Romania Day 3 - Evangelical Church Fortified Village of Grossau

The second night was also our last night at the Evangelical Academy in Neppendorf.

After breakfast, we made our way to the Evangelical Church Fortified Village of Grossau in concert attire, where we were supposed to musically participate in the mass and then invited to the community festival.
In addition, the Romanian television filmed our performance.

The Church Fortified Village of Grossau is only one of the formerly 300 church fortresses, of which unfortunately only about 150 remain, most of them also in very poor condition. They used to serve as a place of retreat during attacks and at first glance are simply a mix of church and fortress.

After the church service, we were able to change clothes in the typically Transylvanian-Saxon furnished rectory before we went to the barn of the church fortress for lunch. There we had lunch together with the community members and also entertained them with some singing performances.

During this, we sang not only our usual repertoire, but also the 'Song of Transylvania,' the anthem of the Transylvanian Saxons. As soon as the congregation recognized 'their' song, they stood up and sang along. Both us choir singers and the community members were overwhelmed by emotions.

After this emotional experience, we sat together for some time before we finally received a short tour of the church fortress grounds.

We saw the plague pulpit, a small window in the house wall through which the priest in the Middle Ages blessed the plague victims so that they did not have to suffer without God.
In addition, Grossau has the second-largest bell tower in Transylvania.

After a short visit to the bacon tower and a subsequent bacon and sausage tasting, we said goodbye to the warm-hearted community members and continued our journey to Mediaș.

Upon arriving at the Edelweiß Hotel, we first settled into our rooms and then had about an hour of free time until dinner.

To conclude the evening, a part of the group went to the old town to end the day with some drinks, while the rest relaxed at the hotel.

Both on the way here and on our way to the old town, we noticed the clear differences between the German-influenced Sibiu, which reminded us much more of Germany, and the rather Romanian Mediaș.

We are definitely looking forward to the further impressions that this country will give us.