High in the Orastie mountains, at around twelve hundred metres, a ring of stone terraces climbs out of the beech forest, and it was once the heart of an empire. This is Sarmizegetusa Regia, the capital of the Dacian kingdom, the people who lived in what is now Romania and who fought two bitter wars against the Roman emperor Trajan in 101-102 and 105-106 AD. The site at Gradistea de Munte was a fortress, a religious centre and a town in one, with workshops, houses on artificial terraces, and a sacred precinct with round and rectangular temples marked out by stone bases and by pillars of andesite. Together with five other Dacian fortresses in the same hills, it was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1999.
The sanctuary is the strangest part. A large circular platform of stone discs, nearly thirty metres across, stands beside a ring of wooden posts on stone bases that has been nicknamed the Dacian Calendar, though experts still debate its purpose. A great stone disc, usually called the Andesite Sun, lies close by. The Dacians were skilled builders, and their fortresses were made of cut limestone blocks in a style called murus Dacicus, with timber lacing inside to resist battering rams. The Romans took the capital in 106, after the king Decebalus took his own life, and Trajan's Column in Rome shows the war in a spiral of carved scenes.
The road is half of the experience. A narrow, winding asphalt road climbs from Orastie into the mountains, with a lot of bends and a patchy surface, and it runs through beech and fir forest with sudden clearings and views of misty valleys. It is a lovely ride on a dry morning, and slippery on a wet one. Traffic is light, but cars and trucks sometimes squeeze through, and cattle may be on the road. Fog is common, and the weather at this altitude can turn cold and wet in a few minutes, so carry a layer.
Take water and a snack, since there are few places to eat. Spring and autumn are the best times, and the site is quietest in early morning. Wear shoes with a good grip, because the stones can be slick.