Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains

When I was young my parents take us every summer to the grandparents. We live in the eastern part of Romania (Vrancea County) and they live in the west (Timiş County). We always travel with our little Romanian car called Oltcit (it was made in collaboration with Citroen, which is why it has CIT in name). Once we stopped to visit the Dacian fortresses from Orăştie and it was kind of fun even though we were very little. We have spent a little time in the woods searching for the ruins because those were not built in the middle of the city like the Roman Forum in Rome. The six fortresses - Sarmizegetusa Regia, Costeşti-Cetăţuie, Costeşti-Blidaru, Piatra Roşie, Băniţa and Căpâlna - that formed the defensive system of Decebalus were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Today, treasure-hunters sometimes search the area, as Romania lacks legislation in this domain. The beautiful Coson or Koson coins are one of the things they are searching for and after that they sell those gold coins on black market. The town of Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital and major fortress of the Dacian kingdom, probably built in the mid first century BCE. It consisted of perimeter walls and fortifications, a sacred precinct, and a settlement area primarily for nobles and supporting servants. It was located at the top of a 1200 meter hill with excellent visibility of the surrounding lands. The sacred precinct was on the east side of the town, with a prominent plaza and circular shrines. There were two settlement areas one on the east side and a larger one on the west. In addition to dwellings they included workshops, storage buildings, and agricultural processing areas. Notable for the time is a distribution system for drinking water that used ceramic pipes. On the postcard you also can see the golden helmet; it is a gorgeous piece that can be seen in the National Museum of Romanian History from Bucharest.

Sarmizegetusa Regia: 45.623042,23.310277 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Romania For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.