Bran Castle, where no Dracula can be found
“Oh, it is wonderful! I am a big Dracula fan and it was great!” – her wrinkled lips extended into a wide smile, as she stepped around in those black sparkly boots of hers. We saw them the night before, glistening in the dark underneath her slim body. I don’t even know how we got to chatting, but we found out that she is from the States, traveling with her friend and both of their husbands died from smoking. She was lovely, reminding me of a Californian style grandma, long blond hair, loud and full of energy.
“We heard that there is not a whole lot of Dracula stuff there” – Mr.Blab said questioning, but I felt the disappointment comment in his voice.
“No, no! There is. It is great!” – and she was off with her equally blond traveling friend, hurrying to finish their 3 week journey around Europe.
We were here not because of the famous story, but because this is supposed to be a worthwhile visit and it was very close to our last stop. So far I was not impressed. The castle looked ordinary from the road and instead of the perched amidst lavish forests location, an impression left by the skilled photographers hired to promote it, it is on a small hill above the town that services all the visitors around.
Somewhat less enthusiastic we moved on. Trinket sellers lined up the path to the entrance. There was nothing blood thirsty about them – wood masks, embroidered clothes and textiles, scarves and whatnot. Romanian things, I guess. Thankfully unlike in Asia, here vendors keep to themselves and the walk was a lot less stressful. We passed a badly made house of screams on the left, the only vampire item so far.
As soon as we passed the gates to the Bran Castle, things changed. It was beautiful. Rich green sprawled all around reaching the huddled up village houses in the distance and surrounding the calm ponds. The kids ran up the stone ramp, while I was still trying to pull myself from the gardens.
I am not a castle person. Other than just generous curiosity about things which can bring me to a place like Bran, you will not find me running from one castle to the next and calling it a holiday.
I am not a Dracula fan either.
Still, the Bran Castle charmed me.
It looked small from the outside, but once in, you can lose yourself in its narrow passageways and hidden rooms. Plenty of wood around and peaking green hills from the windows made it…homely.
Yes, I imagined myself living in the “scary Dracula castle”.
Lets get something straight though. Even here, you will find out that the connection between the place and the story is imagined at best. An idea blown out of proportion for attracting tourists at worst. Bram Stoker had never stepped foot in Romania. Vlad the Impaler, who might have been part of the inspiration for the book, used a few castles in his life.
Other than a small room with exhibits showing the lack of connection, there is nothing vampire about this place at all.
It is homey and inviting.
As we were leaving, the kids plays had turned into a mad running around. I was busy thinking about how everyone sees what they want, in life and in travel. Our sparkly booted American lady, enjoyed the place because of Dracula, while we did because it ended up being completely non-Dracula.
Coming down the steep ramp I realized that Mr.Blab was missing.
We went back inside to try and find him.
And you, if you are thinking of coming here, remember that there is nothing vampire about it. Just a surprisingly pleasant castle amidst a mildly touristic town.
So come prepared.
Ahh… Love that last pic. Looks like something out of “True Blood”!
Love it! That last pic is hysterical and the whole place looks so beautiful!
I could not resist ;)
How sweet and honest – you should sell this post to Lonely Planet ;-) How did you lighten up the kids’ mood when they found out there would be no vampires to be had?
(By the way, if you want it more scary: Here in Saxony we have castles with their own authentic chain rattling ghosts – just insert 10 Cents…)
VERY funny! Your photos certainly make me want to visit it. So how do they justify turning a non vampire related place into the bat castle?
Ainlay, I have no idea. I guess one thing led to another and BAM this is the Dracula Castle.
Jenny, the kids could not be bothered any less about the vampire stuff. They were just playing around. No scary stuff for me, thank you.
This leads me to an interesting question: How do you go about planning your itinerary? Are the kids involved? In my experience, I have to find some interesting point in every “sight” we want to visit and make it “desirable” to my kids. For instance, the above mentioned ghost works as the drawing point in seeing a certain castle – if we would just announce the castle as a castle, with nothing to look forward to, we would have a mutiny of the sort of “nooo, we want to stay home and play”.
Do you really just go where you fancy and your kids comply happily?
Jenny, we mostly go where we fancy and the kids comply. Sometimes happily, sometimes not so much. They are not really involved in the itinerary seriously. We might talk about destinations and discuss places, but in general they seem happy to let us decide. When we read about a place some activities/spots might end up interesting to them and they will get excited, but I never do that intentionally. We do let them spend whole days inside playing and visit way more playgrounds than we want to. I guess it is a bit of give and take.
Just wanted to add in that yes, they knew the story attached to the castle, but we did not build it up. Mostly just as an interesting information and part of why we are there to see it. I have learned not to rile them up too much, as often they end up disappointed. Very few things are as exciting as they are presented in writing.
“Very few things are as exciting as they are presented in writing.”
How wise you are :-) I will try to keep that in mind for our next journey…
So funny! Love the shots you took. As I said, Romania still has a long way to go to achieve tourism friendly status, but this place, although Dracula may have left the building ;) is truly unique. The legend is a bit exaggerated, but the western medieval towns sure are charming. I see you went to Sibiu. Have you been to Brasov?
http://www.monica-suma.com/2012/01/12/a-charming-town-in-transylvania/
Monica,
Yes, we visited Brasov and had a great time walking around and especially climbing the hill.
Glad to hear that!
Love your pictures, thank you for sharing you experience for would-be travelers to see! That being said I do have to say, the Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is 100% meant to be the same Vlad III Dracula – its not a “might.” Even in the literature of the book there are many phrases pointing this out. For example, while discussing his origin with Mr. Harker, the fictional Dracula gives a history lesson on how he comes from a proud line of warriors who pushed back the Turk and Magyar. And for just one more example, one line of Abraham van Helsing’s journal entries states, “For surely it is he, the Dracula that fought the Turks.” There are dozens more in the text that show Stoker absolutely intended for his monster to be Vlad III Dracula – as tales of vampirism were spreading like wild fire at the time and the german press spread tales far and wide of Vlad III Dracula being a literal blood drinker – Stoker took all those ideas and made the book.