Romania - Eastern Europe - page 515

Agency ( & 0248/72-1109 or 0248/72-1451/2) in the Posada Hotel is your best bet
for local information and for accommodations bookings.
WHERE TO STAY & DINE
Besides offering the only tourist information office ( & 0248/72-2530; Mon-Fri
8am-4pm, Sat 10am-12:30pm) in town, Hotel Posada (B-dul Basarabilor 27-29;
& 0248/72-1451/2; fax [phone]; [e-mail]) is about your best bet for
a decent night's stay in Curtea de Arge @ ; the best doubles cost L140 to L170 ($50-
$61/£27-£33), but there cheaper options, and three marginally pricier suites. Roman-
ian dishes are served at the simple Restaurant Capra Neagr â (Str. Alexandru Laho-
vary; & 0248/72-1619 ). If you're self-driving, however, rather consider bedding
down at Cabana Valea Cu Pe @ ti (Tranf â g â ra @ an, Arefu, jud. Arge @ ; & 0788-361-021;
L140-L165/$50-$59/£27-£32 double), beyond Poienari, on lovely Lake Vidraru; it's
easily the more atmospheric and interesting option, having served as one of Ceau @ escu's
hunting lodges. Reservations can be made through Hotel Posada's website, or by call-
ing & 0747-119-901 (Mon-Fri 8:30am-6pm); it's worth calling ahead since there is
only one double-bedded guest room, and the hotel is often taken up by groups. Note
that the Posada group is planning a motel closer to Poienari Castle set to echo some
of the style and traditions of the time when it was built.
WHAT TO SEE & DO
The cathedral is the principal reason to be here, but time allowing you might want to
take a wander through the ruins of the Arge @ Palace —originally built in the 1300s by
Wallachia's Hungarian founder, Radu Negru (or Basarab I)—and the Princely Church;
the latter is in fairly good shape and work has been done to reveal fantastic Byzantine
frescoes long hidden under centuries of tacky restoration (Curtea Domneasc â ;
Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; L6/$2.15/£1.15).
Mânâstirea Curtea de Arge@ This 16th-century Episcopal cathedral is
considered one of the loveliest religious monuments in Wallachia, frequently com-
pared to an elaborately decorated cake, made with marble and studded with mosaics.
Several nasty stories surround the master builder and stonemason, Manole, respon-
sible for the project. Tricked into building his own wife (who was very much alive at
the time) into the walls of the church (a tradition meant to ensure that the victim's
ghost would forever protect the building) Manole was left on the roof without means
of escape, as the king wanted to ensure that no other similar church would ever be
built. Insane with grief the poor man apparently tried to fly from the roof, only to
crash and die on the spot now marked by the famous Manole's Well. The church was
greatly restored and rebuilt in the late 19th century, and several members of the
Romanian royal family, including Carol I and his wife, Elizabeth, are buried inside.
B-dul. Basarabilor. Daily 8am-7pm.
Poienari Castle Here's a cliff-top location to fuel the Dracula-obsessed imagina-
tion. The citadel—built by Vlad “The Impaler” Tepe @ , inspiration for the mythic
bloodthirsty count (see “Vlad & the Epic Mythology of Count Dracula,” below)—is
about 5km (3 miles) north of the little village of Arefu, allegedly inhabited exclusively
by descendants of villagers who long ago helped Vlad Tepe @ escape a decisive Turkish
siege of the castle. Follow the road north out of Arefu (there is no public transport, by
the way) until you come to a hydroelectric plant, next to which is the start of an