The Vidraru Dam closes off the Argeș river in a deep, narrow gorge in the Făgăraș mountains, and it is one of the most imposing pieces of engineering in Romania. An arch dam about 166 metres high, completed in the mid-1960s, it holds back a long, dark lake, whose surface reflects the steep, forested slopes around it, and the view from the top of the wall is dizzying. A statue of Prometheus stands on the edge of the dam, with the lake behind him, and a bungee platform has made the dam a place of some notoriety.
Above the lake, the Transfăgărășan road climbs towards the high ridge of the mountains. Ordered by Nicolae Ceaușescu after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, as a military route that would allow troops to cross the Carpathians quickly, it was built between 1970 and 1974, largely by army conscripts, with dynamite and enormous effort. Many men died in the construction. The road reaches about 2,040 metres at the Bâlea tunnel, near the glacial Lake Bâlea, and is closed by snow for much of the year, usually from late October to late June. Jeremy Clarkson called it the best road in the world, and the crowds followed.
Not far from the dam, near the village of Arefu, stands Poienari Castle, the real fortress of Vlad the Impaler, the fifteenth-century prince who inspired the legend of Dracula. It perches on a crag above the valley, reached by a climb of about 1,480 steps, and the view from the ruined tower is spectacular. The forests around the lake are home to bears, wolves and lynx, and bears are often seen near the road, so do not feed them and do not stop too close.
The riding is magnificent but demanding. The southern side climbs through forest with long, wide curves, then a series of tight hairpins and tunnels, and the surface is mostly good, though patched in places by rockfall and frost. In summer the road is crowded with cars, buses and bikes, and speeds are low. Go early, and take care on wet days, when fog and rain turn the road slick.
For fuel and food, Corbeni, seven kilometres away, has stations and shops, and Curtea de Argeș, to the south, has more. Around the lake, stalls sell grilled sausages, cheese, honey and jam, and small restaurants serve ciorbă soup and polenta with sour cream. Fill the tank before climbing.