Vlad's real castle... just up that hill

We headed south today, down the Olt River Valley Road, stopping at Cozia Monastery on the way. Being Sunday morning the church and grounds were very popular, especially as it's also a pilgrimage site for Romanians as Mircea the Elder (Vlad Tepes' grandfather) is buried there. Vlad and Mircea were both leaders of the Wallachia Region, although Vlad is now more connected to neighbouring Transylvania via the Dracula stories.

We were also scheduled to visit Vlad the Impaler's real castle (Poienari Citadel), which can only be accessed up 1480 steps through the forest, but it's currently closed due to recent bear attacks. So we just viewed it from below...

We then drove along the southern section of the Transfagarasan Road (not the famous bit) to Vidraru Dam, before heading to Curtea de Arges, the former capital of Wallachia, and visited the cathedral where the last 4 kings of Romania are buried (the last King of Romania, Michael I abdicated in 1947 when the communists took control, and died in 2017)

After a walk around town we had a farewell dinner with Gabriel before our tour ends tomorrow.Read more