Facing Dracula's Castle
A spontaneous trip to Romania leaves me on Count Dracula's doorstep
I’m not entirely sure how I ended up in Romania. But since I was there, I was stoked to see Dracula’s Castle.
Dracula. The most famous vampire who paved the way for others. He was around when vampires were misunderstood and not yet hot. He paid for it with his life.
Bram Stoker. The author of “Dracula.” He really could have been more empathetic to Dracula’s plight. One, Dracula is immortal. That’s an incredibly isolating fate. Two, Dracula needs the blood of others to survive. He can’t help being who he is. Perhaps if the villagers had been more understanding, they could have organized blood drives for Count Dracula. But no. Instead, they feared him, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Did they learn nothing from Frankenstein?
“Don’t Be Disappointed”
These are just the words you want to hear from your tour guide.
I ignored him.
I’d been religiously keeping my hopes low for years. It all started after reading The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis in which I came across the following life-changing sentence:
"If you do not get what you want, what you ought to expect is that you will be disappointed. So don’t expect anything, and you’ll never be disappointed."
Fast forward many years, I’d realize that, although there is some truth to that sentiment, getting excited for things is a crucial part of happiness. So. I cast the tour guide’s advice aside. I was excited, and I wasn’t going to let him stop me.
The Castle’s Claim
What claim does Bran Castle have over Dracula?
Bram Stoker loosely based Count Dracula on Vlad the Impaler, also known as Vlad Dracula. Vlad ruled and resided in Wallachia (Southern Romania). The ruins of his castle (Poenari Castle) still stand today, but they do not claim to be Dracula’s castle.
Dracula translates to dragon in medieval Romanian but devil in modern Romanian.
Instead, Bran Castle is considered to be Dracula’s as it fits Stoker’s description. It resides in Transylvania (Northern Romania) within the Carpathian Mountains. Furthermore, the castle’s facade bears a similar resemblance to the one Stoker describes.
The Castle
The outside is indeed imposing. However, since it sits on a cliff, only the back was visible to me.
I didn’t see what the front looked like until I bought a postcard.
The inside was quite homey. The castle was gifted to Queen Marie by the Romanian people. Bran Castle became her fixer-upper. She would have slayed HGTV. She decorated with a distinct, timeless style that became the “Queen Marie” style. Iconic.
Marie Alexandra Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1875-1938). The queen who united Romania. The soldier queen who joined the allies and risked her life to fight in the trenches. “There is only one man in Romania, and that’s the Queen,” -the French press correspondents, 1917
Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad von Hohenzollern (1865-1927). King Ferdinand I was married to Queen Marie. Also known as “The Unifier,” he was the first king of the Romanians after the Great Union in 1918. Despite being a descendant of the German imperial family, Ferdinand I put his adopted country before blood when Romania joined the allies in WWI. A shy, learned man, he was fluent in Latin, German, Romanian, English, French and Russian.
Until next castle.
xoxo Laura-Anne
Cool! It must've been tough to be a vampire when they were misunderstood and not yet hot!!
Laura ,
Thank you for recommending the substack of Cameron Barnes . Her comments regarding the documentary about the missing Madonna of ????? , was quite the delight . Don't know if you have read Virginia Woolf's "Jacob's Room" but the sense I had reading the novel (twice , maybe thrice) is quite similar to her description of the documentary . And , as well , it is great good fun reading about you having great good fun .
Best
James