Dracula Castle and other Romanian locales

Phillip and I are in Bucharest, Romania. Since my previous post, we flew from Budapest, Hungary, to Bucharest, Romania; took a bus to Brasov (2-1/2 hours); spent two nights in Brasov; had a taxi ride to the train station; took a train to Bucharest; and rode the subway in Bucharest. Almost all of our transportation modes were used! Everything went well. The airport changed the gate for our flight after we got our boarding passes, but I always check the monitors while we wait, so even that was not an issue. 

a lucky day when our subway exit has an escalator up

In Brasov, we stayed at Drachenhaus Hotel, a different type of hotel than we had stayed in previously. Our rooom had a living room and bathroom downstairs and the bedroom upstairs. The stairs up to our room's floor would be challenging to people shorter than me as some of the steps, which you can see on the right side of the hotel picture below, were about 50% higher than what USA steps are allowed to be! I'm glad our packed suitcases are small and weighed less than 12 kg.

Drachenhaus, our room up the stairs on the right

Brasov was a lovely town with an expansive plaza a block from Drachenhaus. A fountain decorated the center of the plaza. Cafes with outside seating lined the plaza and the streets running north and east from the plaza. All cobblestone - roads, sidewalks, plaza. That's why we took a taxi to the train station yesterday. Pulling our suitcases over the cobblestones from the bus stop was extremely tiring for us and rough on the wheels. We've ruined one wheel already. It is, however, extremely beautiful (the cobblestone streets, not the broken wheel). 

Brasov, looking toward the square and surrounding Transylvania Moutains 

During our full day in Brasov, we took a tour of Bran Castle, Peles Castle, and  Rasnov Fortress. Bran Castle, our first stop, was the one with the Dracula connection. It is the only castle in Transylvania that matches the description of Dracula's castle that Bram Stoker wrote in his book. 

Bran Castle, aka "Dracula Castle"

Although Stoker made an effort to avoid basing Dracula on a real person, the character does derive from the stories of Vlad Tepes, ruler of Wallachia in the 1400s. Vlad never lived here, but some historical records indicate he may have been held here for two months when he was captured by the Hungarian king in 1462. 

multi-levels for defense 

This castle's real significance during the Middle Ages was as a customs house for trade in the region. In the 1900s, many of the small, old castles in Romania were falling into ruin. The town owned the castle, so they decided to give it to the new Romanian Queen, Maria. She loved it and in the 1920s, had it updated and remodeled as her royal residence. 

Queen Maria's bedroom in Bran Castle

When Queen Maria died, her daughter Ilena inherited the castle, but had to leave the country when the Soviets took over after WWII. After the Soviets left in 1989, the remaining royalty gave the castle back to the town to be a museum. There's one more Dracula connection, however. When the communists controlled Romania, they allowed "historical" movies to be made. One movie was a story of Dracula/Vlad and the costume used in that movie was in the castle, in a display case. 

Vlad Tepes costume from a 1950s communist-made movie

After Bran Castle, we toured Peles Castle, the only "newly built" castle I've seen. Maria's father-in-law, King Carlos had it built starting in 1873. It was built with electric lights, and elevator and modern conveniences of the year 1900. 

Peles Castle (although technically, it was a palace)

Like all castles, it has lovely landscaping

and these days, plenty of tourists

and fountains and statues.

From Peles Castle, we traveled to Rasnov Fortress. It dates to the 13th century and was a place of refuge for townspeople when outsiders, be they Ottomans, Mongols, Austrian imperial forces or whomever, attacked. It had two courtyards, the outer one for animals and the inner one for people.

Rasnov Fortress

Rasnov Fortress was attacked 50 times but only conquered once, in 1612, when the enemy troops found the fortress's water supply source. After that, the townspeople dug a 479 foot well thru the rock on the inside the fortress. 

Phillip and Pat at the top of Rasnov Fortress

Phillip and I ate well in Brasov. One of our favorite meals, at one of the cafes on the plaza, was of traditionally prepared Romanian cabbage rolls, served over polenta, with sour cream. And a beer! 

Sarmale (Romanian cabbage rolls)

Here in Bucharest, we met with our friend, Mihaela, yesterday when she got off work. We chatted and caught up so much that we forgot to take any pictures of her! We will spend tomorrow afternoon with her as she is taking us with her to a family gathering in the countryside. Today, since Mihaela was at work, Phillip and I walked around Bucharest, seeing some of the landmark sites, but not going into any museums or castles! 

The Romanian communist leader, Ceausescu, built what is today called the Palace of Paliament. It is the heaviest building in the world. Some sources say it is the largest government building (others say our Pentagon is bigger). Phillip and I did not even attempt to walk around it! 

Palace of Parliment

Strolling around after we left Parliament, we turned a corrner and came across the Broken Violin statue. I really liked this one. 

"Broken Violin"

Our last visit today was to the "Old City" area of Bucharest. Cobblestone streets and lots of cafes like Brasov. 

Phillip and I are excited about going into the countryside tomorrow and so happy to visit with Mihaela!