studentsineurope

Sneaking Around in Dracula’s Castle

Bran Castle, home of the historical Dracula

I didn’t mean to sneak into Dracula’s Castle for free. I had just gotten off the train in Bran, Romania, and my eyes were fixed on the striking white turrets of Bran Castle, the medieval fortress famous as the setting for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I wanted desperately to get to the castle, which sat on a high hill a good fifteen-minute walk away, but I kept running into a fence. I didn’t know what it was protecting – it looked like some gardens or something – but I figured if I could just find my way around it, I could walk to the castle. I followed the fence as it ran in a very broad arc, never getting any closer to the castle and never seeming to end – until finally it hit me: the fence went around the castle.

“Fine,” I thought. “There must be a ticket booth here or something.” I searched for a gate, a booth, even a sign to indicate where I should go. I found nothing. So I just kept following the fence. Finally, I came to what looked like a guard post. There was a little booth for someone to stand in and an opening in the fence. It was clearly an entrance, though a small one. No one was in the booth. I looked around for someone to ask, but there was no one. “Maybe it’s a national holiday and entry is free,” I rationalized. I walked in.

In case you’re wondering, entry to Bran Castle is not free. If I had walked a little further I would have found the real entrance, a huge tourist affair with all the signs I could ask for. There are masses of kiosks as well, selling everything from t-shirts with a toothy “Someone in Transylvania Loves Me” to wooden mugs etched with the grim visage of Vlad the Impaler. Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Tepes in Romanian, was a medieval prince who resisted the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and meted out unspeakably cruel punishment to those who disagreed with him (I bet you can guess how). Vlad’s cruelty inspired Bram Stoker to use his surname Dracula, meaning “son of the dragon,” as the name of his famous vampire.

Vlad Tepes lived in Bran Castle during his “let’s raid Transylvania” phase, which may have inspired Stoker to use the castle as the home of his fictional Dracula. Wandering around the rooms, however, it was clear that good old Stoker had never actually seen the place. The castle is actually light and cheery with lots of windows and an open courtyard – not at all the gloomy labyrinth Stoker describes. It looks out on stunning views of the Romanian countryside. Now a museum, the castle is a fascinating and beautiful place to visit.

I confess, my trip backpacking around Romania was ghoulishly fun. I visited the town of Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, and ate paprika-dusted chicken in the restaurant that now occupies the house where he was born. I visited Sighisoara’s citadel and towers and small-but-interesting weapons museum. Whether you like to combine your student travel with an interest in history or you’re just happy to jump on the bandwagon of the current vampire craze, Romania is an exciting destination.