24 kilometers of walking in our third day of Saxon Trek from Chirpăr to Dealul Frumos, via Veseud. A bit cloudy and chill for the day, but not that bad when you’re on the move.

We left Chirpăr in the morning, not before having a short walk to the fortified church in the village. In Chirpăr you can still clearly read the form of the Romanesque basilica with three ships built in the 13th century. The interior furnishings of the church date from the 18th century. The organ of 1778 is in the gallery built on the west side, and the altar of 1795 was made in the workshop of the master Johannes Folberth of Sighisoara. Due to the many Ottoman attacks, the 7-level bell tower was fortified around 1500, and today, after more than 500 years, it still enjoys the title of the highest tower in the Hârtibaciu Valley.

After saying goodbye to our hosts, we took over the hills in the direction of Veseud. As usual, a few shepherds with their herds, but other than that, quiet all around. Nature, green grass and tall trees.

We got a bit lost on our way from Chirpăr to Veseud, we misinterpreted the map and got the wrong turn. We got a bit scared in the forest, especially when we came across some quite fresh bear traces. We made lots of noise (screaming, singing, whistling) to let the forest creatures know that we are around. We moved for about 30 minutes in a circle until finding the right path. We could see the village in the valley, but couldn’t figure out which way to chose. Some parts of our trip had marked trails, but it wasn’t the case for this day.

We got to Veseud in about 2 hours after leaving Chirpăr and found this quiet village, with beautiful houses and the fortified church standing tall in the center of the village. Almost no one on the streets, something that happened in many villages we passed by, making us wonder if these villages still have people living in them or not.

The village was first attested in 1379. The place of worship in Veseud was a Romanesque basilica built in the 13th century. It probably had the typical semicircular apse, which was demolished once being fortified at the end of the 15th century, to build a five-level defense tower above the choir.

As it was almost lunch time, we had a proper lunch break at one of the guesthouses in the village – Veseud 11. The place looks lovely, quiet and relaxed. There were just a few people visiting when we got there so we had the terrace all for ourselves. A warm soup and the traditional Romanian sarmale, a cold beer and we were ready to continue our trip.

And here we are up on the hills again, enjoying the view over the village we had just left and heading to Dealu Frumos, our final destination for the day.

This part was probably one of the longest distances we walked from one village to another, about 4 hours in total. We were starting to get a bit tired after all the walking we had done in these 3 days, not exhausted, but our feet were hurting a bit.

Passing through the forested hills on the edge of the Hârtibaciu stream you come across Dealu Frumos. The white walls and reddish roofs of the fortified church typical of Transylvania, very well preserved, can be seen from afar.

The complex was built in the center of the village to be easily accessible to all inhabitants in case of attack (first as a Roman basilica in the 13th century and then as a fortified church around the year 1500) . If there was enough time, even the animals were sheltered behind the walls, so as not to fall into the hands of the enemies. Food, cereal and bacon were also stored in the fort. In the first half of the 16th century, the court had to be extended in order to shelter the growing population of the village. 100 years later another part of the wall was moved out to make room for supplies. The entire community took part in fortification work, while the various guilds in the village were involved in maintenance activities.

We got to Dealu Frumos in the late afternoon, when people would finish their daily work and gather in front of their houses to have a chat with the neighbors. Kids would run around, giving this village a bit of life. We just quickly passed the village streets and headed to a guesthouse just outside of the village, up on the hill (our last, quite tiring ascent of the day). Elisabeta Guesthouse was a good option for us to have a hot shower and a warm dinner (not the best food we had in the region, but anything is good after a long day of walking).

Here is our map for the day.

Read also:

Saxon Trek 2019

Saxon Trek 2019 – Day 1

Saxon Trek 2019 – Day 2

Saxon Trek 2019 – Day 4

Saxon Trek 2019 – Day 5

Saxon Trek 2019 – Day 6

Saxon Trek 2019 – Day 7