Sarmizegetusa

         Sarmizegetusa Regia, also Sarmisegetusa, was the capital and the most important military, religious and political center of the Dacians before the wars with the Roman Empire. Erected on top of a 1200 m high mountain, the fortress, comprising six citadels, was the core of a strategic defensive system in the Orăștie Mountains (in present-day Romania). 

        Sarmizegetusa Regia should not be confused with Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, the Roman capital of Dacia built by Roman Emperor Trajan some 40 km away, which was not the Dacian capital. Sarmizegetusa Ulpia was discovered earlier, was known already in the early 1900s, and was initially mistaken for the Dacian capital. 

        My family and I decided to visit this historical place last year and I was more than excited to finally see it with my own eyes. Hearing the stories and reading everything that I could about the place made me realize how important it is to reconnect with your roots and how amazing it is to have a such beautiful history in your blood. Being Romanian, this trip literally transformed me as a person, reminding me how much the people before me fought for a good life and for their rights as Dacians. The whole thing made me feel more empowered and more ambitious, especially after realizing that the blood I have running inside of me is the blood of some of the most powerful people that ever existed. 

        So what I was waiting for?

         Nothing anymore.