As of Oct 2, 2024 and weeks preceding, the fortress courtyard at the top has been run over by stray dogs. Odds are you'll get bitten as they assert in bare teeth and loud growling their motto of "Thou shall not pass." The security guard posted at the top may help calm them down if the situation escalates, but he'd rather not have you visit this public place. For now, someone needs to pacify the fortress and liberate it from the canine occupiers. Until then, this is a magnificent touristic spot that will remain out of reach -- for perhaps another season.

Long version: Going up the hill on the newly paved path, we passed two tourists that were coming back down: they warned us of aggressive dogs at the top that prevented their sightseeing. "We'll try our luck!", I said.

As if scouting for intruders, two dogs were already peeking out of one of the wall towers, barking down at us.

We climbed the final staircase, passed through the fortress gate, and of a sudden three stray dogs came upon us, barking, growling, and closing in. One was particularly vicious, barring its teeth. A fortress guard in uniform appeared and attempted to calm them down. With soothing voice commands, he did manage to bring two of them to a halt near him. The third, though shyer was sneaky and kept creeping in on us. But it'd back off the moment I'd turn back and scare it away.

As we were interested in checking the viewpoints located along the walls of the fortress, we kept our incursion into the wide courtyard. Alas, that was not to be as the other two dogs eventually came back and attacked us a second time. The more violent one came within 1 meter of me and was ready to bite. Seeing this, the guard ran to our position and successfully called them back, allowing us to escape and retreat down the staircase.

Presumably views from atop the fortress are beautiful, but we could not admire them.

Judging from Google reviews in the past two months, the administration must be aware of this problem but hasn't found a way to pacify the fortress and liberate it from the canine occupiers.

A magnificent touristic spot that will remain out of reach -- for perhaps another season.