Okay, so it’s not Everest, but looking up at the castle, I couldn’t see any other way to get to it than to scale the 1,000 foot cliff that went pretty much straight up to it.
Typical of castles, it is bordered on three sides by steep cliffs, with only one centralized access point (thus making it easier to defend as any marauding invaders would be “bottle-necked” at the entrance, and would have had a hard time lugging siege works up the cliffs), but since I wasn’t sure if there even was a remaining access point, I figured I’d have to hike it.
About a quarter of a mile from the train tracks, I passed a small hamlet and began my ascent. See this sign? It basically says, “no hiking”. However, I didn’t fly 6,000 miles to let a sign stop me (realizing at the same time that those are famous last words for some, and often uttered in complete ignorance more often than not), so with a furtive glance over my shoulder to make sure no one was going to wave me off, I started the ascent.
It was tough, actually. I had forgotten to take into account the altitude (it is the Carpathian MOUNTAINS, after all, not the Carpathian sea-level for wussies beach path), so after the first 150 feet or so, I was panting deeply for breath, my heart was pounding so hard in my head that I could practically hear it, and considering how long it was taking me just to get this far began to worry that I might not make it up in time for sunset as the sun was already hanging low in the horizon
I also noted to myself on the way up that while climbing was difficult, it was nonetheless considerably easier than coming down would be, and I might have sold myself a one-way ticket of sorts given that I wasn’t going to try to slide down a rock face in the dark. So… going down was going to be a problem, but that didn’t prevent me from continuing upward.
It took me about 45 minutes to reach the castle, still panting and with my head throbbing from my heart hammering, but I felt a certain measure of accomplishment. I also snapped a few shots during my ascent for you to see… but please pardon if they are a little fuzzy since my hands were shaking pretty significantly along the way.
About a quarter of a mile from the train tracks, I passed a small hamlet and began my ascent. See this sign? It basically says, “no hiking”. However, I didn’t fly 6,000 miles to let a sign stop me (realizing at the same time that those are famous last words for some, and often uttered in complete ignorance more often than not), so with a furtive glance over my shoulder to make sure no one was going to wave me off, I started the ascent.
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