Travel Guide Odorheiu Secuiesc

You'll reach Odorheiu Secuiesc (Székelyudvarhely in Hungarian) via some magnificent roads. From Gheorgheni, you drive through an area renowned for its spa and rural tourism, amid beautiful scenery. The hills are covered with apple trees, forests or meadows dotted with haystacks. Villages are rare but beautiful. You'll notice the carved wooden gates at the entrance to each house. Courtyards are not delimited by colorful low walls, as in the villages of southern Transylvania, but often by palisades. They are overgrown with vines, fruit trees and flowers. In summer, roadside vendors sell buckets of mushrooms, especially porcini, which are used in the preparation of delicious local dishes. Beware, however, if you're not a connoisseur! Wild mushroom poisoning is rife every year, so it's best to eat them in restaurants. If you're coming from Sighișoara, you'll pass through a landscape of hills that gradually become covered with orchards. Stork nests abound in the villages. A city of 34,000 inhabitants, Odorheiu Secuiesc is immediately appealing, with its colorful, well-appointed center. Its economic prosperity is almost self-evident. It's a major center for the textile and furniture industries. In a city whose local population is 95% Magyar-speaking, you'll feel even more out of place. Even the majority of tourists are Hungarian.