Bran and Dracula's Castle: A Visit to Romania's Tourist Hotspot

I love fortifications that are ideally suited for their geographic location. I live in Istanbul, which is one of the most obviously defensible strong points in the Eastern Mediterranean. I visited Visegrad in Hungary, whose citadel towers over the Danube at a critical bend where it protects the approaches to Budapest and Vienna. Bran Castle is another well situated outpost.

Bran Pass is a winding and picturesque break in the Carpathians through which the armies of Transylvania could travel lightning quick and catch any invading army of guard on the plains of Walachia to the south. Vlad Dracula used the pass this way. As ruler of Walachia, Vlad would hole his armies up in the Carpathians and strike with terrifying ferocity, leaving the wounded and captured of his enemies impaled on pikes as a warning to future invaders. Vlad was one of the few men that the Turks actually feared. According to legend, Mehmed the Conqueror, leading his troops into Walachia to fight Vlad Tepes, encountered a forest of Vlad's impaled victims and turned back to Constantinople in disgust, leaving command of the army to his subordinates.

Bran Castle is commonly referred to as "Dracula's Castle" though there is no evidence that he actually lived there. The castle was constructed in the 13^th century by the Teutonic Knights in nearby Brasov. The German influence on its architecture is obvious as it lacks the pointed spires or onion domes of most eastern buildings. There are two connections between Vlad Tepes and Bran Castle. Firstly it seems that Prince Vlad was briefly imprisoned in the castle after he was finally captured by the Ottomans. Secondly, Bram Stoker, is believed to have been inspired by Bran Castle as the model for the castle of Count Dracula. The locals care little about whether or not the real Dracula lived in Bran Castle-they sell a menagerie of t-shirts, thimbles, plates and assorted sundry souvenirs to the visitors of Romania's most famous landmark.