The best city hikes and walks in Mureș

The Clock Tower is the undisputed landmark and proud face of Sighișoara. It is a mechanical marvel that has set the city's rhythm since the 14th century. I cannot confirm if the mechanics still work. But once it was like this: precisely at midnight, a new figure was pushed forward every day.

The houses are colorful as if from a paint box and glow in pastel yellow, lime green, and brick red. The alleys are so winding and uneven that you automatically shift down a gear. Here you have to leave time standing at the gate and stroll and enjoy. You embark on a journey back in time to old Transylvania, where a surprise, a tower, or a hidden courtyard awaits around every corner.

It is said that there were even more steps in the past. In any case, you reach the Joseph-Haltrich-Lyzeum (lat.: Schola Seminarium Rei Publicae, which translates to "The school as a breeding ground for the community") and the Bergkirche via this route.

The Burgplatz is surrounded by colorful houses. A small square with cafes, restaurants, and souvenir shops.

The ascent is steep, the calves are already slightly aching, but at the top, a reward awaits: a very beautiful passage to the upper town of Sighisoara. The tower is still relatively well-preserved and is part of the almost completely preserved ring wall around the upper town.

Burgplatz, the city's old commercial and civic center, is square in shape and located at the intersection of two main traffic routes. The relationship between the square's dimensions and the scale of the building facades lends the square a great deal of harmony and intimacy. The five streets that converge here offer interesting perspectives in all directions.

The Butcher's Tower (Turnul Măcelarilor) was built in the second half of the 15th century. It is a hexagonal structure on an octagonal ground plan, which, together with the bastion in front of it, added later, provided a wide field of fire. The tower has three floors with five loopholes.

With approximately 2,000 graves, the Bergfriedhof is the main cemetery of the Protestant community, which owns two other, smaller cemeteries in Obere Baiergasse and at Siechhof. The Bergkirche and Bergfriedhof complex includes the mortuary hall in the former Goldsmiths' Tower (which also served as a gymnasium for the Mining School) and the Seiler's Tower. At the end of the 19th century, the Protestant Women's Association had an apartment built here for the cemetery caretaker. He still lives there with his family today. The people of Sighisoara have probably been burying their dead on the western slope of the mountain since the 18th century.