Poenari Fortress

Vlad III Dracula repaired Poenari in the fifteenth century as a bolt-hole from Ottoman invasion, executing nobles who betrayed him and impaling prisoners on the slopes below. Earthquakes and landslides crumbled the keep, leaving walls that cling to a knife-edge ridge in the Făgăraș Mountains.

Communist authorities built a hydroelectric dam that flooded the old valley approach, adding to the fortress's isolation. Climbers who reach the top speak of vertigo and an almost predatory wind — sensations amplified by knowing Vlad's cruelty was historical fact, not fiction.

Open during daylight when weather permits; the stair climb is strenuous and the upper walls have unguarded drops.