DAY 90 & 91 - Transylvania...Ah...Ha..Ha..Haaaah!

June 17 & 18 - Castles near Brasov – a beautiful Romanian city

 After only 4 hours of sleep, we caught a bus through some more beautiful Romanian land. The road was quite curvy, but very spectacular. The region of "Transylvania" (definition..."on the other side of the forest") is known for the scenic beauty of the Carpathian Mountains and its rich history.

Everyone also knows that Transylvania is associated with vampires and Dracula.

oops...not this one.  He's Count Dracula from Sesame Street

This is the Dracula I'm talking about....ScARy!

We met a guy named Valentin who recognized us from our couchsurfing profile. We had asked to stay with him previously, but he was going to be out of town. We struck up a conversation and it ended up that we spent quite a bit of time with him the second day.

Meet Valentin who really helped us out in Bar

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We arrived at the Bran Castle around 2:00.

 There were many souvenir shops because there are so many tourists! The architecture of the castles is fantastic...so many rooms and secret doors and passage ways, but the stigma that Dracula was on this place is crazy!   The first documented mentioning of Bran Castle is the act issued by Louis I of Hungary on November 19, 1377, giving the Saxons of Braşov the privilege to build the stone citadel on their own expense and labor force.  The settlement of Bran began to develop nearby. In 1438–1442, the castle was used in defense against the Ottoman empire, and later became a customs post on the mountain pass between Transylvania and Wallachia.

We had our backpacks with us, so we took turns going through the castle. 

Ooh...this secret  passageway is pretty scary!

  The character of Dracula was based on a real individual - Vlad the Impaler. Vlad's cruelty and bloodlust was truly inhuman - stranger than fiction. Vlad Tepes was a member of the House of Draculesti.  He was involved in several campaigns to punish the German merchants of Brasov who failed to abide by his commands as regards to their trade in his Walachian markets. His punishments were quite harsh.  It is said that his victims were in the tens of thousands. (hundreds of thousands on one report).   The name of the vampire count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula was inspired by Vlad's reputation. 

 This was one of Vlad's favorite torture devices that he used to get rid of someone who he didn't like.

  This was a man who gained infamy for impaling his enemies upon spikes - whilst they were still alive.

And to think I was in the same castle as this crazy man!

 In 1920, the castle became a royal residence within the King of Romania. It became the favorite home and retreat of Queen Marie. The castle was inherited by her daughter Princess Ileana and was later seized by the communist regime with the expulsion of the royal family in 1948.  In 2005, the Romanian government passed a special law allowing restitution claims on Bran, the son and heir of Princess Ileana, and so a year later the castle was awarded ownership to Dominic von Habsburg, the son and heir of Princess Ileana.

Queen Marie

After Queen Marie's death, she left instructions for something quite extraordinary - she asked for her heart to be separated from her remains, encased in a silver casket, and held elsewhere, for others to approach whenever they needed for advice and support. After some conflict, her heart remains encased in a cliff in Bran - fit for visitors today to pay wishes.
 
Many are disappointed that the Castle's rooms contain the paintings, furniture and fixtures of Good Queen Marie (or at least, they did, until many were plundered during Romania's years of communist rule). Many people are expecting vampiric exhibitions: instead, the small, relatively homely rooms come as a bit of a shock. 

A beautiful church on our walk to find a hostel

 Here is my buddy - hope he will protect me.


We went on in to Brasov not knowing where we were going to stay for the night.  We had a place the 2nd night, but we needed to find a hostel.
 mmm..... we walked and walked and walked and walked with our backpacks.

Flowers are so beautiful this time of year in Brashov

 We finally found a place that was not full - a fairly new hostel. It was very clean and new. There ended up being another couple in our 8 bed room. We went to bed without dinner as we were very short on money.   Romania takes lei and we needed to get more from the ATM machine.

Feels like we're back in college in a dorm room  :)

 The next morning after going to the bank, we went to a restaurant for breakfast....egg omelet with bacon and tomatoes and toast. It tasted so good, but no picture. :( Rich went back to the room to work on the computer for most of the day. I explored Brasov, going to several churches: the Black Church and St. Nicholas church. Today was Rich's birthday, but he never wants anything. (I guess this trip to Europe will be our birthday and Christmas gifst for a few years to come) I did surprise him with a cherry turnover.

The Black church

Aren't these two just the cutest?

 My grand daughter's name is Eliana so these pictures are for her.



Valentin picked us up in his car later in the afternoon and took us to the nearby town of Rasnov. There we climbed through the forest and went up some steep steps to the fortress.  The medieval citadel is considered to be built between 1211 and 1225, during the rule of Teutonic Knights in Burzenland.

Aerial View of the citadel of Brasnov

Pretty goofy guy

 Beautiful views and beautiful weather. It's getting to be summertime and was quite a nice warm day.

This young man described all the weapons of war back then

We sure LOVE our European experience!

The Well legend is ....

The legend around the fountain says that during a siege, the inhabitants of the citadel made two Turkish prisoners dig a fountain in the middle of the citadel in order to regain their freedom. The captives dug for 17 years, during which time they wrote verses from Quran on the well walls which can be seen even today.  When they were finally done digging the well, they were killed anyway.

I bought a couple of German dolls in a Romanian shop - I think I'll keep them for myself

 We went back to Brasov for drinks at a local cafe, then ordered a pizza. It was very good, but again, no pictures. We met Florent, a guy from France who was to be our next host. He took us to the narrowest street in the world Strada Sforii (“Rope Street”)– a 15 minute walk through town.  (I have since disovered that one in Germany is even narrower.  He said if we walked side by side and neither of us touched the walls....we would have a love that would last forever. Great little story!  We did it!!  YEAH!!
 

We walked without touching the walls - our love will be eternal!

Thank you for such a nice day, Valentin and thank you, Florent for being our new host.

Florent had a very nice flat where we stayed only 6 hours before we left for our next destination - Timisoara.

His couch made into a large bed

They show each other where they have traveled on Florent's map

"Mr. Bubbles" (my PJ's  logo) and I say good-night!