Poe­nari Citadel, an enchant­i­ng medieval fortress, is locat­ed on a moun­tain top in Argeș Coun­ty, 27 kilo­me­ters from Curtea de Argeș. This citadel is a his­tor­i­cal mon­u­ment since the 14th cen­tu­ry, being an impor­tant tourist attrac­tion for those who want to vis­it Trans­făgărășan.
The moun­tain road, the land­scape and the beau­ty of the fortress are worth the effort to climb the 1480 steps in the ridge to the ruins of the Poe­nari Fortress. This was the source of inspi­ra­tion for the writer Jules Verne in the com­po­si­tion of the nov­el “Carpathi­an Cas­tle”. The citadel is the sec­ond res­i­dence of Vlad the Impaler, rebuilt to serve as a fortress against the Turks who attacked him. Poe­nari Fortress was the last refuge of the ruler before he left Tran­syl­va­nia.