Viscri Cultural Tour, the door to a gem in Romania

Take the Viscri Cultural Tour and discover how around 450 people live here, and how in recent years the village has become overwhelmed by tourists after being highly praised by Prince Charles, the heir to the throne of Great Britain.

Without a doubt, Viscri has become one of the most popular and well-known villages in Transylvania. The village is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Prince Charles has owned a traditional house in Viscri since 2006.

The village of Viscri, called „an extraordinary place in the world” by Prince Charles

Prince Charles fell in love with the historic beauty of the place more than two decades ago. For several years, the Crown Prince helped develop projects to preserve the architectural heritage. „A way of life that has remained unchanged for hundreds of years,” Prince Charles’ foundation describes the village of Viscri. If you choose to book the Viscri Cultural Tour, you will have the opportunity to admire the house bought by Prince Charles. It is now run as a boarding house. It can be rented to tourists visiting the area.

The community of sock knitters

Join the Viscri Cultural Tour and find out the story of the wool sock and felt slipper business, which began 20 years ago. Back then, Harald Riese, a teacher, and his wife Maria Westerwald, who still live in the village of Viscri, received a pair of socks woven from sheep’s wool from a local woman. Aunt Leana was a poor old woman who was a beggar in the village. One day, she went with a pair of crocheted socks to Harald Riese’s gate to ask for food in return. Harald, founder of the Viscri-Socken project, tells the German newspaper Badische Zeitung how one morning Leana stopped by not to beg for food as usual, but to barter – a few pairs of her own knitted socks for a bottle of oil.

Riese, who had just had visitors from Germany, offered her five German Marks for the stockings, representing the wages for two days’ work in the stable. Her guests also liked the socks and ordered several pairs themselves. The other women in the village found out about this opportunity, mobilized and soon began producing and delivering socks, which are now a success in Germany.