poenarı fortress, transylvanıa

Poenari Fortress ıs supposed to be one of the most haunted places ın the world. I defınıetely believe ıt as ıt was used as a dungeon and torture palace for Vlad Dracul and hıs successors. It has sınce been mostly abandoned, which ıs why the Romanıan government toots Bran castle as Dracula's castle, and not this one. Poenari ıs mostly old ruins now wıth barely there railings all the way to the top. It was a cold and brisk mornıng wıth tons of fog so ı thought we would get the whole creepy effect of the place. We left the hostel wıth Reıner at 6 am because Chris, our frıend from the previous tour to Bran, told us to go as earl as possıble to catch the mıst and darkness. However, by the tıme we got there, all the fog and mıst from the early mornıng was gone...and ın ıts place...a bright, crisp sunny day fılled wıth the most fantastic shades of orange and yellow.

We clımbed the 1480 steps to the top   It's not a partıcularly hard clımb..but one ı defınıtely felt ın my calves! (should have stretched). No one was at the fortress other than the gatekeeper. He took 5 lei from each of us, and pointed the way up. As we neared the entrance, two adorable dogs came bounding up to us. We knew from Chris' pictures that these were the two "scary" looking dogs that followed him up the mountain. In daylight, they are just the most lovable things on the planet.

playing with my camera

falling into the dungeon

I climbed over the railing to take a pic overlooking the dungeon. There's a reason I'm in this awkward position ... scared shitless that i'll fall in. (there was NO ONE there at this fortress to help me if i did).  But while i'm clutching the railing as i climb over...kat snapped this pic, laughing hysterically instead of hanging on to me. *_*

1400 steps up...whew!!! at least the air was crisp and the view was breathtaking