Dracula and the Bran Castle

My ancestry is 100% from Transylvania, and it goes back there to immemorial times. Of course I’ve been there many times, although I’ve grew us in the adjacent province of Banat. Since living in Canada for decades

I’ve spent a beautiful vacation in Țara Bârsei ( Burzenland ), in which the Bran Castle lays, just recently. So I can share some “fresh” experiences from there

The castle itself is reminiscent of a Medieval past on surface only. Inside though, It was refurbished and redone to host members of the Romanian Royal family just before and during WW2 Therefore it has that touch of Art Deco, which I like very much, hosted in its rooms

Imagine Dominic von Habsburg spent his childhood in that castle during that bloody war, for his mother was Princess Ileana of Romania

The lady in the picture on the left has a major say in decorating it

Some say that the castle hosted the real Dracula character for a while, but I found no evidence for that. There are two other castles that did host Dracula during his troubled times. The first one is located central Bucharest called Curtea Veche, and the other one is Poenari Castle that was the ancient home base of his ancestors, the House of Basarab

If I was to travel back to Burzenland for a vacation, I would visit Râșnov Citadel first. That is an authentic 13th century castle just refurbished. It has seen the Teutonic Order in the beginning, and at least the second Mongol invasion coming after the German Saxons and Romanians in that region with devastating effects. A host of Ottoman sieges and, some say, the hiding place of a fabled treasure from the city of Brașov (or Kronstadt)

On the next hill, facing Rosnau, there is an interesting archaeological site of a Dacian fortress from the pre Roman times

In a nutshell, Romania is an interesting destination for a tourist. Good food, and a lot to see, modern and all. I like a lot all that is there from between the two World Wars though