned off  the main road and talked about visiting a poor gypsy village. When we reached the village, he stopped at the top of the hill so I could get out and take photos.

Almost immediately, a young boy ran down from a nearby house followed soon after by other children from different directions. They approached me with their hands out and then approached Alex and Suzy who were still in the car. Alex gave them some lollies before I got back in the car and we moved on.

The road to the gypsy village had been pretty rough and I had expected Alex to turn around and go back to the main road. Instead he continued on. It turned out that this was the road to Viscri where we would be spending the night.

As we progressed towards Viscri, the road went from bad to worse. Alex was driving very slowly trying to plot a course for us through the gravel and pot holes. Eventually we reached Viscri at about 1:15pm.

This is a rural setting with old houses, gravel roads, some wide grassed areas beside the road and some cobblestone streets. Throughout the town we saw chickens, hens, roosters, ducks, turkeys, geese and a few horses roaming free in the streets.

Our guest house (pension) has about a dozen rooms plus a large area for dining. At the back of the dining area, is a timber veranda with two large tables and benches.

The back yard contains a large vegetable garden. We wandered through the garden, over the creek and up the hill and found a number of Japanese tourists asleep on hammocks hung from the trees. Next door they are busy building a new structure that looks like it will be used for additional accommodation.

Our room has a double bed with a single doona, a table that I used for my laptop and a large timber bench that we used for our bags. There is also an ensuite bathroom with a shower in a bath.

The WiFi reception was poor and so I used my mini WiFi to get good reception. There is no air conditioning and so we opened windows and the door to let in some fresh air but this also let in the flies.

They served us lunch on the back veranda. The first course was lentil soup followed by quiche. We ordered a bottle of red wine but Suzy decided to drink the brandy that was provided on the table. As always, Alex didn't have any alcohol because the limit for drivers in Romania is zero % alcohol.

There was a group of young English people at the other bench on the veranda. It seems as though this guest house targets an international clientele.

While we were having lunch there were a few light showers and so Alex suggested that we postpone the walk to the fortified church until 3:30pm. When we set out, there were still some grey clouds around. It turned out that we didn't need our spray jackets and eventually we took them off. Suzy was finding it to be very humid.

This time I was allowed to take photos inside the church. We were adventurous again and climbed the narrow staircases up to the top of the tower to admire the view. Once again it was important to treat carefully and watch your head.

The next outing was to be a ride through the village on a horse and cart. The horse and cart arrived at 3:30pm. There were two horses and a long cart with three planks as seats for the passengers. We set out down the gravel streets and stopped outside the blacksmith's house.

It turned out that the blacksmith wasn't home. There were just three gypsy women and a few kids. They took us around the back to the blacksmith's workshop and Alex explained how it operates. I managed to take a few photos despite the reluctance of the gypsy women to be photographed.

Suzy said later that she hadn't felt comfortable there because she hadn't felt as though the gypsy women wanted us there.

Next we took a slow ride to the brick making family who are located about a km out of town. Along the way we enjoyed the scenery. We also passed a couple of trucks that housed beehives.

The brick maker was initially occupied fixing his cart and he left it to his wife to demonstrate how they make roof tiles. The two of them then explained how they make bricks in their kiln. Alex was translating their explanation for us.

It turned out that their business is subsidised by a foundation associated with Prince Charles who owns a house in the village of Viscri. During the winter months the foundation enables them to produce a product based on limestone.

On the way to and from the brick maker's house, we passed a couple of horses and carts carrying tourists like us.

After we returned to our guest house, Suzy and I walked down the street to the one and only shop in the village to buy a big bottle of water. Suzy took the water back to the guest house because the black clouds looked threatening while I walked further down the street to take photos of Prince Charles house.

The prince wasn't in town and the gates and window shutters were closed. I managed to peek inside the courtyard through holes in the gate. It seemed like a pleasant place but certainly not a palace.

On my way back up the hill, I passed another horse and cart that contained about a dozen large metal containers. The three men on board were delivering milk to the houses along the street.

There were numerous dogs in the area. They sometimes walked up to me and walked along with me but there was no problem. This morning we had met two Americans from Salt Lake City who carried big sticks to protect themselves from the dogs.

I also noticed that most houses had a satellite dish - some has as many as three. It seemed incongruous to see ramshackle houses with modern technology attached. Also people were often sitting outside their houses talking on mobile phones.

Dinner was served at 8pm. We ate inside because it was too cold on the back veranda. Alex and I finished off the bottle of wine that I'd bought at lunchtime while Suzy went for the brandy again.