Still on the same day when we got to explore a few other things that people can enjoy while being in Medias that were presented in my previous post, we decided to walk a few hundreds of meters away from where we got to see an exceptional evangelical church and made our way to the fortress of the city.
Even though this can be reached pretty quick if you only focus on the road without looking around you, we decided to enjoy the walk and the colourful yet so lonely landscape offered by the tiny houses of the locals which seemed like a long wall painted by kids.
While this wasn't the first time seeing this kind of architecture and colours used for the houses as they are quite specific to Transylvania and Sighisoara has plenty of that, I still loved to see the mix of colours which were brightening up the day that seemed like not being in the mood for tourists with all the gray clouds gathering on the sky.
Though, since it wasn't raining yet and the restrictions for COVID were already taken away, it felt a little bit awkward not to meet any other people on the street considering that we were just 2-3 minutes away of walk from the fortress which I consider as being the main attraction of the city.
I'm not sure if this could be caused by the uncertain weather or if it's just another sign that the town is quite a dead place with very few opportunities for those living there either if we are talking about studies or careers, but I hope it was just an unlucky day for us.
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Anyway, just as I mentioned before, the fortress is really close to the center of the city and also from where we started our walk, so the white tower seen in the 3rd picture is also where the citadel is. The tower is known as Forkesch Tower or Goldsmith Tower and it represents one of the 3 main towers of the city which dates since the 15th century and it played the main role to defend the city by coming up with lots of shooting holes.
Being a pretty tall and imposing tower, Forkesch Tower can be noticed from more sides of the town so it's the best landmark someone should look for in case they want to reach the fortress without spending a lot of time searching on Google Maps.
When we reached the tower we were sort of confused wondering where the fortress is because from what we've read and heard before, this one should have been linked to Forkesch Tower.
The biggest surprise came realizing that Cetatea Medievala Medias has nothing to do with any fortress seen so far just because the little passage close to the wall represents the fortress itself.
Or better said - the remains of it.
So based on our previous experience of seeing pretty much all the citadels of Romania with a few exceptions, it was the first time getting to visit a place which is recognized as still being a fortress even though there are just a few towers and the fortress wall that resisted during the passage of time.
Of course, it wasn't that easy to actually believe it as we ended up walking next to the wall up and down the street with the thought that it will lead us to a big and imposing citadel that we expected to see.
But thinking about our previous experiences visiting citadels and knowing that it's impossible not to see at least some remains of the fortress here and there, we figured out that the one from Medias is something that no one would ever imagine, since the fortified wall was basically protecting the most important part of the town, in the middle of it being placed the church presented in my previous post that played some of the roles of a common citadel.
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So after spending a few more minutes surrounding the wall and being surprised by all the small details that could be still seen in its structure including the shooting holes, we returned to the tower and the little passage that caught our attention.
The way of accessing the narrow passage can be made via the wooden door from the bottom of the wall which back when we visited this place was locked due to some kind of contagious fungus that was found inside and which represented a danger for the tourists.
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The total length of the fortified wall is a little over 2300 meters and this one can be enjoyed both in the place which is marked as the fortress of Medias, but also along the city which represents a great way to discover more of the medieval town without being scared of getting lost in case you are not checking a GPS.
However, thinking that Medias is a town which dates for more than 700 years, I was happy to see people getting involved in promoting this as best as they can and making the tourists want to spend more time than usual in a location. The main thing I have in my mind when writing this, is the little library located under the passage which is open 24/7 for any book lover who wants to get to read a book for free with the promise to return the book as soon as they read it or at least bring a new one instead.
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It's true that the people who set up this place are actually the owners of the pub located right across the fortified wall which is a pretty good method to gather book lovers who are looking for a new piece to read while enjoying a hot coffee, but I doubt they take all the books and old furniture inside every time the weather conditions become worse, so I can only be both happy and sad at the same time thinking that these will have a bad ending sooner or later.
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Anyway, considering that everything that is surrounded by the fortress wall represents the old town which is where you will find a lot of pieces of history, I still thought that it would be nice to pass into the modern part of the city which can be accessed via Forkesch Tower which will make you leave the past behind and look on the future while the present is stuck somewhere in between the two worlds so different, yet so linked to each other.
So while this side of Medias seemed a lot more crowded thinking that we didn't really see a lot of people inside the old side of the town, it was nice to discover that people managed to build a new life and start living again while back when the fortress was raised, all the inhabitants had to bring their contribution regardless of their social position.
Currently, there are only 10 out of the 19 original towers that are standing still, and you can enjoy all of them by following the next route: Complexul Castelului - Zona Sub Alee - str. Nicolae Titulescu - str. După Zid - str. Cloșca - str. Unirii - str. Pompierilor.
In order to reach Medias you can either take the train from most of the cities of Romania, or follow the national road DN14 on the route Sura Mare - Slimnic - Seica Mare - Copsa Mica - Medias.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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Yay! So happy to hear that! 🥰
Every time I went to a new city, I will either look for a coffe shop or a bookstore/library. Just a thing for booklovers. I'll be also elated seeing a shelf on the side of the street. That's do nice of them.
Then this must be one of your favourite spots in town if you ever get to visit it 🥰
I totally agree that the location of the church is unexpected, as well as the length and arrangement of wood that the whole wall has, however it gives it a greater attraction for being different.
Yes, that book lending idea is interesting, nice visually, but complicated to sustain over time with that location, hopefully it is something they have considered and it does not end up succumbing.
The low number of people on the other side of the wall is curious, it is true that many tourists only go to the basic points and miss a lot of things by not wandering around a little, but it is still strange.
This country is lovely, many images you share are postcard worthy. The pictures of those colorful houses that you have found in various parts of the country, here they look very nice, as well as the streets where you have walked.
Little by little my interest in visiting some of those places has begun to grow, hopefully I will have the opportunity to visit there soon!
Best regards!
Hey! Thank you for reading and taking the time to leave such a worthy comment!
I agree with the part of the book shelves and the whole arrangement but at the same time I hope that the guys who organized this took all the measures to also take care of everything regarding to the season and weather change. Even though I doubt this happens, I still prefer to be optimistic and keep my hopes up.
The number of people was low within the fortified wall and not after it, as the wall is some sort of border between the old and new town. While in the old town most likely you'll find just tourists, the new town is where most of the inhabitants are living these days and build a new life.
Either way, Medias is just one of the many interesting cities from Transylvania (Romania) that are worth to be visited, so depending if you ever get to visit this country and how much time do you have, you can add it on your list as well.
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