Tour : 3 Castles and Medieval Sighisoara 2 day / 1 night

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Tour : 3 Castles and Medieval Sighisoara (2 day / 1 night)

The tour can be extended (several days), visiting the many sights or changed depending on the options tourists.

Day 1 : Bucharest – Peles Castle – Bran Castle – Brasov

departure from Bucharest at 9 am
visit Peles Castle
visit Bran Castle
overnight in Brasov( hotel***)

We start the journey by traveling to Sinaia, where we visit Peles Castle. Peles Castle is a masterpiece of German new-Renaissance architecture, considered by many one of the most stunning castles in Europe. Commissioned by King Carol I in 1873 and completed in 1883, the castle served as the summer residence of the royal family until 1947. Its 160 rooms are adorned with the finest examples of European art, Murano crystal chandeliers, German stained-glass windows and Cordoba leather-covered walls. The furniture in the Music Room is carved of teak, a gift to King Carol I from the Maharajah of Kapurtala in India, while handmade silk embroideries adorn the ceiling and walls of the Turkish Salon. The ceiling paintings and decorative frescoes in the Theater Hall were designed by the renowned Austrian artists Gustav Klimt and Frantz Matsch. Over 4,000 European and Oriental pieces dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries are on display in the armories.

For next destination we go to Predeal ,then Paraul Rece, Rasnov, then to Bran were we visit Bran Castle. 'Dracula's Castle' or given its offical title Bran Castle, was originally built by the Knights of the Teutonic Order in 1212 and during the later half of the 13th century, was taken over by the Saxons in the region to help protect the City of Brasov, an important trade centre. Bran castle (Draculas Castle) should not be mistaken for the actual Castle Dracula (now in ruins), which is located on the Arges River, at a more secluded site. Dracula or Vlad Tepes was born in 1431 and was the son of Vlad Dracul, who was dubbed a knight of the Dragon Order by the Hungarian king. All the members of the order had a dragon on their coat of arms, and that is what brought him the nickname of Dracul (the Devil),which over time was distorted into Dracula. Horrified by these acts of torture, the Saxons printed books and pamphlets in which they told about Dracula and his cruelty. Tales of these acts reached as far as Germany and even into Western Europe. It was not until after his death in 1476 that the nickname (the Impaler) was bestowed upon him. The legend of Vlad Tepes (Dracula) and Bran Castle lives on, immortalized in 1897 by the Irish writer Bram Stoker. In 1935, a richly dressed but beheaded corpse was exhumed at Snagov, a fate known to have overtaken Dracula, whose head was supposedly wrapped, perfumed and dispatched as a gift to the Turkish sultan. Today, legend and history are entwined and is being kept alive by the throngs of tourists who visit. At Halloween, the castle is a favorite haunt for tourists visiting Romania. It is one of the few places in Romania where you can live the true Halloween atmosphere.

After that we go to Moeciu Village and take lunch to Gradistea Gorges Resort.

Then return to Brasov,check-in to hotel *** then a short tour of the medieval center of Brasov .

Day 2: Brasov –Viscri – Sighisoara – Saschiz – Bucharest

departure from Brasov
visit Viscri and Saschiz Fortified Churches
visit Medieval Sighisoara – The Clock Tower, The Weapons Museum, The Torture Room, ,Church from the Hill, the "House with Stag"
return to Bucharest

We travel to Viscri village, to visit Viscri Fortified Church. The origins of the fortified church date from 1100, when the Szeklers built a small church with a single nave and semicircular apse, surrounded by a cemetery. Around 1185 the church was taken over by Saxon colonists, and the Szeklers were forced to resettle into southeast of Transylvania. The plan of the former Saxon church had been simple, with a single nave and a semicircular apse on its eastern side. In the 13th century a keep was built onto the west of the church, the choir was extended eastward and shortly afterwards the church was enlarged as far as to the tower. During a third phase of construction at the end of 15th century, the church was converted into a fortified church by adding battlements to the choir and the West Tower. After 1743 a covered corridor for the storage of corn was built. A century later, two chambers in the defense corridor of the bastion were turned into school rooms. The classic 19th century altar has as centerpiece „the Blessing of the Children„ by the painter J. Paukratz from Rupea. The font was made from a capital of the 13th century church.

After that we go to Saschiz, were we visit finest fortified church. Saschiz is renowned not only as home to one of Transylvania’s finest fortified churches but also as a carpentry and wood-painting center. It was here that Saschiz blue pottery was born in 1702. The Evangelical Church of Saschiz was built between 1493 and 1496 by Saxon colonists. The monument is very impressive due to its sheer size and the way the fortifying elements have been adapted to the shape of a church building. From the outside, the church appears to be a bulwark, but its defensive role is surpassed by the beauty of its gothic elements: huge arches, massive buttresses and decorative stone and brick aspects. Due to the significant distance between the center of the village and the hill on which a Saxon fortress was built in 1496, the fortified Evangelical church became the main refuge for the inhabitants of Saschiz during invading raids

From here we travel to Sighisoara, visit Sigisoara Fortress. Sighisoara is a medieval fortress with architectural ensembles made in rural Gothic style, but also in Renaissance and Baroque styles, which are the result of a constructive effort appeared later in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From the old defensive system, which has been arranged since the fourteenth century, now can be admired only 9 towers, 2 bastions and a part of the precinct wall. The towers were located in the most vulnerable places of the city and were provided with galleries for shooting and artillery bastions. Of these, the clock tower, 64 meters high, is the most impressive. In the Middle Ages the religious architecture was as significant as the military architecture. Of the 9 churches that were functional during the XIV-XVIII centuries are preserved to this day a number of 3, namely The Church from the Hill, Monastery Church and the Church called the "Lepers' Church". Here are presented rare pieces of religious, but also funeral sculpture and painting. Related to the civil architecture, worth to mention that most of the 164 houses of the city, with at least 300 years old, are considered historical monuments. Here one can admire the semi-cylindrically shaped vaults of river rock specific to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the stone frames of the windows that copy the Venetian Gothic and inside are coffered ceilings and rooms totally painted. Among these buildings, the most important are the Vlad Dracul House, the Venetian House and the House with Stag.A very original building, the largest of its kind in the area of Transylvania, is the Pupils' Staircase. Even if the construction works from the nineteenth century partly changed the medieval architecture, Sighisoara Citadel is still the most beautiful and best preserved complex of medieval architecture in the Central and SE Europe.

Also visit The House With Stag, The Church on the Hill (Bergkirche), the house of Vlad Tepes ,born here in 1431,but today is a restaurant were we will have lunch.

Then return to Bucharest.

Persons	Double room	Single room
1 person		1055 €/pers
2-3 persons	555 €/pers	595 €/pers
4-5 persons	515 €/pers	575 €/pers
6-7 persons	475 €/pers	515 €/pers

Included: 1 nights accommodation with breakfast(hotel***), transport with luxury van mercedes Vklass full option or similar car , driver, english guide, skip the line,local taxes,maps.

Not included: entraces tickets at the monuments,lunch, medical insurance, other services not specified on the itinerary, photo/video tax at museums, banking or e-payment fees.

We can organize trips for bigger groups and prices are negociable.

For private tour please contact us.

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E-mail: office@discovery-transylvania.ro
Phone: (004) 0744352325

Tour : 3 Castles and Medieval Sighisoara 2 day / 1 night