Romania : Part 8 - Day 10 : Dracula Castle

Day 10 of Romanian Drive

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 10. 

24/9 Day 10: National Park Piatra Craiului -- Bran -- Baltatesti, Neamt

We slept in the car.

Must-Incur Costs

(1) Petrol in Brasov  - LEI174.78 / EUR38.81 / 34.61 liter

Last filled in Hunedeora on Day 4.

(2) Entrance fee to Dracula Castle - LEI35 / EUR7.77

Optional Costs 

(1) 24/9 Lunch in Bran - Frying dracula (beef, pork chicken, vegetable salsa) LEI39 / EUR8.66, Pork and lots of meat LEI34 / EUR7.55, Water LEI7 / EUR1.55, Chocolate drink LEI10 / EUR2.22
(2) 24/9 Dinner in Bran - Pizza LEI23 / EUR5.11, Water for 2 LEI11 / EUR2.44
(3) 24/9 Pastries in Bran - Vanilla Puff LEI3 / EUR0.67, Apple Pie LEI3, Blueberry Puff LEI3, Paper bag LEI1 / EUR0.22

(4) Tip in dinner - LEI1 / EUR0.22

The Story

240916 - Today, we woke up early to walk back to the car. Prof Sweet Tooth did not want to have the breakfast in the Cabana. It was a beautiful morning view. The skies were clear. The sunrays were gorgeous in the forest. The way it zig zag across the trees. 

What took us 4 hours yesterday to go to the Cabana took us 2.5 hours to get back down. 

That is the place we slept 2 nights ago by the river. We saw lots of cars parked at the exit because it is the weekend. 

This is the small town next to Piatra Craiului National Park.

Now, we head on towards Brasov. On the way, we stopped at Bran to see the world famous over-rated Dracula Castle! Haha! In Bran town, there were many figures of Dracula and an overwhelming supply of souvenir stalls. 

We stopped to have lunch first. Even the menu in the restaurant is named after Dracula. Prof Sweet Tooth ordered a 'Frying Dracula' which is made up of various combination of meat. Mine has lots of meat too. I wondered if Dracula love his meat.. or maybe Romanians love their meat.

This is the Frying Dracula. I wondered if it is a typo and they meant it as Flying Dracula. It was a lot of meat. I felt like a carnivore trying both dishes. 

The receipt came in an old book. It is in Romanian. Unreadable for me. I would have love to know which book got torn like that. Oh I cringed when I saw the book like that.

After lunch, we went to look for the entrance to Bran Castle. It was inside the grounds of souvenir booths. 

Bran Castle (Romanian: Castelul Bran; German: Törzburg; Hungarian: Törcsvár), situated near Bran and in the immediate vicinity of Braşov, is a national monument and landmark in Romania. The fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, on DN73. Commonly known as "Dracula's Castle" (although it is one among several locations linked to the Dracula legend, including Poenari Castle and Hunyad Castle), it is the home of the title character in Bram Stoker's Dracula. There is, however, no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle, which has only tangential associations with Vlad III, voivode of Wallachia, the putative inspiration for Dracula. As discovered by the Dutch author Hans Corneel de Roos, the location Bram Stoker actually had in mind for Castle Dracula while writing his novel was an empty mountain top, Mount Izvorul Călimanului, 2,033 metres (6,670 ft) high, located in the Transylvanian Călimani Alps near the former border with Moldavia.

The castle is now a museum open to tourists, displaying art and furniture collected by Queen Marie.Tourists can see the interior individually or by a guided tour. At the bottom of the hill is a small open-air museum park exhibiting traditional Romanian peasant structures (cottages, barns, etc.) from across the country. Source from Wikipedia.

Look at the super long queue! I guess it was a weekend and hence, the long queue.

The landscape is beautiful inside the castle grounds. We saw a signboard for the toilet but could not find any, and the staff told us that the toilet is before the entrance of the castle, which is a walk up the slope. 

In 1920, the castle became a royal residence within the Kingdom of Romania. It became the favorite home and retreat of Queen Marie, who ordered its extensive renovation conducted by the Czech architect Karel Zdeněk Líman. The castle was inherited by her daughter Princess Ileana who ran a hospital there in World War II: it 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 properties illegally expropriated, such as Bran, and thus a year later the castle was awarded ownership to Dominic von Habsburg, the son and heir of Princess Ileana.

On 18 May 2009, the Bran Castle administration was transferred from the government to the administration of Archduke Dominic and his sisters Maria-Magdalena Holzhausen and Elisabeth Sandhofer. On 1 June 2009, the Habsburgs opened the refurbished castle to the public as the first private museum of the country and disclosed with Bran Village a joint strategic concept to maintain their domination in the Romanian tourist circuit and to safeguard the economic base in the region. Source from Wikipedia.

Here is a photo of Princess Ileana's children and their gratitude to be given back the castle. Just as it was described in Wikipedia, this is a castle, an accommodation for the royalties. We saw furniture used in each room and a description of the room. There was no hint of Dracula until we reached one room which has a full illustration of the association of this castle with Dracula. Just like all tourists inside the Castle (there were so many tourists that there was no one time where a space is empty), I think we were so keen to see something Dracula-ish but there was nothing. Hence, the reason I said over-rated because it cost me LEI35. Expensive. My fault for being like a typical tourist. Haha. I just need to see it to believe it is over-rated. 

Dracula is probably my height instead of Prof Sweet Tooth. Dracula is definitely not from Scandinavia.

The one room that talks about the association of Dracula with the Castle. The author used this castle as Dracula home in his novel. 

There is also a video room on Princess Ileana's children visiting the Castle.

The open air museum where I got a free fridge magnet! I wanted to buy one for my collection but the seller said - It is a gift from me. Yay! Prof Sweet Tooth did not look too pleased. Haha. It would have cost me LEI5.

More souvenir booths. I wonder how do the sellers survive.

Just pizza for dinner because we were not too hungry after eating Dracula meat.

We continued on our drive towards Neamt Citadel, but on the way, we saw a grand castle on top of the hill. The name is Rasnov. It is a Hollywood sign. It was closing hours but the gate was still open. We did not see anyone at the ticket counter, and I stepped inside the gate. Prof Sweet Tooth was hesitant because he is a law-abiding citizen. I told him that we are just going to walk around the grounds and not inside the castle (plus the castle was already closed). There was a costume play by the locals with a setup of tents of how the olden days were like - with shields, swords and a fire where the peasants gather to chat. No one stopped us to get a ticket. 

Râșnov Citadel (Romanian: Cetatea Râșnov, German: Rosenauer Burg) is a historic monument and landmark in Romania. It is situated in Râşnov, Brașov County, in the immediate vicinity of Brașov.

The citadel was built as part of a defence system for the Transylvanian villages exposed to outside invasions. A decisive aspect for building the citadel on the actual location was the route of the invading armies which were coming from the Bran pass and were passing through Râșnov, on their way to Burzenland. The only chance of survival for the inhabitants of the area, inclusively from Cristian and Ghimbav, was the refuge inside the citadel. Compelled to stay there for decades, the people of Râșnov and the nearby villages turned the fortification into a dwelling. Source from Wikipedia.

Prof Sweet Tooth drove on to Neamt County, and we slept in Baltatesti for the night. In the car, as always.