The hilly area to the north of our county, formed on the valleys of rivers such as Hârtibaci or Târnava is also called The Land of Saxon Settlements. It is here, many centuries ago, that the Saxon colonists made their scattered settlements hidden among valleys and steep hills wooded with beeches, hornbeams and oaks.
The marked trails surrounding villages like Biertan, Richiş, Hosman, Chirpăr, Mălâncrav, as well as the unmarked trails beaten by the locals from Cisnădioara, Stejărişu, Copşa Mare or Valea Viilor throughout the centuries scour dense forests, pastures and multicoloured hay meadows. From up there in the hills you have a panoramic view of the settlements with their solid tile roofs, with the eyes watching you from the house attics, the stone-cobbled homesteads and the high sheds, of the orchards and vineyards twining on the hills behind the houses. From among the houses or from somewhere at the end of the village, from some height, you may see the old fortified church.
A hike to the Saxon villages turns into an exploration of an unaltered natural landscape but also of a manmade landscape which seems to have been left untouched by time and still very far away from the signs of the 21st century civilization.