Not all citadels need the perfect season, fluffy clouds, dusk light, flags blown by the wind and clear sky, to help you realize a beautiful picture that makes you think about fairy tales because the subject of today's post proves the contrary of what tourists are used to see when visiting fortresses, and where the ruins are enough to get in the middle of the history.

If there is a place that no matter from where you are coming or where you are going, that will not let you go around it without being noticed, then that's the citadel from Petresti, Romania.
The citadel, or actually what is left from it, creates a unique landscape in a small and poor village from Transylvania, where a thick tower is still having the power to stand still after hundreds of years since it was built and after it has seen too many for what it deserved.
A forgotten place situated in a pretty strange and deserted location that gives you the feeling that you are very close to it and if you follow the road you'll get near enough until you can actually touch the incredible ivy that dresses the imposing tower, makes it become a true journey to find out how you can reach the fortress and discover it properly.
This is what happened to us - while we were checking out different places around Sibiu and Alba, we made it to the tiny village which welcomed us from the first moment with an incredible tower that sparked our curiosity.
So we started driving around on the little streets with the hope that we will reach it eventually since it seemed pretty close to us, but we ended up spinning in circles without noticing any entrance or road sign that will lead to the majestic tower.

At first, the locals didn't represent a good landmark for us since there was one of these damn hot days of the summer when everyone avoids getting outside but most likely stay hidden in the houses or any place with a little shadow, but we refused to turn the car and leave it without being discovered, so we ended up by asking a woman who was cleaning the windows and we had the great surprise to find out that the citadel represents a cemetery and the entrance to it was at the beginning of the village around whom we crossed for a few times.

As you might probably know, even though Transylvania is part of Romania, there is still a pretty big part of the population which are either Saxons or Magyars who refuse believing that they are part of the country and so most of them barely speak Romanian. Not to mention that as you can see, the name of the cemetery, as well as other places (like the citadel from the previous post) are being written in their language, in most of the cases not being available any second name of it in Romanian too.
So we could easily drive around because we couldn't figure out how to find the entrance, but we had luck with the woman who knew Romanian and was very kind to direct us to the entrance of the fortress.

The entrance is not less strange than the place itself because the road to the fortress is paved between gipsy houses where you really have to be very quiet or wait until you pass that part of the track, because who would like to bother some people who are already pissed off by the rest of the population who consider them Romanians too?
But there are just around 5-6 minutes to walk until you reach the most searched tower that was literally waiting for your visit. And it's definitely worth it.
Unfortunately, the place not only that it's just another treasure of Transylvania that is forgotten by the locals and the most talented photographs who should promote more this kind of places, but it represents an unknown location even for some of the people who are living in the village and are daily crossing around it, without knowing what it represents or what is its story.
"Mystery" - it's probably the word that describes the best the neglected place by the world, who should be proud to have such a unique location that someday could gather lots of tourists; because it does have a great touristic potential while it sparks the curiosity to tens of people daily.

Only a few stone walls remained since the fortress was built at the beginning of the 14th Century that are carefully surrounding the cemetery where the Saxons are resting. Because yes, the cemetery is a place of silence for Saxons only and that's how the single visitors who are passing the gates are the people who are coming from time to time too light a candle for their loved ones.

The place that nowadays is mostly known as an evangelical cemetery, used to be a Romanesque basilica, a fortress with a strong military role, and just like the other citadels - a place that people could use it as a refuge during the wars and deposit different supplies.
The fortress from the village which is considered not less strange represents one of the most bizarre citadels from Transylvania that was entirely built by Saxons more than 5 centuries ago and which present only ruins nowadays, contrary to what most of the tourists expect to see from a citadel that usually waits for the visitors with the gates open, the flags blown by the wind and wooden bridges to cross over the water.
But Cetatea cu Iederă from Petresti is the real proof that not all the citadels need a clear sky, fluffy clouds and
dusk light to get a fairytale landscape because the ivy which is dressing up the whole citadel and graves, the wilderness of nature and the deafening silence are everything you need to enjoy a day spent between the beautiful ruins.
And it's really hard to pass by without being curious about what the ivy tower is and not to take a picture with it.

The fortress that it's rather closer to a fairy tale than reality is located at the entrance of the Transylvanian village called Petresti, on the left side after you cross the bridge over the Sebeș River if you come from Sebeș, or at the exit of the village and on the right side if you come from Săsciori. The access can be made either by foot or by car via a country road that emerges from the national road DN 67 C.
The coordinates of the fortress are: 45.920647 latitudes; 23.555063 longitudes and an altitude of 279 m, and there are no fees for visiting the sober ruins.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

All rights reserved.

You can find me on:
↪ Blog: http://gabrielastravels.wordpress.com/
↪ Fiverr: https://www.fiverr.com/gabrielatv/
↪ Discord: GabrielaTravels#0104
↪ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabrielaistraveling/
↪ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/gabiivdesign
↪ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabriela.tv/
↪ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GabrielaTravels
↪ PayPal/Contact: [email protected]