The home of Dracula

The Bran Castle, or colloquially Dracula Castle, is located in Tranylvania not far from Brașov. In Bram Stoker's famous novel, the bloodthirsty prince Dracula allegedly lived in this castle. The character on which the book is based upon is the Walachian prince Vlad Ţepeş. His brutal actions against enemy invaders earned him the nickname "The Impaler". As a deterrent to his enemies, he impaled enemy soldiers so that they would die no less than 48 hours later.

Not spooky at all

However, the castle had very little in common with a spooky atmosphere. The biggest tourist attraction of the country knows how to sell itself well, because from the inside the castle looks much less frightening than one imagines. Beside all, the crowds of people flow through the castle. One practically has to push one's way past them. From the outside, the castle looks more beautiful than from the inside.  I could have saved myself the tour through the castle, above all, Dracula actually never lived here. Nevertheless, I bought myself a nice T-shirt with an attractive design.

Râșnov - a beautiful little surprise

At the bus stop I met an Australian from the hostel, with whom I went to Râșnov afterwards. In this town there is a fortress from the 14th century, which is located on top of a mountain. I liked this place much better than the Dracula castle. Not only were there fewer people here, but you could really feel the age of the fortress and it was not so extremely commercialized.

Parting ways with my travel mate

In the evening my buddy Stan was waiting for me in the hostel. He didn't want to go to the Dracula Castle, as it was too commercial for him. From here we parted ways again. For two weeks we traveled together. Now I could finally plan my trip again without waiting if my buddy will join me or not, because my buddy travels so spontaneously that he decides only hours before where he will travel or fly next.