At the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, on top of a cliff, rises one of Europe’s most famous fortifications: Bran Castle , also (falsely) known as Dracula’s Castle, where hundreds of thousands of foreigners come annual seeking the ghost of the famous Romanian ruler.
One of the famous tourist who recently visited Bran was none other than actor Johnny Depp, during an European tour with his band Hollywood Vampires. It seems suitable for some glamorous “vampires” to visit the home of the most famous vampires of all.
Bran looks best in the winter in my opinion.
Besides being one of the best preserved and impressive medieval castles in Romania and a former royal residence, the legend according to which the castle was the place of perdition of the famous Count Dracula is certainly why many tourists come to visit it. However, historical sources say Vlad Tepes staid here only once, on his way to Brasov.
The tumultuous history of the castle started more than 600 years ago, documented for the first time in 1377, but its bases appeared to have been made much earlier by the Teutonic Knights, who built here, between 1211 and 1225, a wood fortress . In 1377, when it appears in the first official record, Saxons living in the Brasov area received from King Louis I of Hungary permission to build at own expense and using their own artisans a stone castle at Bran, who served for military purposes over many centuries, on the foundation of the wooden fortress.
The fame of the castle taken abroad is due largely to Bram Stoker, author of the famous novel “Dracula” – the story of the vampire-count that never ceases to fascinate. The connection between the character in the novel and Prince Vlad the Impaler – Dracula is even suggested by the author who wrote somewhere in the book “… was it really that prince Dracula who opposed the Turks over the great river, even from the border with Turkey.“ Although the history disproves that Vlad Tepes, ruler with vampire traits ever lived in Bran Castle, the blood – hungry count’s story is so popular and widespread that it almost no one is interested in the truth. Dracula’s legend is one thing, the story of Vlad Tepes is something different, but this “confusion” put the small town and the castle on the map of international tourism and brings important financial benefits to the area.
Inside the castle :
One of the main attractions of the castle is the secret passage that once was known only to soldiers. If the invaders managed to enter the city, soldiers used this passage to climb to the top of the castle where they would throw stones and hot pitch trying to discourage the attackers. The passage entrance was made at the time through a stove, located in the place that is now the door.
Finally, when exiting the castle, you can see a tiny building, overgrown with moss, located on the lake at the base of the castle – it’s the Tea House, built of wood, at the Queen’s desire, who organized here less formal receptions, more intimate, for close friends.
Thank you for your interest and I hope that you will one day visit! Or have you already ?
I put this together with pictures from google images, they do not belong to me. I used the text from here