TRAVEL. ROMANIA.

A World Above the Clouds

Râşnov castle — between sky and earth

We were staying up in the mountains in Poiana Braşov, a winter ski resort in the Transylvanian Mountains. The sun was shining down on us when we woke up but driving down the winding road, we soon disappeared in a thick layer of fog.

This type of weather was typical for this time of the year. At the end of November, it was chilly in the mornings and the sun was often too weak to burn away the fog.

I wanted to visit the Fortress of Râşnov which was built on a hill overlooking the town and surrounding plains but decided to squeeze the visit of a cave in first to have a higher chance of seeing something of and from the castle later.

Just before noon, we arrived at the parking lot for the Fortress. It was packed with cars. Of course, it was a beautiful Sunday and even though the Fortress was closed to visitors due to maintenance works, another attraction pulled in all the families.

The Dino Park. An amusement park located in the forest underneath the castle.

We passed the crowds and headed further. Not long after we entered the fog the visibility dropped. We passed the first tower and entered the gardens surrounding the Fortress when David said aloud

“Wow, what a beautiful castle!”

At this point, the fog was so low and thick that we couldn’t even see the walls of the Fortress. But a little bit of humor will go a long way.

We walked up further until we reached the restored walls. Now we could see something of this building. A few old canons were displayed on the edge of the hill pointed toward the mountains.

The doors leading inside the Fortress were locked. I looked up in the sky and could see blue shining through the now very thin appearing fog.

If they don’t allow us to go any further, at least we can launch the drone and get a bird’s eye view of this place.

Râşnov Fortress was built as a defense system for the Transylvanian villages exposed to invaders. Invading armies often came down the Bran pass forcing the habitats to seek refuge in the castle for decades which is why they transformed the fortification into their long-term residence (Wikipedia).

The initial Fortress must have been built between 1211 and 1225 during the rule of the Teutonic Knights. It withstood many invasions but hasn’t just been destroyed through human force in history. A fire and an earthquake were also devastating to the building.

I had a feeling of it being a great place to fly up the camera but I didn’t expect the beauty that would unfold within minutes on the screen of the remote control.

Overwhelming. That’s what it was.

The drone was slowly climbing on the side of the walls giving away centimeter by centimeter until the camera had reached the edge of the Fortress and the entire place appeared on the screen.

There was still some fog covering the hill but it was thin enough for us to see the entire castle. We could see the small houses they had rebuilt inside of the Fortress and those ruined walls of what they had looked like before the restoration process.

Honestly, I am not a huge fan of these restoration works because neither the white color of the walls nor the shape of the houses represents what this place had looked like in medieval times but who am I to judge?

And just look at it from above. A sea of clouds was covering the valley leaving nothing to be seen from our eyes but the Fortress itself. The mountains were poking out of the white sea on the horizon with some of them having snow on the peaks.

After flying from left to right, once around and once across the Fortress, we landed the drone again and decided to walk along the walls. That path was open and as the fog was now lifting a bit more we could see across the clouds even without a bird’s eye view for now.

Circling around the castle we were chatting while admiring the beauty of nature on one side and the impressive masterpieces built by our ancestors on the other side.

The forest was rather empty with a bed of fallen leaves covering the floor. The light was shining through onto the foliage and a layer of moisture hanging in between the barren branches created a somewhat mystical feeling.

Even though we couldn’t go inside the Fortress, we were still in awe of what we had just experienced. Back in the mountains of Poiana Braşov, we sat down in the sun enjoying a delicious Romanian lunch.

That evening we relived the moment of flying the drone above the clouds when we downloaded the footage from the camera. This was certainly the best footage we have ever taken since purchasing this flying camera.

“There is beauty in ruins to those who see.” — Emmanuel Rajkumar

More about our trip to Romania:

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