Citadel
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Poenari Citadel
Perched on a dramatic cliff eight hundred meters above the Argeș River gorge along the famous Transfăgărășan Highway, Poenari Citadel (Cetatea Poenari) is the authentic mountain fortress of Vlad III Tepes (Vlad the Impaler). Originally constructed in the thirteenth century by early Wallachian rulers, the cliffside fortress was heavily fortified in the mid-fifteenth century by Vlad the Impaler, who forced rebellious boyars to build its thick stone walls. Famous for the tragic 1462 Ottoman siege where Vlad's wife leaped to her death from the castle battlements into the river below, the mountain ruins are renowned for phantom apparitions, red mist, and haunting voices echoing over the steep abyss.