Bran Castle, Dracula's Castle

At the foot of Cetatuia Mountain, right next to Vidraru Hydro Power Station, stairs lead to the Poenari Fortress. Once, at the northern border of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes' refuge is still hard to access. But the challenge of the 1,480 steps is easily forgotten when the ruins of the fortress are seen on the peaks.Stories recall the times when the city was the last refuge for both rulers and the country's treasury. And all the serenity walls were the prison and tomb of the rogue invaders or boyars. Throughout the centuries, truth and legend have become intertwined, so even today's specialists find it difficult to dismantle them.

'The fortress of Vlad the Impaler from Poenari is the only one that has a real connection with the prince Vlad Tepes. It is the only fortress built by him in Wallachia. He has inspired literature in Brambler Stocker, who wrote the novel that made Vlad the Impaler famous, although this is a novel of fiction and should be taken as such. And Jules Verne, in the novel 'Castle in the Carpathians', seems to have been inspired by the city of Poenari, 'said Marius Paduraru, a museographer.

Slowly, the fame of the site spread, and the emergence of the internet was a real boom. Today, dozens of tourists arrive at Poenari.

Besides Vlad the Impaler. another historical character has certain connections with the fortification. This is Negru Vodă, the founder of the fortress and the first prince of Wallachia. 'The fortress was built in two stages. It is a square tower in the first half of the 14th century, so the first rulers, and then, in the 15th century, during the time of Vlad the Impaler, is the ruler that extends the fortress, 'said Spiridon Cristocea, the director County Argeş Museum.