Bran Castle – Romania

Officially called Bran Castle, and definitely not Draculas Castle.

Bram Stoker’s character, Dracula, is a Transylvanian Count with a castle located high above a valley perched on a rock with a flowing river below in the Principality of Transylvania. This character is often confused with Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), sometimes known as Vlad Dracul, who was a Walachian Prince with a castle, now in ruins, located in the Principality of Wallachia. Because Bran Castle is the only castle in all of Transylvania that actually fits Bram Stoker’s description of Dracula’s Castle, it is known throughout the world as Dracula’s Castle. In fact Bram Stoker never visited Romania. He depicted the imaginary Dracula’s castle based upon a description of Bran Castle that was available to him in turn-of-the-century Britain.

Have a look at their website! They have a wonderful movie of the castle to show you where it is situated and how big it is. And the above information is from that website!

Bran Castle

If you read the info from the first photo you will get the history of the castle. It was built in the 13th century!

The history of the Castle
The history of the Castle
Looking up at the Castle
Looking up at the Castle
Our tour group and some extras going up the stairs into the Castle
Our tour group and some extras going up the stairs into the Castle
Judy going up the steps! It is actually quite high!
Judy going up the steps! It is actually quite high!
Inside the Castle in one of the many rooms
Inside the Castle in one of the many rooms
The amazing furniture
The amazing furniture
One of the bedrooms
One of the bedrooms
Another room with the dark wood floors
Another room with the dark wood floors
The heating system!
The heating system!
The dining room
The dining room
The roof from the balcony with me posing :-)
The roof from the balcony with me posing 🙂
Look how far away the road is! Shows how high the Castle is :-)
Look how far away the road is! Shows how high the Castle is 🙂
The windows on the balcony
The windows on the balcony
Looking over the roof to the distance
Looking over the roof to the distance
Walking along the balconies in the inner courtyard area
Walking along the balconies in the inner courtyard area
Looking up at the inner walls
Looking up at the inner walls
Robin in the Armour room
Robin in the Armour room
Some of the tour group down in the inner courtyard
Some of the tour group down in the inner courtyard
Looking back up at the balconies
Looking back up at the balconies
Len going up the secret staircase
Len going up the secret staircase
Spiral stairs out of the house
Spiral stairs out of the house
Showing how high the outside wall is!
Showing how high the outside wall is!

It was surprising just how many people were actually visiting the Castle. I think there was probably about four tour groups, plus individuals visiting. We all meandered through the little passages inside the Castle, and had a look inside each room. Then it was out onto the balcony and walking around to the stairs to the inner courtyard and then out again. The pressure was on to get through as fast as possible! I was kind of disappointed. I guess I had imagined the Castle would be a lot more spooky and maybe with cobwebs and bats everywhere. I also thought I would see people dressed up as Dracula running around the place. It was actually quite normal! Nothing like the movies giving me a false impression huh! There were some markets in the area at the bottom of the castle and they did have Dracula paraphernalia for sale, amongst some other touristy stuff.

This man was walking around the market
This man was walking around the market with a couple of animals used for entertainment!

So for those of you who are planning a trip to Romania, especially to visit Draculas Castle, and have thoughts that it’s going to be a real Dracula experience, it won’t be! But it is a very interesting Castle and well worth a look through 🙂

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