About 17km north of Jurilovca, the fortress of Enisala can be seen. Here were found remains of Thraco-Getic (9th-7th centuries BC), Getic (4th century BC) and Dacian (4th-3rd centuries BC) settlements, along with a Roman castro, but nowadays only the Byzantine Fortress of Heracleea (AD 645-650) can be seen, or more precise the ruins of the fortress renewed by the genoeses (or genoans ... don't know which is the right word - let's call it Genoese Fortress) in the 13th century, thus making it a key strategic commercial point at the Black Sea.The fortress was conquered by the Ottoman Empire during the 1388-89 campaign, retaken for a short period by Mircea the Elder in 1396, and remaining under Ottoman rule until the end of the 15th century. Due to the fact that the access to the Black Sea was cut off by sand beds, the settlement lost its strategic importance, being abandoned in the beginning of the 16th century.
It's worth mentioning that in the middle of Enisala village, there is a Homestead Museum, representing the North Dobrogea culture (Lake Razelm zone) from the beginning of the 20th century.
The fortress seen from above.
A piece of advice: if you're thinking of taking the road from Jurilovca to Enisala, think again (see the picture on the right). It's the worst road i've ever been on (and it's about 10km long), full of (big and very frequent) holes in the asphalt, so I was better off driving off road. Unless the road is repaired or you have a sturdy all-terrain (and I mean off-terrain) vehicle, it would be better to reach Enisala from the other directions (from Babadag or Sarichioi).
Although there are plenty of photos taken at Enisala on the internet, some of my photos follow:
- generic views :
- views from within the fortress:
- and ... the guards (don't try to bribe them with food because you might have a hard time getting rid of them)
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