So legend has it that Bram Stoker thought of the story of Dracula, basing it in Romania in the famous Transylvania area. He thought of a castle and described it in detail in his book. After that, the interpretation of the description of the castle led folks to believe that the castle he had been talking about was Bran castle, even though he had never known or been there.
That loose connection of course didn't stop the Romanian Tourist board from cashing in, and cash in they did. We travelled to Bran in our rental vehicle on our first proper day in Romania visiting for the sole purpose of living the Dracula experience. We came away a little disappointed. Still it was a road trip and we love road trips.
After trying to figure out how to pay for parking and also pick up the tickets we had bought ahead of time (for AUD70 on Booking.com) - off-peak pre-ordering wasn't all that necessary.
We walked up to the steep cobblestone drive to the base of the Castle. Turns out, away from all the touristy none sense Dracula lore, Bran Castle is just another 14th Century castle inhabited by wealthy royals.
This one was just the main castle structure, no protective walls and a bit of a cash grab in reality. Still, we have no castles in Australia, so the bar is pretty low.
We thought we were pretty lucky visiting during off-peak hours, but little did we know once inside, we'd run into the masses of single language tour groups, filing one at a time through the narrow corridors and spiral staircases.
The tour groups...
Each room was filled with ornate furniture, decorations and now and then we would see a replica costume of somebody linked to the castle. Some of it was quite interesting, but most impressive was the courtyard that the castle building bounded round.
The courtyard...with a scantily money filled well.
Once we'd finished with the castle it dawned on us - this was all Bran had to offer. So I convince J who was driving, so follow some ropey hills side track so we could get a better photo of the castle and surrounds.
Bran castle from the South
So, we started driving back towards Brasov, and intended to call into the Rasnov Castle on the way, but as we did arrive we realised that the whole castle was closed for renovations, and though the exterior was accessible, we felt too cheap to pay for parking and hike to the top.
Rasnov Castle
Our whole day plans ended up being more of barely a half day plan, so rather than return on the highway, we detoured through the mountain roads and spent the rest of the day exploring Brasov.
