Europe - Roaming around Romania
Romania is the 12th largest country in Europe and the 6th most populous member state of the EU. It’s east of Hungary with one border along the Danube River and they are lucky enough to have a coastline on the Black Sea.
The landscape is 1/3rd mountains, 1/3rd forested, with the remainder made up of hills and plains. The country enjoys natural resources with fertile land for agriculture; pastures for livestock; forests that provide hard and soft woods; petroleum reserves; metals, including gold and silver while numerous rivers supply hydroelectricity. its also a significant manufacturer of automobiles
Romania derives its name from Rome as the people regard themselves as the descendants of the ancient Romans who conquered southern Transylvania under Emperor Trajan in 105CE and the Dacians who lived in the mountains north of the Danube Plains and in the Transylvanian Basin. By the time Romans withdrew under Emperor Aurelian in 271, Roman settlers and Dacians had intermarried, resulting in a new nation.
Today’s culture is a result of the Latin roots of the Romanian language and the Eastern Orthodox faith to which most Romanians belong.
We spent a day on a tour to Transylvania - the home of Dracula - at least this is where author Bram Stoker, created his fictional character, Vlad the Impaler, actually based on a real historical figure of the same name. More on Vlad later.
Once out of the grid locked city centre we drove through flat fields of corn, rapeseed and wheat before winding our way into the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains - 60% of which are located in Romania - a subsystem of the bigger Alps-Himalayan System that stretch from western Europe all the way to southern Asia.
The thick forests are home to many jackals, lynx, wolves, European bison and around 8,000 bears. We were not expecting to see any wildlife, but at one point all our mobile phones sounded a warning of a bear sighting in the area.
We stopped at Peles Castle, the summer house of King Carol I. He was the first King of Romania - on the throne from 1866-1914. He was a good king - with this motto:
Nothing for the king. Everything for the people.
Peles therefore was always open to the public. A shame we don’t have a few rulers like him around today!
King Carol hailed from Germany and sold property there to build Peles from private funds in 1873, engaging German architect Johannes Schultz, to create a grand palatial alpine castle combining different features of classic European styles, mostly following Italian elegance and German aesthetics along Renaissance lines.
Timber from the surrounding forests was used to line the 160 rooms and 30 bathrooms, as well as the massive timber chests, tables and other furniture. It’s hard to comprehend how many trees were felled. The main sitting room dazzles with chandeliers from Murano, marble from Carrara. The King’s hobby was collecting armoury - one room filled with his impressive collection.
Due to the electrical plant in the Peles Valley, Peles Castle was the first European castle entirely lit by electrical current. The palace was equipped with everything from a movie theatre to a concert hall. The first movie projection in Romania actually took place at Peles.
Very different from Ludwig’s opulent glitzy hunting lodge we visited in Austria, impressive nonetheless.
We then travelled to the icon of Romanian castles, perched atop a 200-foot-high cliff, surrounded by mystery and legend: Bran Castle which owes its fame to its imposing towers and turrets as well as to the myth created around Bram Stocker's Dracula.
Situated in one of the most picturesque areas in Europe, the fortress was built in the 14th century, with a history spanning six centuries. Strategically located in the Bran-Rucar Gorge, an important passage through the Carpathian Mountains, the fortress was at the crossroads of trade routes and served as an integral starting spot for military invasions.
We climbed up, down and through narrow claustrophobic winding stairways to the 57 timbered rooms, some connected by secret passages, which house collections of furniture, weapons and armour dating from the 14th to the 19th centuries.
Bran Castle’s interior was refurbished and decorated by Queen Marie, the last queen consort of Romania and granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She made the castle her royal residence after the city of Brasov (located close by) gifted it to her in 1920, in recognition of the royal’s support for the union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania. Later, during WWII, her daughter, Princess Ileana, ran a hospital inside its walls.
In 1897 the Irish writer Bram Stoker gave the world an imaginary character that even today fascinates audiences from all over the world: Dracula - an immortal Transylvanian count thirsty for innocent blood.
The legend created by Stoker is based on the 15th century Wallachian Prince Vlad Tepes who was famous at the time for his severe punishment and cruelty to law breakers. His preferred method of killing his enemies was to impale them - a slow and torturous death, earning him the title of Vlad the Impaler!
Vlad’s bloody reputation, his death and the belief in supernatural beings such as the living dead, mentioned in Romanian folklore, became Dracula - a mixture of historical fact and fiction. Bran Castle described in literature as a great fortress, difficult to conquer, located in a mysterious place in the midst of the Carpathian Mountains - the ideal framework for Stoker’s novel.
With its Gothic spires and stone walls, the exterior of Bran Castle matches the image most of us have of a fairytale castle. The interiors though match its original purpose - that of a fortress so I was most surprised both Queen Marie and Princess Ileana, loved living in this austere place. Especially as it’s tagged as the home of Dracula and these days tailored tours are conducted at night, which no doubt are designed to scare the living daylights out of you!
Our guide for the day was Vlad - thankfully he had no intention of impaling anyone! He provided lots of good information and was very helpful.
A final delight before getting back to the city was visiting the picturesque town of Brasov which will be featured tomorrow.