Halloween in Transylvania

When thinking of Halloween many people think about Vampires, Dracula, Transylvania.

While Transylvania can be as spooky without any Halloween celebration, the mystery of Halloween enriches the experience. Before continuing I have to mention that all the points presented here are just some ideas and you should be accompanied by locals, or at least play common sense, take caution for wild animals and badly intended people, as well as other hazards, like for example fast-driving people on narrow roads.

The top places to visit in Tranylvania for Halloween would be:

1. Bran Castle. This article tells more about Bran Castle
2. Râşnov Fortified citadel - visit it by day, as a walk from the parking to the stronghold during the night is subject to encounters with bears, and this can be more than scary.
3. Sighişoara, birth place of Vlad Dracula. You can walk through the medieval town but also go up to the church on the hill as the night falls. The German cemetery is open only during the day, pay respect when visiting it.
4. any small villages, visited by night. Go for example to Feldioara and walk up to the ruins of the fortification, but also visit the church and the cemetery.
5. Take/rent a bike and ride on a local road connecting two small villages, by the sunset. Wild animals are still plenty in Transylvania, so I would always suggest being accompanied by a support car.
6. Visit any Gypsy village close to the towns, this can be more spooky that you are looking for.
7. Go to the cheapest possible pub in Braşov, Mediaş or other town and try to resist there for more than one hour :)
8. Go to Sibiu and take a walk on the narrow streets around the historic center be amazed by your own shadow projected by old lamps on the walls of medieval houses and try to distinguish voices in the wind.

Romanian tour-operators offer tours that can take you to all this places, but I would suggest NOT buying a "Halloween Tour", as this can indulge quite a strong feeling of "fake", "made for tourists". I would instead go to a company offering custom made tours and ask them for a tour around Transylvania and maybe other parts of Romania, with a bias towards spooky things. I would recommend Outdoor Holidays for the experience they have with Transylvania as well as for the fact that they do offer many custom made tours and can customize existing tours.

Transylvania - The Vampire

Here is a short artistic movie: the story of a vampire. A young soldier executed by Vlad Dracula in Făgăraş, after being accused of pillage and rape, swears revenge. So he comes back from time to time under the form of a young kid.

Bran Castle - the myth of Dracula's Castle

I just found this short presentation of Bran Castle, together with it's history as well as (lack of) connections with Dracula or the Bram Stoker's novel. I don't agree at all with the introduction saying "this is one of the very few tourists attractions in Transylvania". No shit ! Transylvania has an unbelievably rich medieval history, with fortified citadels in almost each village (some of them being really well preserved, a gorgeous natural landscape (and I'm not thinking only about Făgăraş Mountains - also called "The Transylvanian Alps" but also to sub-Carpathian hills, to Apuseni (the western mountains and), to medieval towns like Sighişoara or Sibiu. Is true that Bran Castle is maybe the most famous of the attractions, but all are interesting attractions and tourists do go there every year.

I'll still present the movie 'cause some the information about the castle is useful:



Other posts about Dracula Castle

Later edit: two mistakes in only two seconds, that's a good candidate for a record: The sequence at 1:36 - 1:42 is shot in Bucegi Mountains.
If you look closely, the movie says "Transylvania, 1746", but they are riding the horses on the Bucegi Plateau, (at about 2000 m.a.s.l) towards south or south-east, probably somewhere above Valea Coştilei (Coştila Valley). So that's in Wallachia. (OK, close to Transylvania, but still Wallachia).
More than that, even more funny is that you can see the Caraiman Cross at 1:34 - 1:35. However the Cross was erected in 1926-1928 to honor and celebrate the memory of soldiers that died in WW 1. So ..."only" 180 years later than "1746". And no Transylvania :)

Vlad Dracula. Origins of the Legend

Romania Countryside. Fear of the undead is still very powerful. For example the horses have a red tassel to protect them from deochi (the evil eye).
Romanians folk myths (very powerful among villagers) are presented. If you walk by night you have to take care not to meet the devil. We know that Bram Stoker has studied this myths.

Let's see in this documentary if Romania's death-related traditions might have represented the spring of inspiration for Stoker's novel, "Dracula". We see how people deals with the present of the undead (strigoi).

Vlad Dracula was definitely not a strigoi. He was seen like a hero, not as a vampire, as Stoker's novel presents him.

Transylvania History

the last part of the documentary about Transylvania continues with the storyof Dr. Honigberger, then presents Braşov City, with it's 800 years old history. A typical village, in the middle of Transylvania, is then presented. (I'm almost sure the village is Buneşti, near Viscri).

I ends with a very nice lessons about history, self-knowledge, and the beauty of life. we need to thank Victor Rebengiuc for this documentary made in cooperation with Kmigths of Mediaş order

Transylanian History

This is the fourth part of the documentary about Tranyslvania. This part speaks about the saxon collonial population, the reason why they left Saxonia and arrived in the eastern part of austro-hungarian Empire. Also while admiring images from Sighişoara, we learn about the way the small town was ruled, the town's defending walls and towers. The tournament is presented as a game of love, as having the motivation in showing the beloved girl what the man is able to do in order to protect his worhiped lover. The apparition of the numerous fortified churches is also explained. Each village fortified the church and even build arond strong defensive fortifications. Even Mattheus Corvin, son of John Huniady, helped the villagers build the fortifications, by temporary cutting the taxes and not asking them to contribute to the king's army. The defending methods are all concentrated around the citadel (example the fortification of Apold). More concentric walls have been built, so if the enemy would succed overpass the first wall it'll be much more difficult to pass the others. When a peril were announced, villagers were brought the assets and cattle inside the fortress, the entrance bridge was closed and the warriors were going to the surveing positions.
Biertan fortified citadel, the most famous of all of them, is also presented, as well as Harman, Câlnic, Sebeş, each of them helping understand the life of the inhabitants and the military defending systems.

Transylvania Documentary Movie

Here is the second part of the documentary about Transylvania
starts with the presentation of the cemetery of Sighişoara, in the heart of Transylvania, "unknown , but full of magic, mystery and superstitions".

A brief presentation of Bram Stoker's novel follows. Even if the inhabitants did not hear about Dracula the vampire, the vampires are well-known here in Transylvania. They area said to bring a lot of harm: after killing them own relatives, they call the other vilagers from the bell-tower of the church, so the villagers die suddenly. Very interesting is the comparison of vampire's killing with a steak thru it's hears, the same way St. George killed the dragon with a spear. Interesting because, indeed, in Transylvania I also noticed a lot of representations of this fight, cuminating with the 1373 bronze-cast statue, representation of the endless confrontation between Good and Evil, dragons, Lucifer's warriors, oposing God's Angels

While is true the merchants spread the legends about Vlad Dracula, is supposed that Matthias Corvinus contributed actively to this, in order to explain Pope why he didn't support Dracula in his fight against the Turks. Although in Rome and Venice Vlad Ţepeş was considered a hero of Christianity (due to his victories against the Ottoman Empire) the stories begun to "catch some roots", people start to believe this histories and exagerations.

This part of the documentary ends with a panoramic view of Sighişoara.


The first part is here

In Transylvania, on the tracks of Dracula

Well, I found this very nice documentary about Transylvania made by Kogaion Film and a romanian director, Pascal Ilie Virgil. Bran Castle is presented as well as his lack of connections with Stoker's story. Than we focus our attention on the town of Bistriţa, in the North.
One can also admire images from Fagaras Castle, (seconds 50 - 65), Sighişoara (Vlad Dracula's birth place), Braşov City (Dracula lived here between his first and his second reign) with the old council square and the Black Church.
Also images from the place of Poienari Castle - the Real Dracula Castle.

Vlad the Impaler on Discovery Channel

The last part of the documentary presented by Discovery on the history of Vlad the Impaler. Vlad's retreat in Transylvania, his last reign and his death near Bucharest are briefly presented:



Also watch the first and the second part of the documentary .

Dracula joke

Dracula joke

Besides the numerous movies (I read somewhere that there are about 300 movies inspired by Dracula), the books and the songs, there are also some jokes about Dracula and the vampires.
Is true that these jokes are confusing people associating the vampires with the myth of Dracula, however I'm going to relate one that I heard yesterday evening on Italian Television RAI 1.

"Somewhere in Transylvania there was a castle (my comment: this is also confusing people: while Vlad the Impaler was born in Sighisoara, Transylvania) he lead Wallachia, died there and was buried also in Wallachia).
On a windy night the castle doors where moving and the thumbs begun to shake. Dracula and two vampires exit and need to eat some blood. They are afraid to go out in the storm, however Dracula get some courage and dears to exit the castle.

After a while he comes back to the others with some blood in the corner of his mouth. The others are excited about him being so brave, such a good hunter and ask him how he managed to get some blood.
- You see that tower up-there? , he says
- Yes, we see it, was it there that you found the victim?
- No, no, is that tower that I head so hard, while looking elsewhere.....

Dracula is given his throne back

In 1476 Dracula is given his throne back, after the Hungarian king finds out that the letter sent to him many years ago was a fake. Vlad has to marry his daughter, a roman-catholic. Like that he will have money from the Pope. He accepts and goes back to Wallachia. He finds out that his brother Radu (that remained in history under the name Radu the Handsome. He give the noblemen the privileges back and made Aron (Dracula's father-in-low and betrayer) the chief advisor. After many years of absence he finally gets to see his son, Vlad, and give him his ring, the ring that belonged to Vlad Dracul. He gets excommunicated by the Orthodox Church. He did not renounce Catholicism, as this would mean missing support of the Pope and the Hungarian King.

Vlad III finds out from father Stefan where his brother Radu is, he goes there to meet him and they start fighting.

Vlad the Impaler in Battle Against the Turks

Part 5 of "The Dark Prince" (The true story of Vlad the Impaler) presents one of the first battles of Vlad agianst the turks, but also his meeting with his younger brother Radu, that betraded his country to ally the Turks.

Also scenes of the normal city-life of medieval towns (is seemst o be shot in Sighisoaa, in the middle of Transylvania, not in Târgoviste, the capital of Wallachia, but let's consider this just a small detail). His wife Lidia is horrified by his attrocities, meantime she seems to understand that's the only way the country could be led.

The True Story of Vlad Dracula

The Dark Prince: the true story of Vlad Dracula (part 3):

Vlad marry the beautiful Lidia, daughter of a nobleman, just when she was about to go to a convent.
He obtain from Hunyadi the Wallachian Throne. On his return he is shocked by the poverty people lives in, by the unfair treatment they have from the boyars (unguilty people being beaten in the public square, just for ...not being rich enough).
He decides to change the things, even by risking his life! After killing the ruling prince, Vladislav (called Karl in the movie, I don't know why) Vlad claims the throne of Wallachia. People is happy about it, he promises justice and freedom for all

Dark Prince The True Story of Dracula

The short sequence below is the movie closest to the historic truth about Dracula. There are some doubts, like the Gothic church where he has to face the heads of the Orthodox church (it is presented like a church in the middle of the lake and the same church of that type is the one in the middle of Snagov Lake, an orthodox one, of course !




here is Part 2 of the movie

Romania - not only Dracula

Seems to be some problems with Blogger, I lost all this post after writing it (and it was a so nice one....:( )

Anyway I waas presenting the video clip below? As I said, I intend to present not only Dracula but also the places where he lived, as they were in the middle age, as they are today.

the video presents :
- a fortified church in Transylvania;
- an image from Sapanta Merry Cemetery in Maramures;
- Palace of Culture in Iasi,
- Silva Hotel in Busteni resort, at the foothills of Carpathian Mountains;
- People's House, second largest building in the World, resutl of Ceausescu's megalomany;
- the cazino in Constanta;
- another image from the Carpathians;
- a traditional Romanian house;
- The Orthodox Cathedral in Cluj-Napoca
- ...
- a traditional village image (might be from the museum of traditional civilization in Sibiu;
- Peles Castle in Sinaia, former residence of Romania's Royal Family;
- a modern statue...I can't recall the city;
- Paragliding in Romania, maybe at Bunloc;
- an overview of Brasov City
- two images from a traditional festival in Transylvania;
- the high tower of a church;
- a beach at Black Sea;
- the Black Church in Brasov, sheltering the biggest organon in central ans Eastern Europe;
- another image of Peles Castle;
- a realxing landscape on the pre-Carpathian Hills - the moutnain behind seems to be Piatra Craiului, so the image is taken from the village of Sirnea or Fundata, near Bran Caslte;
- an image from Bucharest, once called the Little Paris;
- another picture with the Carpathian Mountains...
- ...and another one of Peles Castle;
- an image of Bicaz Lake
- and one with a mountain river;
- an image from a Transylvanian town, almost surely from Sibiu;



RO! "Not Only Dracula!" - Amazing videos are here

Bran Castle on Italian Television

This morning, the Italian Television RAI 1 aired a short documentary (about 5 minutes) presenting the history and the actual status of Bran Castle.

They mentioned it has been built in 1300 (in fact the "official" year is 1377), that it belonged to Dracula in 15th century, than to Queen Mary of Romania (not mentioning it was a gift of the Brasov Local Council), being transformed into museum by the comunists.


Now, Dominic of Habsburg manageg to have the castle given to him (as he eredits Qeen Mary and the royal family) and wants to sell it for an amount of 60 - 100 m. USD.

The Real Life of Vlad The Impaler – Dracula

Life of Vlad The Impaler Dracula - the Childhood



By most probabilities, Vlad was born in Sighisoara, in the year 1431, presumably November or December. As explained in this post describing briefly Vlad Dracul’s life, 1431 is very probable the year of his birth. And as his father Vlad II (Dracul) was in Sighisoara by that time, running one of the state’s mints, is very probably that he was born in Sighisoara in the house still standing today near the clock tower (you can see it in this picture that I took in march 2004 in Sighisoara).

There is no much information about the childhood of Vlad III but we know how young princes were educated at that time. There was a “preceptor”, usually an important boyar to take care of them education. This one was searching for them masters of arms, equitation, etc. In the Germanic world as Sighisoara was in the 15th century there was an emphasis put on “the seven skills”: equitation, swimming, using arms, the arch, fighting, the court life and the tournament. We can easily suppose that Vlad Dracul, after receiving this kind of education himself at Sigismund’s Court wanted his sons to be educated in the same manner.
Doubtless equitation was the main activity, as the horse was the universal transport modality, as well as the close friend of the warriors. Learning horse riding at the Wallach court was going in parallel with the fights on-horse, or the “harta” – term used then for the hunting parties.

About theoretical skills we can suppose that Vlad didn’t know writing at most he was able to read. That’s because we don’t have letters written by him, neither signatures nor any other proofs. Slavonic was the language used for writing at that time in Romanian countries. However, official correspondence with Saxon towns in Transylvania was sometimes done in Latin Language. We don’t know if Vlad was in knowledge of this language, however we knew he was speaking Turkish after his stay by the Ottoman court.

In 1436 Vlad Dracul took the throne of Wallachia and his children went along with him in Târgoviste. Here the boys get in contact with what princely court life means. He gets in touch with the Princely Court’s ceremonial, with all the political intrigues of the boyars, become conscious of the fragility of the Wallachia’s Throne and of the Wallachia as a state itself, facing Hungary and The Ottoman Empire. Both Mircea (first son of Vlad Dracul) and Vlad seems to have been strongly influenced by the record of Mircea the Elder, them grandfather, although they haven’t seen him alive.

The teenage of Vlad is presented in this post.

Dracula FAQ

Dracula and Transylvania FAQ

Working and traveling thru Europe it happened to me to be asked different things about Count Dracula. Sometimes just heard about the movie or saw it, other times they have heard about Transylvania or the vampires.

So here we have the most frequent asked questions about Dracula:

1. By far on the first place there is the question asking if Dracula really existed.

Answer: it depends if we are talking about the warlord that inspired Bram Stoker for its novel, yes it exists. His name was Vlad III Dracula and he lived in the XV-th century in Transylvania and Wallachia.

If we are thinking about a supposed vampire as he appears in the novel, no, there has been no vampire with this name, at least as far as I know.


2. Are there vampires in Transylvania? (yes, I have been asked even that)

Answer: No, there are no vampires, neither ghosts there.

3. Few days ago (February 2007) I have been asked if is true there are a lot of castles in Transylvania.

Answer (exactly the answer I gave to my colleague in Milan): Yes, absolutely. In order to explain a little I have to talk briefly about the history of Transylvania. As you probably know it has been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for centuries. In the 13th century the emperor brought the Saxon population at the south-eastern border and gave them some lands in order to defend the empire. As the middle age in Transylvania was all but not a calm period, they had to build fortifications in order to defend themselves. The most of the Castles date from the 13th – 14th and 15th century. Bran Castle as well as Râsnov are such examples of middle-age castles.


4. This is from two nice Americans I guided through Romania two years in a row: we were really in Sighisoara when they asked me how is Vlad seen in Romania: as a bloody criminal or as a hero.

Answer: he’s rather seen as a hero, because he managed to defend the independency of Wallachia against the Turks.

Dracula, My Love (Eurovision 2007)

A video clip that divided the Romanian music world.
After passing the accusation of plagiarism, the melody has been disqualified because some sequences of it has been shown on TV prior to the competition.
Besides the fact that Transylvania is mentioned in the chorus (growing the confusion around the myth of Dracula - as mentioned earlier in my posts Wallachia would much more deserve to be associated with Vlad Tepes) I don't really like the melody, neither the clip.

However, here it is:



Waiting for you opinions !

Bram Stoker's Dracula (by F.F. Copola)

Dracula was made famous by the first movie done about him, and since the first one most of the movies on the subject became famous. F.F. Copola's movie (Bram Stoker's Dracula) seems to be very appreciated. In this scene one can clearly see the letter sent by Mina (Winona Ryder) to Dracula (Gary Oldman) saying:
"My dearest Prince,
forgive me. I have received word from my fiance in Romania. I am en route to join him. We are to be married, I will never see you again. Mina".

So is really clear that Dracula is presented as a sensible person, and in fact, even in Romanian history Vlad Tepes is neither white or black, is just a complex personality of the middle-age.



What surprises me about the movie is that, while the name of Transylvania is mentioned a few times (and the name of Romania also), Wallachia (where Vlad III ruled) is never mentioned. However, just for the sake of the historic truth, speaking about Romania in XV century is at least odd (if we keep in mind that Romania as a state appeared in 1859 - 24th of January).