The Fortress Of Alma Vii

Last week we visited the fortress of Alma Vii, that includes not only the towers and the walls, but the Evangelical church as well. You can read my post about the church here, if you missed it. Today I'd like to show you the towers and what those old defense structures have to offer today.

The fortress has several towers, which is justified s these towers helped defense have a view from every angle. You can see the towers from the road that leads to the foot of the hill.

Granary Tower, 16th Century

These towers were built of bricks and stones and in the inside was mostly used wood. This was the grain tower, which was essential to survive any attack.

Today these towers serve as museums. Here for example you can see the wooden chest in which grain and flour was stored.

What surprised me pleasantly here was the description in three languages. Romanian and English is normal, Hungarian on the other hand was a surprise as there are only a few Hungarians in this region, but visitors are that count after all. I really appreciated it and I hope to see this type of attitude more often.

There was another level upstairs, which you could reach by climbing this ladder type stairs. I'm always smiling when seeing this type of stairs as most of the people have no clue how to use them. Therefore there were labels letting people know they have to come down the way they went up, facing the stairs and not the other way around. I'm used to these, so no problem or difficulty for me, but some are afraid. Also, this is not the place to wear high heels, nor white clothes.

There was one bed on each level as those who worked there must have had accommodation. What surprised me was the size of the beds. I'm not saying this bed dates back 100s of years, but it must be a replica. Besides, I've seen old beds in Germany and the Netherlands as well and those were not normal size to our standards either. This makes me believe comfort was not a priority.

Fireplace and an oven to prepare food.

There was this hand embroidered wall cloth above the bed, with a German blessing. These wall cloths were very common those days, even after.

Another interesting thing was this rain, where the bars were made of strings. Those strings would not hold anyone, but it makes you aware of the danger. In any case, it looked good.

This is how the top of the tower looked like from below. This was the structure that was holding the roof tiles.

A kneading turtle made of wood, manually, that was necessary for making bread.

A mill stone used to make flour.
You may notice that small window, which is not a window, but back in the day it was a hole used to shoot the enemy from.

How many of you know what those things in the window are? Lol, ok, I'll tell you. Those are combs that served to comb hemp or wool and then make thread out of it.

The wall continued from one tower to another and at that part, there was a gallery made of wood and a small wooden stage, which must have been a modern era construction for celebrations.

Those white benches are from the church, which is a shame as humidity is going to destroy them quickly. I still hope that place is temporary for them, till the exhibition ends as those would not survive winter.

Bell Tower, 16th Century

It's really impressive if you think back then there were no cranes to lift the heavy stones or beams yet they were able to build tall towers.

This was a replica of the clock on the bell tower.

Here the stairs were so steep, you had to get your hands dirty in order to get to the top safe.

And here it is, one of the bells. For me, each bell means history. If these bells could talk, they would tell you interesting stories for sure.

I need to mention that the whole tower is made of wood. The floor is made of wooden beams and if you're afraid of heights, you may think twice before going up.

That's the other bell.

And here you can see al three. Sorry for the quality of the photo, but the space was so narrow, I did what I could.

This is the roof of the bell tower, all made of wood.

Bell made in 1926, which makes it 97 years old.

And this is the reward for climbing up to the top. The view is absolutely stunning from up there. Back in the day the view was extremely important, but for different reasons. They could see the whole valley from each tower, giving them the advantage of spotting the enemy early.

Look at that view. I would like to have this view from my window.

The top of the other tower, that I'm going to show you in one of my upcoming posts.

This is the first part of my adventure. Stay tuned as there's more to come soon.

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:

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