Friday, 15 November 2024

Eating the Algarve 2024

Originally posted in 2011, Eating the Algarve had a major rewrite in 2022 and since has been updated yearly.

Introduction


Portugal
For me food ranks high among the pleasures of travel and 'eating local'is important. In a very few countries eating local is a chore, endless mutton in Mongolia (there is no choice) or two kebabs a day in Iran (I hear menus have diversified since 2000) leap to mind, but I have a much longer list of lands, from China in the east to Cuba in the west where dinner is a delight. Portugal ranks highly amongst them.

We first visited the Algarve, Portugal’s southernmost region, in 1982, returned several times in the 1990s and have not missed a year this century (except 2020, the Baleful Year of Covid). Since 2005 we have based ourselves at Carvoeiro, one of the smaller seaside resorts. I admire the way the locals accept that, for a part of the year at least, they are a minority in their own town, yet deal calmly and honestly with the invading hordes. I love the October warmth, the sunshine sparkling on the sea, the colours of the bougainvillea trailing across freshly painted white villas, but most of all I love the food.

The Algarve (Carvoeiro underlined) and its position in the Iberian Peninsula (shaded red in inset)

Portugal is often thought of as a Mediterranean country. Portuguese is a Latin language, the climate, particularly in the Algarve is Mediterranean as is the food. Tomatoes, garlic and peppers are important while olive oil is the essential cooking medium, condiment and salad dressing. All it lacks is a Mediterranean coast.

Warm(ish) and blue, but definitely the Atlantic Ocean, not the Mediterranean Sea

The Algarve is a tourist region and thus prey to foreign influences - tapas and sangria from Spain, salmon from northern Europe and, more recently ceviche from South America. Carvoeiro also offers Chinese, Indian, Thai and Nepalese cuisine – and all-day English Breakfast should that be the limit of your horizons. There are an increasing number of tapas, Italian and ‘Mediterranean’ restaurants, but the majority could still be described as 'tipico', where fresh, local ingredients are treated with respect.

Carvoeiro

I have nothing against Indian restaurants or ceviche, but this post is about Portuguese food with am Algarve accent. It is not fine dining (though the Algarve has its Michelin starred restaurants), nor exclusively about restaurant food, it is about good food at everyday prices – something Portugal does supremely well.

Breakfast

We do not go out for breakfast, and there is nothing special about a Portuguese breakfast, but I must crowbar in a mention of presunto. Portuguese has two words for ham, fiambre is wet cured ham, pink, flaccid and forgettable while presunto is air cured – very like the Spanish Serrano Ham. Of the many ways to enjoy presunto, none is better than smeared with a warm, runny egg-yolk.

Presunto, a sadly broken fried egg and an over-large breakfast

Although we eat presunto for breakfast regularly, this is not a regular breakfast, this is the final day, 'clear the fridge' breakfast - well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Morning Snacks

Coffee and cake! A section of I Don’t have a Sweet Tooth but… is dedicated to Portuguese coffee and cake. I shall not repeat myself here, but I cannot resist a picture of café com leite with a pastel de nata, my absolute favourite.

What eleven o'clock is for

It does not look much, but melts away leaving a legacy of lovely, lingering flavours. It’s like Portugal, not always showy but full of depth and richness.

Light Lunch

As will become obvious in the 'main courses' section, we do go out for lunch, but not for a 'light lunch' - keeping it 'light' would be nigh on impossible. But to control a regime noticeably leaning towards over-indulgence, light lunches are a necessity. We need salad - lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, a sprinkle of herbs, a dash of vinegar and a drizzle (or downpour) of olive oil - and in the Algarve what better accompaniment than locally produced sardine paté...

Salad and sardine paté

…or maybe some cheese. The Portuguese tend to eat cheese at the start of a meal, but visitors can do as they please. The Algarve produces a little, but most eaten in the region comes from the Alentejo, the next district to the north, or from the Azores, 1,000km out in the Atlantic.

Two cheeses

On the left is an Alentejo sheep cheese. It is close textured with a gentle flavour, but a pleasing tang in the finish. (For more on Alentejo cheese see Eating and Drinking the Alentejo). On the right an Azores cheese made with mixed cow, goat and sheep milk – I don’t know of anywhere else that mixes milks. It is soft and creamy with a delicate flavour but a sumptuous texture.

Main Courses

Fish

Some 100km West to East and 50km North to South, the Algarve is a roughly rectangular with the Atlantic Ocean on two sides. Unsurprisingly, it is blessed with the freshest of fish.

Dourada e Robalo. Sea Bream and Sea Bass are ubiquitous. The tourist-driven fashion of late is to fillet them, but they used to be plated whole....

Robalo, Casa Palmeira, Carvoeiro 2023

....and still are at Casa Palmeira in Carvoeiro.

Dourado, Casa Palmeira, Carvoeiro 2023

...while at the Restaurante Atlântida on the beach at Alvor, Lynne’s Dourada was filleted at the table by the waiter.

Dourada, Restaurante Atlântida, Alvor 2022

Linguado Sole used to be on most menus, then disappeared and is now making a come back.

Sole, Bela Rosa, Carvoeiro 2024

My sole at Bela Rosa in Carvoeiro this year was minimalist, to say the least. I enjoyed a sole that had not been drowned in butter and pebble-dashed with capers.

Sardinha. Sardines are available in (almost) every restaurant in the Algarve and are often the cheapest main course.

Sardines, Dona Barca 2024

Since 1982 we have been making what has become a pilgrimage to the Algarve’s second city of Portimão to eat sardines. The scruffy trestle tables on the dock have long been tidied up, but ducking under an arch from where they used to be brings you to a small square where Dona Barca, an old-style restaurant with communal tables, grills fish in the open air. Since we discovered it with Brian and Hilary in 2001(ish) we have never felt the need to go anywhere else for our sardines. 

Dona Barca 2022, with Brian and Hilary
Sardines, salad and boiled potatoes, so simple, so satisfying

It is a treat we have often shared with friends, usually Brian and Hilary. Dona Barca is inexpensive, the food is excellent (they have a full menu, it’s not just sardines) and it is one of very few restaurants we visit with as many Portuguese customers as tourists. Sadly, the long communal tables disappeared two years ago – more victims of Covid?

Espadarte. I like an occasional swordfish steak. At lunch at the Atlântida they offered an Espadarte Algarvia. There is no agreed definition of ‘Algarvia’ or ‘Algarve style’ but I expected something with tomatoes, peppers and garlic. What I got was different.

Swordfish with orange and almonds, Restaurante Atlântida, Alvor 2022

Oranges and almonds are important local products, but I was not prepared for a slab of fish to be doused in orange (juice and pulp) and sprinkled with toasted almonds. ‘Oranges and fish!' I thought, 'No! No! Thrice No!’ But, believe it or not, it was the best thing I ate all week. Like Lister’s triple fried egg, chilli, chutney sandwich it was all wrong, but perfect.

Perhaps there is a fashion growing here. In 2023 I spotted a restaurant offering 'swordfish with coconut and passion fruit'. After discovering the pleasures of black scabbard fish and passion fruit in Madeira I thought I might try it, but then I read the restaurant's review.

We lunched at the Atlântida at the suggestion of my (distant) cousin Ricky, long- time Algarve resident, fluent Portuguese speaker and now a Portuguese citizen. See Finding a Long Lost Cousin.

Ricky and me, Restaurante Atlântida, Alvor 2022

Ensopado de Enguia (Eel Stew). The restaurants we use in Carvoeiro and along the coastal strip describe themselves as 'tipico' but their clientele is largely tourists and however tipico they want to be, they all have an eye on what will appeal to the north European palate.

In 2023 Ricky took us to the restaurant in her village. She told us they feed local workers on weekday lunchtime and on Sundays (when we visited) people drive up from Portimão (the nearest city) for 'country food'. Wherever the clientele came from they were overwhelmingly Portuguese

A Oficina, Mexilhoeira Grande

A Oficina gave us access to several dishes that do not make it onto the tourist menus and I could not resist trying ensopado de enguia, eel stew. Disks of perfectly cooked eel floated in a somewhat rustic sauce consisting largely of blitzed tomatoes strongly flavoured with coriander. It was accompanied by a plate of chips and fried bread, which would have been perfect if I spent my day labouring in the fields, but for an idle so-and-so like me, was more carbohydrate than I needed. The eel, though was delicious, the white, delicately flavoured flesh falling willingly from the spine.,

Eel stew, A Oficina, Mexilhoeira Grande, 2023

Bacalhau. The Portuguese love affair with salt cod started over 400 years ago and continues to this day, even in the Algarve. However, for me the Algarve is about fresh fish, and Bacalhau feels more at home in the Alentejo, which has far less coastline and a different culinary tradiition. So, for Bacalhau dishes visit The Alentejo: Eating and Drinking 2024.

Other Denizens of the Deep

Lula. Squid has long been a favourite of both of us. They were disappearing from menus a couple of years ago, but I am glad to see they are now making a recovery. In 2022, 2023 and (for Lynne) 2024. We have eaten our squid at the Bela Rosa in Carvoeiro.

Squid at the Bela Rosa, Carvoeiro, 2022

Perfecting squid is tricky and Bela Rosa are doing well enough to encourage our repeated return, but the very finest squid we have eaten was served at Maria's, a breath of fresh air, proper Portugal and sensible pricing on the beach beyond tourist wonderland of Vale de Lobo/Quinta da Largo. After several decades of sterling service Maria sold up. The restaurant is still there, the name is unchanged, but the prices have soared under management fully invested in the creeping Californication of the Algarve.

The good old days at Maria's, Quinta do Largo, 2011
Fish is always best eaten within sight of the sea

There is another style of cooking squid which I have encountered in Portimao and Monte Clérigo om the wold west coast. We both unwittingly ordered it this year at Cozinha da Avó (Grandma's Kitchen) in Carvoeiro.

Squids, Cozinha da Avó, Carvoeiro

The pile of tiny squids, each one stuffed and blackened with squid ink did not please Lynne, but I was happy enough.

Polvo. We regularly ate ate Octopus, more precisely, Polvo à lagareiro in Martins Grill in Carvoeiro. Sadly Jan (Martins) Zegers died some months before this photograph was taken and Martins's Grill has since changed hands, name and style.

Polvo à lagareiro, Martin's Grill Carvoeiro 2019

Lagareiro is a style of cooking often applied to octopus, cod and more in which the grilled or roasted fish is brushed with olive oil.

Arroz de Marisco. Seafood rice usually comes as a dish for two. A large earthenware bowl is placed on the table and, after the waiter has given it a judicious stir, you spoon out the contents, rice, langoustine, crabs, prawns, mussels and anything else that might have been in the market that day. Fingers are required to liberate tasty morsels from shells and it all gets wonderfully messy (bibs are normally provided).

Arroz con Marisco, Casa Palmeira, Carvoeiro, 2023

In 2022 we tried out the Marisqueira Portugal in Carvoeiro. It is, I think, new and is trying to be a touch more elegant and inventive than the opposition.

Marisqueira Portugal, Carvoeiro

They fiddled with a classic, the broth was subtly changes and apart from the clams and mussels the seafood was served separately.  They also used a much shorter grained rice. They almost got away with it, the flavours were good, the crab legs were very fine indeed – and they helpfully provided crackers to provide easy access to the sweetest of meat in the spindly legs – but if you mess with a classic, you really have to nail it, not just be a bit different.

Lynne and a langoustine, Marisqueira Portugese, Carvoeiro

Amêijoas. Clams have always been important in Portugal but the last twenty years have seen serious over-fishing. Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato, clams in a garlicky broth, was once a cheap starter, it still appears on menus but now costs more than most main courses.

You can still find a bag of fresh clams at a reasonable price in a supermarket and cook them at home. I have never essayed Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato, but I do a fair Amêijoas marinière to mess with a classic and mix languages.

Clams marinière frites
Yes, I messed with a classic, but I only had to please my resident food critic and she had no complaint.

Cataplana Dishes

A cataplana is a cooking vessel unique to the Algarve. It consists of a pair of hinged copper shells which enclose the ingredients sealing in all the moisture and all the flavour. It can also be put on the heat either way up. A fish cataplana, usually serving two, will contain several pieces of fish - whatever is available that day - and, typically, prawns and mussels. The smell when your cataplana is opened at the table is memorable.

Cataplana, Vimar, Carvoeiro 2011

The cataplana in the picture was expertly cooked, but I doubt the slab of salmon among the fish is local, and nor are the New Zealand green-lipped mussels at the front. Local produce is excellent and promoting it is even more important now than it was in 2011.

Another dish traditionally cooked in a cataplana is pork and clams, and in 2022 I enjoyed this in an individual cataplana at the Casa Algarvia in Carvoeiro. This apparently strange combination was made in the Algarve, but undoubtedly designed in heaven.

Pork and clams in a cataplana, Casa Algarvia, Carvoeiro. 2022

As that last cataplana involved pork, it is time for the meat.

Meat

Borrego. Throughout the Algarve there are patches of scrubby land with a few sheep and a shepherd. The shepherds are uniformly the sort of old men who feel they still need to do something useful (an affliction I have never suffered from). Lynne felt that as they went to so much effort it was rude not to eat some lamb.

Lynne’s rack of lamb at the Casa Algarvia was top quality meat, perfectly cooked. It was marred, though, by a squirt of commercial mint sauce at the side of the plate, partly over some salad. I suspect unimaginative British tourists have for years been telling Portuguese restaurateurs that ‘we always eat lamb with mint sauce’ and this is the result. Mint sauce has its place in a British-style ‘roast dinner’, but it is just inappropriate here.

Rack of lamb, Casa Algarvia, Carvoeiro, 2022

Frango Piri-piri. Chicken piri-piri was on (almost) every menu in the Algarve long before Nando’s existed. Nandos was co-founded in South Africa by Fernando Duarte, a Portuguese Mozambiquan who gave the dish the fast-food franchise treatment and aligned himself with the gastro-criminals of KFC, MacDonalds and the rest. There are mercifully very few fast-food franchises in Portugal (though there is a Burger King with a ludicrously large sign in Lagoa) and chicken piri-piri is cooked individually by each restaurant in their own style. It is traditionally our lunch on our last day in Portugal.

Chicken piri-piri, O Barco, Carvoeiro 2022

Portugal and the chilli: a small digression

The chilli pepper was first cultivated in Mexico some 10,000 years ago. Several millennia later It was taken to Asia by Portuguese traders, arriving in India in the late 16th century and recasting the whole cuisine of south-east Asian. Vindaloo, the ultimate test of British diner's machismo, originated in the Portugal's Indian colony of Goa, as an example Portuguese/Indian fusion.

They took the variety that would become piri-piri to Africa and it made its way to the Portuguese mainland from their colony of Mozambique. Chilli does not appear in traditional Portuguese cookery but sausages (chouriço piquante) and sardine paté with piri-piri are widely available, as is piri-piri sauce, suggesting it is much used in home cookery.

Desserts

Dessert menus usually involve a large glossy folded card produced by a manufacturer of synthetic desserts and ice creams. Stuck somewhere on the card there will always be a small, sometimes hand-written, list of the grown-up desserts, many of them made in-house. Ever present is pudim flan, a rich eggy caramel custard, which is perfect when you have too little room for anything heavier. Sometimes it is just perfect.

Lynne and a pudim flan, Martin's Grill, Carvoeiro 2019

If you have a little more space left, there are bolos (cakes) and tartes (translation unnecessary) made from local produce including (but not limited to) almonds, figs…

Fig and almond roll, Atlântida, Alvor, 2022

… carobs, oranges…

An amazingly light yet full flavoured orange cake, and an affogato of sorts
O Barco, Carvoeira, 2022

and apples. The cakes are usually made with one egg more than would be normal elsewhere and are universally wonderful.

And there is always the mysterious little package known as Dom Rodrigo.

Dom Rodrigo, Marisqueirra Portugal, Carvoeiro, 2022
Very enjoyable, but rather small once you get in there

Extroduction

I have omitted nibbles and starters, and the mandatory eating of olives that precedes every meal, but I have already gone on too long and should stop now.

Bread, olives and white port - well why not?

Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Romania (5): Rupea and Brașov

This is a new post though it covers the events of the 29th of June 2023
It will be moved to its appropriate chronological position shortly.

A Fortress on a Hill and a Major City

Where are we Going Today?


Romania
Vlad appeared after we had breakfasted, ready to drive us south from Sighișoara to Brașov via, Rupea, a small town overlooked by a castle. Brașov (in German, Kronstadt) is Vlad’s home town and the third - after Sighișoara (Schäßburg) and Sibiu (Hermannstadt) - of the Siebenbürgen, the seven great fortresses cities of the Transylvanian Saxons, that we would visit on this tour.

Romania with Sighişoara, Rupea and Braşov underlined

Saschiz


Mureş County
20 minutes from Sighișoara and just before we left Mureș County, we passed through the small town of Saschiz. Once a town of the Transylvanian Saxons - who still make up 5% of the population - its Romanesque Basilica was replaced by a late Gothic fortified church (built 1493-6). The large hall-style church was dedicated to St Stephen of Hungary (Transylvania was part of Hungary until the end of World War I.) and surrounded by a curtain wall with several towers. Originally Roman Catholic, it became an Evangelical Lutheran Church during the Reformation.

Only one of the towers remains. It acquired an impressive spire in 1677 and was presumably further refurbished in 1832 as the date is prominently displayed. The angle of the photograph makes it look like the tower is part of the church, but it is actually 10 metres in front of it.

Saschiz Evangelical Lutheran Fortified Church

In 1999 Saschiz joined Biertan and its surrounding villages as part of the ‘Transylvanian Villages with Fortified Churches’ UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Rupea


Braşov County
From Saschiz we continued in a general southerly direction and some 7km later crossed into Brașov County. The county has largely the same boundaries as the Brassó County of the Austro-Hungarian Empire but underwent many changes after being incorporated into Romania in 1920. For a time after World War II, it was part of a larger area known as Stalin Region (0 out of 10 for originality, 10 out 10 for toadying), but Brașov County was restored in 1968 when newly anointed leader Nicolae Ceaușescu wanted to show his independence from the Soviet Union.

The county's population is about half a million, some 60% of whom live in and around the city of Brașov. The north of the county is thinly populated and we drove through a large green plain where cereals swayed in the breeze.

The fields of northern Braşov County

Rupea is only 20km south east of the county boundary, and it was not long before we could see a rocky outcrop in the distance. The outline slowly resolved itself into the shape of Rupea Fortress.

Rupea Fortress on its rocky outcrop

The Fortress

The strategic importance of a rocky outcrop with extensive views in all directions was obvious to the earliest humans. Stone tools and pottery from the palaeolithic and neolithic eras have been found here and in the first century CE The Dacians built a settlement on the summit. According to legend, Decebalus, the last Dacian king, committed suicide here in 106CE to avoid capture by the Romans.

Later people felt safe enough to moved down to the flat land beside their fields, provided there was a refuge in times of trouble. The Transylvanian Saxons built the first fortress on the summit in the 13th century, and expanded downward over the next 500 years, their tiered walls exploiting the natural contours of the hill.

Unlike the builders, we had to start at the bottom. The lowest level was added in the 18th century and was mainly used for living quarters and storage.

Rupea fortress - starting at the bottom

From there we worked our way upwards following the curve of the walls.

Inside Rupea fortress

From the middle level, a 15th century downward extension, we had a good view over the town of Rupea. Vlad pointed out that the houses are built ‘sideways on’ to the road with gaps between the buildings. When a hoard of Tartars, Mongols or Ottomans (depending on era) hove into view, the residents could quickly retreat through the town and take refuge in the fortress.

Rupea - for most houses along the main two streets, the gable end faces on to the road

Building at the top of the hill started in the 13th century, but development continued throughout the life of the fort. Of a hundred 16th and 17th century dwellings, one group of three remains intact. Only the upper floor was residential, the ground floor was used for workshops and warehouses.

Dwellings, Rupea fort

At the very top is the Peak House. From here the garrison could communicate with nearby towns...

Peak House, Rupea Fort

and keep watch for trouble approaching across the green hills and valleys of Transylvania.

The hills and valleys of Transylvania, My apologies for blocking out so many of them

The fortress was abandoned in 1790 after a storm destroyed the roof. It was never rebuilt and the fortress gradually fell into disrepair. Restoration started early in the 21st century. With the authorities keen to develop a tourist circuit, Rupea neatly filled a gap between Sighișoara and Brașov. Digi24.ro claims (in Romanian) that there were 150,000 visitors in 2015, but I can find no later figures. Presumably the promoters of Transylvanian tourism would be pleased we did exactly what they planned, but less happy that we (almost) had the fortress to ourselves.

Brașov

From Rupea it took an hour to drive the 65 km to Brașov.

A Little History


Braşov City
Once one of the great fortress cities of the Transylvanian Saxons, the walled city of Brașov, tucked into a valley below Mount Tâmpa in the Southern Carpathian Mountains, was destroyed by fire in 1685. Rebuilding was a long project but by 1859 the city had 20,000 inhabitants, 40% of them German, 40% Romanian and the rest mostly Hungarian. By 1910 the population had doubled, but the greatest increase came in the years after World War Two as Romania’s communist leadership oversaw rapid industrialisation. The metropolitan area is now home to some 350,000, making Brașov Romania’s 6th largest city.

The factories and new residential areas grew on the flat land north of the old centre. Many of these factories closed in the economic crash that followed the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989, but the city has slowly worked its way back to some level of prosperity.

The old centre may now be on the edge of town, but it still conducts itself like a city centre, with the large Council Square fringed with the tables and umbrellas of umpteen restaurants and cafés. To help the lost and bewildered, the city fathers have erected a large sign on Tâmpa Mountain, letting us know where we are. I don't think Hollywood need feel threatened.

Council Square, Restaurants below the Braşov sign

Șcheii Brașovului

But we did not start in Council Square, Vlad first drove us a kilometre south to Șcheii Brașovului. Romanians have been the largest ethnic group in Transylvania since before records were kept, but despite providing a couple of Hungarian kings (see Part 3: Hunedoara and Alba Iulia) Romanians were (prior to the First World War) the poor relations of the ruling Hungarians and prosperous Transylvanian Saxons. From the 13th to the 17th century, Romanians were not allowed to live within the city walls and so settled in the Șchei district.

Saint Nicholas is Braşov's oldest Romanian Orthodox Church, or at least, the wooden original was. Built sometime after 1292 it it was replaced by a Gothic style stone church in 1495 which has since enjoyed a Baroque makeove.

St Nicholas Church, Braşov

The first school teaching in Romanian was founded here when the stone church was constructed. A new school building beside the church was opened in 1760.

Romanian School, Brașov, 1760

It is now a museum showing the old classrooms,…

Old Romanian School, Braşov

…an early printing press and various books, manuscripts and icons.

Printing Press, Old School Museum, Braşov

In front of the church, in Union Square, is The Unknown Soldier. Commissioned by the local authority in collaboration with veterans' associations the statue commemorates those who died in WW1 and have no known grave. Ironically it was unveiled in 1939, just in time for another round of blood-letting. The internet has many photos of this statue, and the apparent vigour of the bayonet thrust varies enormously depending on the photographer’s angle.

The Unknown Soldier, Union Square, Braşov

Council Square

Back in Council Square we checked into our hotel and then ate lunch in the square. In this land of soups and ciorbe that was what we had, though I cannot remember which. Then we set off on a walking tour.

Soup, or possibly ciorba

The Old Town Hall

The square gets its name from the old Town Hall.

The Old Town Hall, Braşov

In 1420, the Farriers Guild permitted the County Council to build a room for public meetings and trials on top of their guild house. The ‘Trumpet Tower; was added in the late 16th century. From here watchmen surveyed the whole town and warned of fire, invasion or any other problem by blowing a trumpet.

Growing prosperity led to the addition of a spire, a clock, many more chambers and eventually a new building elsewhere. The Old Council House was retired in 1950 and is now a museum.

The Catherine and Schei Gates

To the east of the square are two city gates. The Catherine Gate was built by the Tailors’ Guild, in 1559, replacing a gate destroyed by a flood thirty years earlier. The tower is 16th century but the rest is later. The gate was the only access point for Romanians, who could enter the city at permitted times but had to pay a toll to sell their wares.

Catherine Gate, Braşov

Later the Șchei Gate, built in 1828, gave free access for all.

The Şhei Gate, Braşov

Beth Israel Synagogue

Brașov’s Jewish community settled here in the early 19th century. It grew steadily and was flourishing when the Neo-Moorish Beth Israel Synagogue was built in 1901. ChatGPT informs me the community faced periods of hardship, especially during World War II – an epic understatement, I suspect. There is however still a Jewish community, it is small but sufficient for Beth Israel to remain a functioning synagogue.

Beth Israel Synagogue, Braşov

The Black Church

At the south end of Council Square, hemmed in by other buildings is the Lutheran Cathedral of St Mary. Built 1383-1476 by the Transylvanian Saxons, it started as a Catholic Church and became Lutheran during the Reformation. Its walls were blackened during the great fire of 1698, hence it is known as the Black Church, though all signs of charring are long gone.

The Black Church, Braşov

The statue outside is of Johannes Honter (1498–1549) a cartographer and one of the founders of Lutheranism in Romania.

The building is 89m long and tower 42m tall making this the largest Late Gothic church in south eastern Europe. The clock is worth a closer look.

Clock, the Black Church, Braşov

The surrounding buildings make the church difficult to photograph. Wikipedia have a drone picture, which I won’t borrow, you can click this link, or make do with my efforts.

Inside, like most Lutheran Cathedral, it is not overly ornate.

Inside the Black Church, Braşov

The 4,000 pipe organ was built by Carl August Buchholz in 1839.

Organ, Black Church, Braşov

There is a fresco of the Nativity, with the emblems of King Matthias Corvinus (ruled 1458-90) and his wife Beatrix of Aragon in the corners (see Hunedoara). Corvinus was a Romanian King of Hungary, and definitively not a Transylvanian Saxon

Nativity, Black Church Braşov

And a couple of carved memorials to large men with huge beards, both apparently preparing to sneak out of their stone imprisonment.

Big men, big beards, Black Church Braşov

1848 was the Year of Revolutions in Europe, with nationalist pressures within both the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. The bullet holes in a pillar, the consequence of an 1848 skirmish have been carefully preserved as a reminder of the turbulence from which Romania emerged.

Bullet holes, Black Church Braşov

The building work was done by Bulgarian masons. Like the Romanians they were not the sort of people the Saxons wished to mix with and, so, like the Romanians, their accommodation was outside the city walls in Schlei. There is a story that a Saxon boy was annoying the Bulgarians workers, so they threw him off the roof and then immured his body in the cathedral walls. Or, the best apprentice was showing so much promise he threatened to eclipse his master, and in a fit of jealousy, the older man pushed him to his death. Or a young man working on the roof observed by chance some technique the master masons wished to keep secret leaving them no choice but to kill him.

Looking up from beside the building, you see a stone effigy of the victim fearfully confronting his fate.

The unfortunate, if mythical victim confronts his fate, Black Church Braşov

Without evidence, I imagine it was once a nasty little story spread to denigrate the Bulgarians – ‘well you know what they’re like’ as people too often say of those they don’t know. But even today workers die on major construction projects, so is there a grain of truth somewhere? Maybe somebody fell without obvious cause and the rumour mill decided they were pushed. Nobody will ever know.

Dinner and Manoeuvres

During the afternoon soldiers gathered on Council Square, areas were marked out and there were preparations for some sort of display.

Going out for dinner, we found the tables and chairs outside may of the restaurants, including the one we had earmarked earlier, stacked up out of the way of the soldiers. The day had been warm, but overcast, and there was room inside, so we stuck to plan A.

We were pleased our aperitif țuică (Romanian plum ‘brandy’) was served in a tumbler rather that the strange conical flasks favoured elsewhere, but there was little else to recommend the meal. My duck and pickled cabbage was alright, but could have done with something else on the plate and ,,,

Duck and Cabbage, Braşov

…Lynne’s pork with stuffed cabbage and sauerkraut disappointed her. The pork she described as ‘bits of ham,’ and she disliked both the stuffed cabbage and the accompanying yellow dome of polenta, though she enjoyed the sauerkraut and sour cream. You win some, you lose some, but we eaten sufficient, drunk a good bottle of local red and not paid much, so we were happy enough as we left.

Pork and Sauerkraut,Braşov

Outside (sunset in June is well after 9 o’clock) we found soldiers getting into position. I wondered briefly if they were forming a firing squad for the chef, but I should not be so mean. June the 9th is the feast of St Peter and St Paul – hardly an excuse for a military display – and, I have learned, the Day of the Romanian Military Police. All over the country there are ceremonies, and events showcasing their skills and celebrating their service at home and abroad.

The army forms up, Council Square, Braşov

We returned to our hotel, not quite interested enough to find out what they were doing. Whatever it was, they did it reasonably quietly and had it all packed away by morning.

Epilogue

Our sojourn in the land of the Transylvanian Saxons was nearly complete and we would soon return to Wallachia. We have seen the works of these industrious people everywhere, but we have not met a single Transylvanian Saxon.

What Happened to the Transylvanian Saxons?

Since the 12th century, Hungarian kings periodically invited Germanic settlers to help defend their southeastern border against the Cumans and later the Ottomans. These people became known as ‘Transylvanian Saxons,’ though few were actually Saxon.

They performed their defensive duties, as Rupea’s fortress and Biertan’s fortified church testify, while interpolating themselves as a middle class of artisans and merchants between the Hungarians landowners and the Romanians peasants.

In 1800 Transylvanian Saxons living in self-governing communities comprised 10-12% of Transylvania’s population

Despite political upheavals the creation of Romania in 1856, the First World War destroying the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Transylvania becoming part of that Romania in 1920 - the Transylvanian Saxons lost some of their autonomy, but little else changed.

Romania kept out of WWII until 1941 when the Germans marched through to attack the USSR, conscripting many Transylvanian Saxons on the way. In 1944 they retreated chased by the Red Army. The Russians rewarded many surviving Saxons with a few years in Siberia. Not all returned. By 1950 Transylvanian Saxons made up only 4% of the population

Romania under Communism was no fun, but getting in and out was difficult. In 1989 everything changed,

Given freedom of movement, almost all remaining Saxons, some of whom had been in Transylvania for 30+ generations, returned to Germany where the constitution granted immediate citizenship. Their dialect, an old-fashioned German with abundant Hungarian and Slavic loan words, was indecipherable to other Germans, but they adapted quickly. At first, they spoke the old dialect among themselves, but now Transylvanian Saxon is considered endangered.