It is not so rare to encounter a peculiar phenomenon when people are interested not in real history, but in their ideas about it. Even when it is impossible not to understand that this is nothing more than a legend. Dracula's Castle in Romania annually receives many thousands of visitors. The broad masses of the tourist community, traveling here from many countries and continents, studied this episode of Romanian history in the main way in Hollywood thrillers and in the famous novel by Bram Stockker.
But people want to see some semblance of familiar scenery for their favorite horror movies. And the castle of Dracula in Romania does not deceive their expectations. It fully corresponds to the image that has developed in advance with the public. And not everyone knows that the real owner of this castle, nicknamed Count Dracula, by his atrocities greatly surpasses all his Hollywood images combined.
Dracula's castle in Romania and its inhabitant
The real ruler of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes, lived and performed state functions in this castle in the middle of the fifteenth century. In addition to the war against Turkey, he became famous for the fierce ferocity of both enemies and his subjects. His name alone terrified the whole district. In addition to manic, often completely meaningless cruelty, he had a peculiar satanic sense of humor and loved to have fun over his subjects, putting them on a stake for no apparent reason. Or nailed caps to foreign ambassadors to his head for refusing to remove them from his head at an official government reception. But impaling was his favorite form of execution and his favorite pastime. And his nickname - “Impaler” - he received precisely because of this, it is translated exactly that means “imprisoning”.
One can only imagine how Vlad Tepes would react to the fact that in five hundred years he would become a cult figure, and Dracula's castle in Romania - an official tourist attraction. Most likely he would have treated the tour operators with his inherent humor. But today, the life, fate, deeds of this outstanding historical character and the legends around him have become a good-selling product on the tourism market. And the concepts -
Romania, sights, Dracula's castle - have long been lined up in one semantic row. People willingly travel, sometimes from the other end of the world, to this splendidly preserved medieval castle in the mountains of Transylvania, on the walls of which five hundred years ago decaying corpses hung on stakes.
Romania, the castle of Dracula. Tours and excursions
Dracula's castle, otherwise called "Bran", is located less than fifty kilometers from the ancient city of Brasov. It is through it that one should get there from the capital of the country if you are traveling not as part of a tourist group, but on your own. Separates it from the capital 160 kilometers. This well-preserved medieval city with red tiled roofs and streets and squares covered with ancient pavers is also noteworthy. From the Brasov bus station it is not difficult to get to the Bran stop. And any city taxi driver will deliver you to your destination even faster.