Day 25 - July 7th - Brasov (Bran Castle)

Day 25 – July 7^th – Brasov (Bran Castle)

We slept well in our lovely frescoed room at the Casa Albert, which is based in one of the original, historic buildings that have a narrow frontage on the ‘Strada Republicii’, the main cobbled street of the old town in Brasov. We were up and showered ready for the 8am breakfast in the magnificently restored cellar Bistro which lies beneath the Casa Albert. It resembles an ancient wine cellar which has been beautifully restored and furnished, with its ancient arches of bricks and deep stairs.

We planned to stroll through ‘Strada Republicii’ in a leisurely fashion for the remainder of the morning, and drive out to visit the famous Bran Castle (the ‘Dracula’ Castle) some 30k to the SE of Brasov at the foothills of the Transylvania Mountain range, at Bran Pass.

Many of the shops did not open until 11am, although we understood because they stay open until at least 11pm, such is the night life of the local population. We found a nice café with shaded table and chairs in the middle of the ‘Strada’ with excellent wi-fi, so were happy to sit and sip milkshakes while enjoying the warmth of the late morning (wi-fi at the Casa Albert is one of the few disappointing aspects).

The time came to negotiate the roads again in our tiny car. We had mastered the GPS this time, tapping into its capacity to mark out a route, thus managing to avoid the problem of the previous day with so many lanes and one way (wrong way) streets. In no time we were on our way to the village of Bran. The countryside was spectacular with its open fields and the massive mountains as a back-drop. It was quite a lovely scene.

Bran Castle is something like you might find in a Disney Cartoon or movie. Situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallacia, and has attracted the nickname ‘Dracula’s Castle’ ever since the famous novel by Bram Stoker “Dracula’. The notorious tyrant leader of Wallacia in the 15^th century, Vlad the Impaler, is likely to have been the inspiration for the novel, set in Transylvania, but who may have had little association with Bran Castle. However, it makes for great intrigue. The Castle has now the nickname ‘Dracula’s Castle’ and the association with Vlad the Impaler is stronger as a result.

The castle, built high on a rocky outcrop at the Bran Pass, has a history dating back to the early 13^th century, but the first documented history dates to 1377 when Louis 1 of Hungary gave the Saxons of Brasov the privilege to build the castle. It was used in defense against the Ottoman Empire in 15^th century, and sat strategically on the mountain pass between Transylvania and Wallacia.

The Castle became part of the Royal residence of the Kingdom of Romania in 1920, and a favourite for Queen Marie. Inherited by her daughter Princess Ileana, it operated as a hospital in WW2, but later seized by the Communist regime with the expulsion of the Royal family in 1948. However, with the overthrow of the Communist regime in 1989, the Romanian Government have set about to restore properties like this to their rightful owners.

In 2005, the castle was restored to Dominic Von Habsburg, son and heir of Princess Ileana. It was opened to the public as the first private museum in Romania in 2009 in order to maintain the economic base of the region. On 12 May 2014 it was reportedly placed on the open market by Archduke Dominic, after it was offered for sale to the Romanian Government for US$80million.

We thoroughly enjoyed exploring the castle, taking photos and enjoying the views of the mountainous setting of this beautiful piece of history. We enjoyed a stroll through the tiny Bran village, which busily sells all kinds of wares to the strong tourist trade that come to the see the Castle every day. We sat in a magnificent café with its Hungarian décor, including a fabulous stuffed brown bear which was very life-like! Gladly we didn’t meet any of them in the grounds of the Castle. Romania has the highest population of brown bears in the world. We felt entirely safe though because we have downloaded guidelines from the internet as to how to handle a brown bear in Romania if we are confronted by one in the wild! No worries.

We drove home to Brasov in the late afternoon, just in time to watch the final 100k of the 4^th day of the Tour de France. It is a pleasure watching the finish at a sensible 6pm rather than the 1:30am times in Australia! We enjoyed a light, late dinner at the Casa Albert Bistro in the beautiful courtyard, before taking a final evening stroll through the ‘Strada Republicii’ which by now was packed with locals out enjoying the warm evening.

Tomorrow we leave this beautiful, ancient city for yet another ancient treasure of Romania, Cluj-Napoca which is almost central to the country. From our beautifully frescoes room at the ancient setting of the Casa Albert, we send our love.

KRA