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Another place that was on my list of must visits - Brasov for Bran Castle, home of Dracula. But there's heaps more to Brasov than just Bran Castle.
We stayed at a cool hostel about 10 minutes walk from the main square, arrived on Sunday night and managed to find it without any issues which is always an achievement! The weather had turned cloudy for the first time in a while, which suited the Dracula atmosphere quite nicely. Not so spooky were the five loud, stereotypical Italian guys who were also staying in our dorm. Gestures and accents and quite full on to be sharing space with!
Unfortunately Monday was the only day Bran Castle was closed, go figure, so we too a bus out to Rasnov Fortress instead, which turned out to be very cool. While Bran was originally the castle where the knights and nobles lived, Rasnov was a fortress that held villagers, and acted as a watch-bastion, with a signal place to alert Bran to any trouble, who would then send armed personnel out to deal with it. The Italians had the same idea for the day so we wandered round together. The view from the
top was fantastic, even to seeing snow on the nearby mountains - no wonder it was chilly!
Tania, Emma J and I then got chatting to the caretaker, an English guy who'd been in Romania for a couple of years, moving there just because he felt like a change. He showed us the fortress well which had been dug by Turkish prisoners with the promise that they would get their freedom once it was done - it only took them 17 years! To show us the depth, he lit a roll of newspaper and dropped it down, and oh man, it went down and down and down... Eventually it burnt out before hitting the bottom. The current owner of the fortress started re-excavating it, but after discovering the first body (a murder victim dating back to the 30's) he decided against going any further. They've had both the US and UK Ghosthunter TV shows come and go down it to film, and both got totally freaked out. I was quite happy to simply look at it from the top!
He also showed us a skeleton dating back to the middle ages that was found in the grounds, which
is now set in a cellar below the floor. They don't know who she was, but she was buried in unconsecrated ground, which tells you something already.
He then kindly gave us a lift back to town, saving a 40 min bus ride, and told us heaps of info about the area on the way, including that they have bear problems, with bears coming down into the town just a couple of years ago in search of easy food. You can eat bear at a couple of restaurants in the town, as they have to cull them to keep the numbers reasonable. We didn't see any live examples, thank goodness. A cool guy, it's those kind of people who make travelling so much more than just the sights and usual touristy stuff.
We also had a wander around the town, going to the fruit and vege market to stock up on ingredients for a stir fry. What a treat, real veges and being able to cook ourselves!
The next day the Italians departed in a storm of kisses, gestures and all those loud Italian things. Us three and a fellow backpacker, Kate, ventured out to Bran Castle
to see what the home of Dracula was actually like, enduring a long, slow, painful 1 hr + ride on a bus that was about to give up and die, but couldn't quite do it yet. The castle looked spooky enough from the outside, set in a park of trees and ponds, and up on a small hill. However, inside was set up as it was when used as a summer residence by the royal family in the twenties - not spooky at all, actually quite nice. Though there was still a secret staircase, which reconciled me to it slightly.
At the exit there were the obligatory tourist stalls, though they did have some quite nice embroidered cloth amongst all the usual tack, but all at prices a wee bit too much for my budget. Though I couldn't resist a bottle of Dracula's Blood local red wine as a cool present for Dave. Now I have to carry it with me for another month and a half. Hmmm, must remember to buy small stuff from now on!
We found a reasonably priced restaurant to have our obligatory local food for dinner, yum, which topped off our visit to
this part of Transylvania quite nicely. Just a couple more stops in Romania before I have to split up with my travel buddies in Budapest, which will be sad! This trip is starting to move far too quickly...
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