The Castle in Bran...where's Dracula?

Friday, 21 March 2008
The countryside around Brasov is lovely we discovered on our way to the Castle supposedly of Dracula. We took the bus this morning to Bran, 25 km away from Brasov. The 45 minute journey was beautiful, jagged mountains covered with snow in the distance and horse-drawn carts in the villages along the way.
Bran was set up to gain tourists' $$- lots of stands selling Romania crafts & Dracula junk. We bought some yummy smoked goat cheese- enough for a week, I hope!
There is no historical connection really with Dracula, Count Vlad, and the Bran Castle. The Castle is 500 years old, on top of a rocky hill with beautiful views in every direction.
We enjoyed touring the castle that was given to the Queen of Romania by the city of Brasov in the early 1920's. It has the wierdest floor plan, more like a latin hacienda. The furnishings and silver were impressive; I tried to find out if the selling price of a mere $78,000,000 included all the stuff inside and the grounds, but no one understood my question in english or spanish.
We had a wierd experience inside. We were speaking spanish touring the castle and one of the guards took a 'liking' to us. She spoke italian and so we were able to somewhat communicate. She opened up the rope which was keeping people out of one section and motioned us inside. We followed her through several closed rooms into her personal space. There she pointed to some natural yarn and pulled out several handknitted caps, scarves, and mittens and proceeded to sell us a hat. We had to hide it in Keith's bag because she was selling stuff on the side. Be sure to ask to see my hat, it's a baah- matches the Irish knit sweater Shana brought back from Ireland for me years ago. A bargain too! (Actually, we had to buy something! Why do these things always happen to us?!)
On the castle grounds was a museum of buildings moved from various villages in the area. We met a couple with whom we were able to converse in Spanish- she was from Spain, he was Romanian. We had fun walking and talking with them looking at the old mills, barns & homes. He was able to explain more than the tourist signs.
The bus ride home reminded me of Latin America, the bus driver was passing other buses in curves, speeding in towns and everything! The bus took us to a different bus station luckily next to the train station so I was able to purchase our tickets for Sighisoara in the morning.
Life is great. I love travelling. Keith is watching THE JERK with Steve Martin on the TV now, so all is right with the world.
Wishing you all a thoughtful Good Friday!