We had a good night's sleep despite the heat in the attic, thanks to a very efficient and for once quiet wall mounted air conditioning unit. Unfortunately I managed to flood the bathroom floor and I still can't work out how as I was in a cubicle, but I mopped up as best I could and let the receptionist know when we went to breakfast - he didn't seem surprised. The hotel is lovely and the dining room very old and stylish, breakfast was the usual fare and there was champagne on ice should you want it - tempting, but a little too early and of course I'm driving.
We had the luxury of a later start today as the drive to our next overnight stop, Brașov, is only about 2 hours and the first fortified church we're visiting en route, Sashiz, didn't open until 1000. Every morning we've found a local supermarket, generally Lidl, and bought a snack for lunch plus water/coke/wine to see us through and today was no exception. The nearest Lidl was just near the Romanian Orthodox church and a short walk from there gave us a lovely view of the old town on the hill.
I was very pleased to be able to photograph the whole town hall building as it really is superb.
Unfortunately when we got to Sashiz it still hadn't opened, which is a pity as the whole village is a World Heritage site.
What was interesting here was a poster showing what type of renovation could be done to a property. Because the whole village has Unesco World Heritage status I presume no changes can be made to the original design of a building (I seem to remember this from visiting Burma where the dreadful modern repairs done to some of the ancient stupas around Lake Inle had prevented the whole area being granted WH status). Obviously Da = yes and Nu =No!
From the look of it I don't think this one has contravened any rules.
We've seen a lot of wild chicory growing in the verges but this is the first plant I've been close enough to photograph.
Next stop was Crit, just 10 mins along the road. This village was off the main road, but still a single strip of houses running parallel and as the route through the village was an unsealed road, we left the car at the entrance and walked about 10 mins to the church.
A few houses along the way, all quite similar in design. Presumably animals were kept in the courtyard and maybe the ground floor, with a sleeping area above.
One property looked derelict so I snuck in but there was nothing to see; the rooms were completely empty and at the back was an external staircase and covered walkway. I didn't go too far in case something gave way and I fell through.
When we got to the church once again the door was firmly closed.
Next door was a small hotel (Casa Kaus) so we wandered up the drive expecting to be thrown out by the two guys standing chatting on the terrace. But no, we were in the right place; the entrance to the church was through part of the wall in the garden and we were more than welcome to just wander in.
It had been beautifully restored.
We'd just about finished looking around, having had the whole place to ourselves, when one of the chaps walked in with his wife. Speaking excellent English they apologised for disturbing us but they would like to talk with us - of course we were delighted and we spent a good 15 mins chatting. He'd been in the Navy and had travelled the world extensively, even living in London for a period. The hotel was managed by a friend of his and they were staying to be supportive (presumably economy wise) and the renovations to the church had been done by the hotel's owner who now lived in Austria and it had been a complete labour of love.