Exploring Saxon Fortified Churches northeast of Sibiu

I slept in late today and decided to travel again northeast of Sibiu and explore the old saxon villages south of Sighisoara; I will check out some more tomorrow. It is amazing how these old fortified churches are everywhere; they are like minature castles to protect them from invasions by Ottoman Turks. Some of the churches I checked out today date back to the 1400's. I visited the villages of Casolt, Daia, Rosia,Vurpar, Hosman, Folfeldea and Marpod. The village of Daia was celebrating their 590th birthday today! Cool! I saw many stray dogs again today and lots of people working in the fields; there is no combines here, they work the fields by hand with scythe and pitchforks. On the way back to Sibiu I picked up a young kid that needed a ride to see his girlfriend; he was 18 and harmless...yeah I know mom, don't pick up hitchhikers...that is the way some of the villagers get from place to place, few of them have a car. His name was Ioan and he said his girlfriend worked in a club by the Sibiu train station (Gara). He spoke pretty good english which was nice. He told me the club he was going to was a, "hard drug" club...or at least I thought that is what he said with his broken English and Romanian accent. I asked again and discovered it was a, "hard rock" club! Thank goodness. LOL! He told me he has cousins in Canada and liked to talk about cars, including his European Ford Opel! He also talked about his dislike of gypsys and that they give Romania a bad name and they only want to steal, drink, lie and not work; I have heard this opinion shared by many in Romania.

 Most of the pictures below are of churches which I think are beautiful, sorry if they bore you. There is also a video of a friendly stray dog I met today outside one of the churches.

This is the view from just outside of Sibiu looking back at the city and the Cindrel and Fagaras Mountains in the background.

This is the typical sounds you here in these cool little villages. I love it here!

The first village I stopped in was Casolt, apparently there is castle ruins there; but I never found them. I took a look at their cool Saxon Church and cemetery though.

Throughout Romania horses are used as work animals and you do not see people ride them for enjoyment; however today I witnesses two young men riding horses, it seemed for enjoyment; a rare sight, most of the time they are hitched to a horsecart.

The next village I visited was Rosia. These Saxon churches are essentially, "closed" for business since almost all the Saxons are gone now. They sit and deteriorate slowly without much upkeep, if any. I heard the gypsys will break into old Saxon building and will sell the antiques they find in Sibiu to dealers...sad!. At least the majority of them are locked, to give some protection from thieves; however, I did discover one today that was broken into and the door was open. I am not going to mention the name of that village in order to protect the church. The cemeterys are overgrown and have not been visited very often, kind of sad; the large majority of Saxons left after the 1989 revolution. The Casolt Church door was open with a wrought iron gate protecting the church; it was nice though because it allowed me to take this picture of the inside.

More horse carts; with, and without drivers.

Next village stop was at Vurpar.

Cool old Saxon school house.

Most of the Saxon churches are situated upon the highest hill in the village for strategic protection against attacks; back in, "the day".

View of the village from the church.

Stairs that lead down to the priests house.

Gravestone photo; this man was in the Austro-Hungarian Army in WWI; just like by Great Grandfather Stefan Fising.

A more recent burial, probably one of the last Saxons that lived in the village.

Photo of a woman in traditional Saxon dress.

A window was openon a out building and I looked inside and there was a coffin, cross and other Church property. I closed the window back up to hopefully protect it.

And yes there is no indoor plumbing in most villages...this is the church bathroom.

Stray outside the church watching me.

Family going to work in the fields

This beautiful village church had its door broken open; luckily the beautiful altar is still there; however the organ is gone, just the frame remains. The great thing is that i could see inside; the bad thing is I am fearful that someone will steal anything that is inside.

A painted plaque on the wall honors the local Saxon villagers who lost their lives in WWI.

Old traditional Saxon hand-painted pottery.

"marque" numbers that would be posted inside the church so you would now where in your book you should turn for that days service.

This was strange; inside the church bell tower  I saw this goats hoove tied to this board. Wow! Gypsy magic spell? Who knows' kind of freaky though. maybe it is protecting the church.

So this is where Romanian babies come from...hmmm. LOL! You see storks everywhere throughout Translyvania. They build their nests on top of telephone poles, houses throughout the villages. I also saw many "Lesser Spotted" Eagle today; I believe they are a protected species and are grand old birds. Every time I attempted to get a picture of one they would fly away though. I found a picture on the internet so you will know what they look like. On the subject of birds, I actually never knew that a cuckoo was a real bird! Doi! When i was staying with Robert in gergeschdorf / Ungurei you can here them all the time; now I know where those darn clocks get their name and sound. LOL!

Lesser Spotted Eagle

The next village I stopped in was Hosman.

Apparently at one time the US must have given financial assistance to repair and keep these buildings in a good condition? Not sure.

The old German school...long have the children been gone from this village.

I could never get past the walls of this church, I think it must be awesome inside.

The cemetery in Hosman

The tombstones eventually just fall over break and then erode. Back in Gergeschdorf most of my familys stones are gone through erosion and old age.

Unfortunately this one looks like it was intentionally shattered, I tried to put it together the best I could.

This was probably the friendliest dog I have met in roania so far, maybe he is not a stray? he probably is though. :-(

The last stops before heading back to Sibiu was Marpod, Fofeldea and then Rosia.

Unfortunate grafitti on this old Saxon Churches front door.

Local Transylvania 911...actually here it is 211!

No tractors in use here; just Scythes to gather the hay for the horses.

Fofeldea is not a Saxon village, however I decided to check it out and its Romanian Orthodox church and cemetery.

In each village you find these community springs for drinking water and with a trough for your horse too!

Old cemeterys are awesome...and what better place to hang out in cemeterys than in Transylvania!

This is a photo of a couple in traditional Romanian clothes

This is another photo of a couple in traditional Romanian clothes

A freshly born stray in Fofeldea.

The village of Rosia..this stray was one of the coolest looking dogs I came across...looks like a Transmunt sheep dog...but probably a stray.

I spoke to a very nice woman who spoke English at Rosia about getting the key to the church, she pointed out the house I should go to, however the woman who has the key was probably at the village festival...maybe I will try tomorrow when I continue my exploring of these Saxon villages.

I saw probably 20 cats in Rosia...I have not seen many more than that elswhere.