The main town between Sighisoara and Sibiu is
MEDIAS
(Mediasch), which despite the tanneries and chemical works feeding off the Târnava Mare valley's methane reserves, gets more attractive the further in you venture. Originally an Iron Age and then a Roman settlement, Medias was a predominantly Saxon town for many centuries, walled and with gate towers, two of which remain on Strada Closca. After 1918 it began to develop an industrial and Romanian character, stemming from political changes after World War I and the construction here of Transylvania's first gas pipeline.
From the
train station
on Strada Unirii, turn right to reach the
bus station
, a few minutes walk away, opposite the synagogue; from here head left up Strada Pompierilor and then take a right down Strada Roth to the town centre,
Piata Regele Ferdinand I
. This is dominated by the fifteenth-century
Evangelical Church
, its seventy-metre bell tower slightly askew; the church is a true citadel, surrounded by store rooms, high ramparts and towers (one of which, the Tailors' Tower, served as a jail for the Impaler in 1467). Inside there are Anatolian carpets, frescoes, a Crucifixion with a view of Vienna painted in 1474-79 and a superb Gothic altarpiece in the style of Roger van der Weyden. The
Schullerhaus
, on the same square at no. 25, was built in 1588 and once housed the Transylvanian Diet. For a limited insight into the history of the town, and a better wildlife display, visit the
town museum
(Tues-Sun 9am-5pm) in a former monastery at Str. Mihai Viteazul 46. Next door, the Roman Catholic church retains its late fifteenth-century Gothic chancel.
Medias's oldest and largest
hotel
is the ugly
Central
(tel 069/841 787, fax 821 722; $10-15), on Piata Regele Ferdinand I no.25, at the top of Strada Pompierilor; the private
Select
, at Str. Petofi 3 (tel 069/834 874; $10-15), is much more comfortable, and there's also a new guesthouse, the
Schullerhaus
, at Piata Regele Ferdinand I no.25 (tel 069/831 347, fax 832 390; $6-10). Buses run from the
bus station
to Agnita, Sibiu and Targu Mures, and to all the surrounding villages. Some especially picturesque villages with fortified churches lie along the road to Agnita, notably
Mosna
(Meschen), whose church, built in 1491, has a 50m tower. There's a
Gastehaus
here at no. 531 (tel 069/204 872, ext 120; under $6); it's also safe to camp in the surrounding hills.
