Strada Sforii

Rope Street — the Schnurgasse of the Saxon town — is a slot between two rows of houses, about 80 metres long and between 1.11 and 1.35 metres wide, linking Strada Cerbului with Strada Poarta Șchei. It is first recorded in the seventeenth century as a passage for firefighters, and it is often listed among the narrowest streets in Europe. It was restored in 2003.

It takes a minute to walk and is free and open at all hours, so the only thing to plan is timing: in the middle of the day on summer weekends there is a queue at each end for photographs. Early morning or late evening, you will probably have it to yourself.

Combine it with the gates a few steps away — Poarta Ecaterinei and Poarta Șchei — and with the Beth Israel synagogue on Strada Poarta Șchei. The climb to the White Tower and Black Tower starts nearby.