Arefu

Poenari Castle

Vlad the Impaler's actual fortress — as opposed to Bran Castle, which had almost nothing to do with him. Vlad rebuilt it with the hands of the boyars he blamed for his brother's murder: they were marched here after an Easter feast and worked until their clothes fell apart. Tradition has Vlad's wife throwing herself from it into the Argeș on hearing the Turks were coming. Fourteen hundred and eighty steps lead up to it.