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Thanks to Bram Stoker and Hollywood, Transylvania (Latin for "beyond the forest") is famed abroad as the homeland of Dracula, a mountainous place where storms lash medieval hamlets, while wolves - or werewolves - howl from the surrounding woods. The fictitious image is accurate up to a point: the scenery is breathtakingly dramatic, especially in the Prahova valley, the Turda and Bicaz gorges and around the high passes; there are spooky Gothic citadels, around Brasov and at Sibiu, Sighisoara and Bran; and there was a Vlad, born in Sighisoara, who earned the grim nickname "The Impaler" and later became known as Dracula . But the Dracula image is just one element of Transylvania, whose 99,837 square kilometres take in alpine meadows and peaks, caves, dense forests sheltering bears and wild boars, and lowland valleys where buffalo cool off in the rivers. The population is an ethnic jigsaw of Romanians, Magyars, Germans and Gypsies, among others, formed over centuries of migration and colonization. Transylvania's history is still often disputed along nationalist lines, the feelings aroused running high in both Hungary and Romania and routinely exploited by politicians. Most Hungarians view Erdely (their name for Transylvania) as a land "stolen" by the Romanians, where some two million Magyars face continuing harassment and subjugation by a Romanian population that they claim arrived long after the Magyars had settled the area. Romanians assert the opposite: that they appeared first in Transylvania and that, for centuries, it was the Magyars who discriminated as colonialist overlords against the majority population. Since the Trianon Treaty of 1920, which placed Transylvania firmly within the Romanian state, the balance of power among the ethnic groups has shifted sharply in favour of the Romanian majority, with many peasants brought in from Moldavia and Wallachia to form a new industrial proletariat. The revolution of 1989 has allowed many of Transylvania's population, Germans in particular, to return to their ancestral homeland, leaving the Hungarians as the region's main minority group. Meanwhile Transylvania's Gypsies ( tigani ) still go their own way, eagerly participating in an economic free-for-all that they never really abandoned under Communism, and largely unconcerned by growing prejudice against them. The result is an intoxicating brew of different characters, customs and places that is best taken slowly. Many towns have Saxon and Hungarian names which are used alongside the Romanian ones and these are given in brackets in the text. Although the same language is spoken on both sides of the Carpathians, there is a clear cultural divide between the provinces. Many people, mostly Transylvanians, will tell you that Transylvania is part of Central Europe, with a long tradition of culture, free enterprise, political decency and generally civilized behaviour, while the Regat or "Old Kingdom" of Wallachia and Moldavia is a primitive place, half Balkan and half Turkish, where everything is subject to corruption, inertia and maladministration, and nothing worthwhile ever gets done. There is some limited truth in this, and certainly if you find yourself suffering from culture shock in Bucharest, the solution is to head for Transylvania. Although modernization and population movements have eroded their sharp distinctions, Transylvania's historic towns still reflect the characteristics of the ethnic groups that once dominated them. Most striking of all are the Stuhls , the former seats of Saxon power, with their medieval streets, defensive towers and fortified churches. Sighisoara , the most picturesque, is the Saxons' greatest legacy and an ideal introduction to Transylvania, followed by the citadels and churches of Brasov and Sibiu , as well as smaller Saxon settlements like Cisnadioara, Harman, Prejmer and Biertan . The other highlight of this southeastern corner is the castle at Bran , which looks just how a vampire count's castle should look: a grim facade, perched high on a rock bluff, whose turrets and ramparts rise in tiers against a dramatic mountain background. Travelling west, routes towards the Banat and Hungary pass through southwestern Transylvania, a region of mountains and moorland peppered with the citadels of the Dacians, rulers of much of Romania before the Roman conquest. To the north and east, Transylvania has a more Hungarian flavour: cities such as Cluj and Targu Mures are strongly Magyar, while Miercurea Ciuc and Sfantu Gheorghe are the cultural centres of the Szekely, a closely related ethnic group. The Carpathian mountains are never far away in Transylvania, and for anyone fond of walking this is one of the most beautiful, least exploited regions in Europe. Hikes to stunning places in the Fagaras, Apuseni and Retezat ranges can last several days, but it's perfectly feasible to make briefer yet equally dramatic forays into the Piatra Craiului or Bucegi mountains, or to one of Transylvania's many spectacular gorges. When considering your itinerary, bear in mind the festivals which take place across Transylvania throughout the year. May and June offer the most choice, but during months with only one or two events there's usually something happening just over the mountains in Moldavia, Maramures or the Banat. The really special events are detailed in the text.
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