Cetatea Turris (The Turnu Fortress) | Let's travel together #367

One last stop before the little adventure to the southern side of Romania came to an end was at the Turris Fortress from Turnu Magurele, which is more known under the name of The Turnu Fortress and which was renovated recently.

Sadly, when it comes to places that have been part of history in Romania, very few of them properly enjoy a renovation or maintenance done occasionally, most of them being left in ruins and completely forgotten until nature claims them as its own.

This was also the situation with The Turnu Fortress for hundreds of years until 2021, when some steps were made towards the direction of having a fully attractive and interesting fortress to visit in the 21st century.

The fortress was built between the 13th and 14th centuries, and it represents one of the most important fortresses that were raised in the southern part of the country, its main purpose being to protect Tara Romaneasca from the Ottoman armies that frequently crossed the Danube River to attack Romania.

With the passage of time, though, it turned out to be useful in a lot more ways, such as controlling the import/export activities made via water, as well as supervising the main commercial roads that crossed the region.

Military, economic, and administrative roles were also not missing, making The Turnu Fortress often disputed by Romanian voivodes, the Ottoman Empire and some others.

Although I was fooled to believe as well that the name of Turnu Fortress comes from Turnu Magurele which is the city where it has the ruins on its territory, the name comes from a tower (EN: tower = RO: turn) that was initially built on this place and did a great job defending and taking note on possible dangers that could be spotted from within.

But as the passage of time leaves marks on both people and places, the tower was taken down, and a full fortress with thick and imposing walls was raised, which soon became part of some of the most important battles one could hear about in history.

Sadly, the importance of the place also brought plenty of threats, the Ottoman Empire claiming it in the 15th century after many confrontations and battles.

Eventually, they turned it into a place that was directly ruled by the Ottoman Empire, mainly being used in controlling the navigation on the Danube River and to organise military activities in the Balkans and the north of the river.

The upcoming two centuries did not come with peace, but with even more fights and confrontations, where the imposing walls started to degrade, being accompanied by the evolution of the weapons that turned out to be more powerful than a fortress could be, so everything started to lose its importance slowly.

The 19th century is what represented the end of the military activity organised within The Turnu Fortress when the fights between Turkey and Russia started, and political changes put the fortress to sleep. This was also the moment when the fortress was claimed again by the Romanians, using most of the materials used when building it to raise constructions nearby that could be a lot more useful for the current times.

What brings the fortress again to the attention of the locals and tourists is its archaeological importance and more confidential historical information that is being shared by a guide that can often be found nearby.

We did meet him during our visit, and although we heard lots of good things about him, such as being very dedicated to speaking about history and giving insights into the place, it turned out to be extremely unfriendly, not even answering our greeting and let us walk around without sharing any of the information we were looking forward to hearing.

Maybe it was because we visited the fortress moments being being closed or because he simply wasn't in the mood for doing it, but for us, it was a disappointing experience for sure.

What did not disappoint, though, was seeing everything being so nicely arranged, although the remains of the fortress are not many, with a proper alley to walk on and natural benches created for resting and spending a while, when reconnecting with both nature and history at the same time.

The stones playing the role of natural monuments showing the fortress are also met on the way, because you'll need to drive for 1-2 km on an unpaved path through the forest before reaching the destination, and whenever the path splits in two, you will meet one of these stones showing the right route towards The Turnu Fortress.

But along the alley that basically surrounds the ruins, we also made it on a separate path which took us in the middle of the citadel, also being able to observe remains of what used to be some stairs many years ago. It would have been nice to see some windows here or even more stairs that would offer a 360° view with the surroundings, but even so, I loved the experience where silence was the prevailing feeling.

If you've seen some of my previous posts with other fortresses from Romania, then it's easy to realise that the one from Turnu Magurele is quite modest, but what truly brings it beauty and importance is the role it played on the shore of the Danube River, which was very much crossed by plenty of armies trying to conquer Romania.

That's why I was really happy to see it renovated and become again the symbol of a medieval past that ended centuries ago, but where everything this place has been through, protected the southern side of Romania.

Oh, and let's not forget. There is no need for a visiting ticket as it offers free access for the curious ones.

The visiting schedule, though, is between 9 AM and 4 PM during weekdays, and 9 AM to 5 PM during the weekend. If you are visiting it outside this schedule, the gate will be closed, making access beyond the fence not allowed. There are rumours that this place is still under renovation until September, when a hot air balloon will take occasional rides to allow tourists to see the fortress from above.

^{Gabriela Travels is a Curator for Worldmappin and Hive Gaming communities, but also the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences.
At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe.
Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (350+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game and book reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 850+ blog posts.
Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.}

[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 43.71934 lat 24.86141 long One of the most important fortresses in Romania that has seen most of the important moments in history d3scr))