In the Footsteps of Vlad the Impaler – Sighisoara

Welcome to a very special series about Vlad the Impaler (also known as Vlad III and Vlad Tepes), one of Romania’s greatest rulers and until this day, a national hero. Moreover, he served as the inspiration for one of literature’s most (in)famous characters, namely Dracula. We will guide you to the most important locations in Romania associated with this illustrious man.

Today, we will introduce you to one of Transylvania’s most beautiful towns, Sighisoara. It dates back from Roman times and has been the home of Transylvanian Saxons and Hungarians.

Moreover, this is the place where Vlad Tepes was born. Head to the Clock Tower and at the square, you will see a yellow house.

This is the house where Vlad III was born (1428/1431) and spent his infancy. Or, at least, that’s what most people claim… There are historians who believe that the building is from a more recent date; they do agree that this is the right location though. Anyway, nowadays, the ground floor of the house serves as a restaurant, whereas the first floor is home to a small weapons museum.

Lars and I decided to try out the restaurant. We were a bit reluctant at first since very touristic places can serve mediocre food at quite high prices. But our stomachs won the argument. The restaurant has a medieval theme and you can eat outside.

Our opinion? It’s not a tourist trap; the food was very good and the prices were more than reasonable. Very friendly staff as well, so we certainly recommend it. We didn’t visit the weapons museum however and wanted to explore the town itself, but a thunderstorm which seemed to last forever chased us away.

So, we came back!

With its about 28.000 inhabitants, this town is very colorful and picturesque. The old center, the remaining fortifications, and the churches are all worth a visit. Here are some pictures to whet your appetite.

The second picture features two of Romania’s favorite foods. The polenta is called mămăligă and the cabbage rolls, stuffed with pork and rice, are sarmale. Romanians consider the last one to be the country’s national dish. To be honest, sarmale are one of my favorite foreign dishes ever and I eat it whenever it’s on the menu.

Anyway, on our sister website, The Cosy Traveler, I will soon feature more pictures of Sighisoara. In our next post on this site however, I will talk about Vlad’s turbulent youth in another corner of Romania. Last but not least, at the weekend, I intend to write a special post about how we (The Viking and yours truly) experience the lockdown in our Spanish town.