Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle)

A short 45 minute bus ride through the country side near Brasov will take you to see Bran Castle- Dracula’s Castle. You would expect the castle that inspired Dracula’s castle to be imposing, desolate, dark, creepy and damp. At least, that is what we expected. Instead, we found the castle to be super charming, and as homey as a castle can be. Its interior was sun drenched and warm, and it had a wonderful courtyard in the middle. Its views overlooked the sleepy village below on one side and the beautiful mountains on the other side. We also found out it is for sale- anyone want to go halvsies on a castle? Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, had never visited the castle he used as the setting for Dracula’s castle, or even Romania for that matter. Vlad the Impaler, said to be the inspiration behind Dracula, lived in the south (where it is flat and altogether a terrible place to set a horror novel- no mountains, no forests, no creepy fogs or mists, nothing) and only visited Bran Castle once, as a prisoner. Instead it was built by the people of Brasov and finished in 1388 as a fortress, trade route and a way of preventing the Ottoman Empire from expanding through the Transylvania region. It has been the home of kings and queens, Saxons, Transylvanians and Communists. It finally was given to the beloved Queen Maria of Romania in the 1920’s. It has been a museum since the 1950’s.