Sibiu & Sighisoara Tour

DAY 1
08:15	Meeting with your guide at The Palace of the Parliament
08:30	Departure for Sighişoara on the following route: Bucharest – Ploiestii – Sinaia – Brasov – Rupea – Sighişoara.
11:30	Arrival in Brasov
11:30-13:00	Brasov  city tour including visit of the Black Church. Black Church, a symbol of Braşov, is the parish church of Evangelical Church of Romania. Received its present name after the 1689 fire that swept throughout the city transformed it into a ruin. It had originally dedicated to St. Mary. After the Reformation it was known as the “Great Church”, but popular name after the fire, “Black Church” was officially accepted in the nineteenth century.
13:00-14:00	Lunch in Brasov
14:00	Departure for Sighisoara
15:30	Arrival in Sighisoara
15:30-20:00	Accommodation in the city, at Sighişoara Hotel. The hotel is an old building dating back to 1520. ; visit Sighisoara, one of the fewest inhabited cities in Europe. It was certified back in 1280. The construction of the fortified belt started in 1350 and covered 9 towers, out of which the Clock Tower is the most important.
20:00-21:00	Dinner will be served in the hotel’s (wine) cellar.
DAY 2
08:00-08:30	Breakfast
08:30	Beparture to Biertan;
09:00	Arrival in Biertan; Biertan is one of the first German settlements in Transylvania, officially certified back in 1283
09:00-10:00	Visit The  Fortified church Biertan. Biertan impressive architectural ensemble by framing harmonic village, the aesthetic value and historical information and especially the original substance preserved in the late fifteenth century and beginning of the sixteenth century, characteristics which determined its inclusion in the list UNESCO World Heritage.
10:00	Departure for Sibiu
11:30	Arrival in Sibiu
11:30-14:00	Sibiu city tour
14:00-15:00	Traditional lunch in Sibiu
15:00	Departure for Bucharest on the following route: Ramnicu Valcea – Pitesti – Bucharest.  If time allows, you can visit Cozia Monastery Arrival in Bucharest around 20:00-20:30

Cost: 180 EURO/pers in double room; an additional fee of 22 EURO for a single room supplement
Costs are available for groups of minimum 15 pax groups.

Services included:

• 1 night accommodation, full board – Sighişoara Hotel 3*
• Traditional  lunch in Sibiu
• Bus with air conditioning and audio-video equipment
• English/French speaking guide for the entire trip
• Entrance tickets for Black Church-Brasov, the Clock Tower-Sighişoara, Biertan, the Council Tower-Sibiu, the Evangelic Church-Sibiu

Please note that alcoholic drinks are not included in the services listed above.

Brasov
The city was first attested in 1235 AD under the name Corona, a Latin word meaning “crown”, a name given by the German colonists. According to Binder, the current Romanian and Hungarian names are derived from the Turkic word barasu, meaning “white water” with a Slavic suffix -ov. Other linguists proposed various etymologies including an Old Slavic anthroponym Brasa.
The first attested mention of Brașov is Terra Saxonum de Barasu (“Saxon Land of Baras”) in a 1252 document. The German name Kronstadt means “Crown City” and is reflected in the city’s coat of arms as well as in its Medieval Latin name, Corona. The two names of the city, Kronstadt and Corona, were used simultaneously in the Middle Ages.
From 1950 to 1960, during part of the Communist period in Romania, the city was called Orașul Stalin (Stalin City), after the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
Black Church
It was built by the German community of the city and stands as the main Gothic style monument in the country, as well as being the largest and one of the most important Lutheran (Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession in Romania) places of worship in the region.
Black Church, a symbol of Braşov, is the parish church of Evangelical Church of Romania. Received its present name after the 1689 fire that swept throughout the city transformed it into a ruin. It had originally dedicated to St. Mary. After the Reformation it was known as the “Great Church”, but popular name after the fire, “Black Church” was officially accepted in the nineteenth century.

Sighisoara
During the 12th century, German craftsmen and merchants known as the Transylvanian Saxons were invited to Transylvania by the King of Hungary to settle and defend the frontier of his realm. The chronicler Krauss lists a Saxon settlement in present-day Sighiṣoara by 1191. A document of 1280 recor ds a town built on the site of a Roman fort as Castrum Sex or “six-sided camp”, referring to the fort’s shape of an irregular hexagon. Other names recorded include Schaäsburg (1282), Schespurg (1298) and Segusvar (1300). By 1337 Sighişoara had become a royal center for the kings, who awarded the settlement urban status in 1367 as the Civitas de Segusvar.
The city played an important strategic and commercial role at the edges of Central Europe for several centuries. Sighişoara became one of the most important cities of Transylvania, with artisans from throughout the Holy Roman Empire visiting the settlement. The German artisans and craftsmen dominated the urban economy, as well as building the fortifications protecting it. It is estimated that during the 16th and the 17th centuries Sighişoara had as many as 15 guilds and 20 handicraft branches. The Baroque sculptor Elias Nicolai lived in the city. The Wallachian prince Vlad Dracul (father of Vlad the Impaler (Dracula), who lived in exile in the town, let coins to be minted in the city (otherwise coinage was the monopoly of the Hungarian kings in the Kingdom of Hungary) and issued the first document listing the city’s Romanian name, Sighişoara. The Romanian name is first attested in 1435, and derives from the Hungarian Segesvár, where vár is “fort”.
Sighişoara is considered to be the most beautiful and well preserved inhabited citadel in Europe, with an authentic medieval architecture. In Eastern Europe, Sighişoara is one of the few fortified towns which are still inhabited. The town is made up of two parts. The medieval stronghold was built on top of a hill and is known as the “Citadel” (Cetate).The lower town lies in the valley of Târnava Mare river.
The houses inside Sighişoara Citadel show the main features of a craftsmen’s town. However, there are some houses which belonged to the former patriciate, like the Venetian House and the House with Antlers.
Biertan
The settlement was first documented in 1224 .
Biertan is one of the first settlements of German Saxons of Transylvania were included in the “Two Chairs” (Medias and Seica) in Andreeană Diploma (Andreaneum) in 1224 . Location Biertan is documented in 1283 in a document Medias and Moşna with all three localities are in fierce competition to obtain the administrative center of the ” Two Chairs “. Thus, each of the three cities try to increase their reputation by building more imposing and ornate sacred.
In 1397 Biertan is certified as a city. Like any Saxon settlement had urban organization, remarking style Franconian string of houses arranged around a central plaza, above which rises the imposing fortified church. Impressive religious monument blends Gothic style at the Renaissance , defended the three enclosure walls towers and bastions medieval. The first site of the city is attributed to the twelfth century , when it was probably high and the first church (St. Mary). The present church was built in 1,486 – one thousand five hundred twenty-four , Gothic-late.
For 300 years, between 1572 and 1867, Biertan Saxon bishopric was established, favoring the construction of one of the strongest fortresses peasant Transylvania around the fortified church.

Sibiu
Sibiu was and is one of the most important and flourishing cities of Transylvania, one of the main centers of Saxon colonists settled in the area. A known in recent years significant economic and cultural renaissance, is today one of the cities with the highest level of foreign investment in Romania. In 2007 Sibiu was the European Capital of Culture together with Luxembourg .
In Roman times, the area was known as Sibiu Cibiniensis / Cibinium, hence deriving the name of the river that passes through the city ( Cibin ) and Romanian name of the city.
In the current quarter there was a Roman settlement Guşteriţa called Cedonia.
Sibiu was founded on the site of ancient settlements, probably slaves, just after the middle of the twelfth century settlers Saxons in the territory Rhine – Moselle . The first mention of the city is made in 1191 under the name Cibinium in an ecclesiastical document from the Vatican . First document in the form Hermannstadt dates from 1223 , but there are mentions of the name Villa Hermann. In 1241 he was attacked, captured and partly destroyed by hordes of Mongols .
In the XIV century , Sibiu became a center of trade for centuries and was the most important German city in Transylvania. Craftsmen in the city were organized in guilds, in 1376 an estimated 19 are known guilds.
In 1366 Sibiu was declared a “city”.
This was published in 1544 , Lutheran Catechism , the first book printed in Romanian.
Since 1692 , with increasing Austrian influence, Sibiu became the capital of Transylvania. This is a booming period of the most important building of this period being Brukenthal Palace and the Roman Catholic Church
Sibiu in 1788 is the first newspaper (in German) from Transylvania, called Theatre Wochenblatt.
In 1872 they built the first railway line, and in 1897 Sibiu is electrified. Also during this period ASTRA Sibiu headquarter and a major city of the Romanian community.