Romanian Castles

Hunting Lodge

Ok, so you guys were promised some stories and pictures that don’t involve restaurants, so let’s go take a tour! But a restaurant will be involved; I guess that’s my M.O.

Saturday, we headed for the mountains north of Poiesti. We were told it was maybe maybe 1 ½ hours to drive. All things considered, this is pretty good, so at 09:00 Am, we headed out. There were 10 of us in a big 20 person van so we all had our own seat and good views out the windows.  The Highway out of town is lined with Sunflower fields, so we all enjoyed those.

Sitting on Side of Highway

About 45 minutes out, we pulled over because the engine was over heating and I’m thinking “This is not a good omen.” But we sat for maybe 5 minutes and turned off the A/C and headed out again. Another 10 minutes and we were at the Romanian Wildlife Museum. It turns out this is really just the Museum of all of Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu’s hunting expeditions. Believe me when I say he certainly spent more time hunting than dictator-ing. Hundreds of skulls and skin rugs from every imaginable animal from all over the world. A nice stop and the building was pretty cool old Romanian Architecture and it gave the van’s engine a chance to cool off (and our grumpy driver, too).

1300 Lb Bear

After an hour or so here, we headed on to our next stop. We wound through the mountains and down a zig-zag road that would have made Highway 76 between the South Carolina state line and Blairsville, Georgia look like a flat desert road! We cruised through some small Romanian towns, saw some pretty cool mountain views and eventually arrived at the Rosnav Castle.



Castle Rasnov



The Valley of Rasnov

The Rosnav Castle is an early 13th century citadel style castle built by the Teutonic Knights (a branch of the Knights Templar as best I can determine). We walk up a relatively steep cobblestone road maybe a half mile in length to arrive at the base of the castle. I’m glad I was dressed for walking and sweating. The humidity was killer! But then we see the castle from the front. Its half fallen down and has had limited reconstruction efforts which only made it all the more attractive to me. I mean, think about it. You go visit some castle that is in perfect condition and that only means the original owners surrendered when the enemy arrived. Those cowards just gave up to save hide and home. But when you visit a castle that has obviously been in battle; then you know those brave souls fought to the bitter end and are worthy of remembrance in both song and tale. The castle is beautiful. Built from rock and stone and earth and it has the most spectacular view from the top looking across the valley over the town of Rasnov. It has a very large well that, based on dropping a rock into it and timing until we heard water splash (5 seconds), it’s about 160 feet deep and still active.

Of course there are plenty of souvenir shops and kids activities and the workers dressed in period regalia, but it’s the view that sets this place off. Stunning.

As we look across the valley and back towards the mountains, we can a rain front moving in, so we leave and walk back down the road figuring we should get some lunch before heading to the next stop.



Rain on the Mountain During Lunch



Nilesh Wasn't Afraid Of The Rain

We arrive at the restaurant in the town of Bran which is a vacation resort type place. The Villa Bran it is called. Another beautiful place. We have to walk up a winding stairway path maybe 500 yards to the top of the hill where the restaurant is located. As we pile out of the van, it begins to sprinkle. As we get half way up, it begins to pour and somebody found trash bags to give us to hold over our heads. As we arrived at the top, we are engulfed in Hurricane Katrina. Completely drenched head to toe. I admit I began the day in “Tourist Mode” so I am just loving this adventure. Some in our group; maybe not so much. But I also know I am dressed for the outdoors and knew I would be dry in 30 minutes. Lunch was good, the beer was cold, the staff very nice and helpful and our planned 1 hour lunch turned into a 3 ½ hour lunch while waiting out the rain. Eventually, the rain stopped and we walked back down and headed to the next castle arriving there at 05:00.

And the rain started again. But this is Castle Bran (pronounced Brahn). This is the castle where several former kings and queens vacationed and because of its proximity to Transylvania and the history of Vlad the Impaler so it has been designated “Dracula’s Castle” so no rain is gonna stop us! Actually some in our group stayed on the van (party poopers, they are).

The castle was also built in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights but has been maintained over the centuries. As we approached the front door, I couldn’t resist knocking the large door knockers before entering (OK, Marty – start with the Young Frankenstein movie jokes) and the tour guide inside gave me an ominous scowl. Ooops.



The Secret Stairs



The castle itself has all the standard castle rooms and furnishings and is truly a maze of hallways and stairs and nooks and crannies of all shapes and sizes. It even has the “Secret Stairway” which we walk up and I had to walk sideways to fit my shoulders through.



There is, of course, the room with all the history and supposed connections of Vlad the Impaler to Dracula – but it really reads like a stretch of imagination to connect those two guys. In fact, the only coffins and bats we saw were on T-Shirts in the village souvenir shops.  But it works for the tourism board.

The tour path guides you inside and outside where it is still raining while dusk begins to settle, so the whole Dracula thing works pretty well. They did have on display some sort of torture seat, but the room was roped off so we could not enter and read the descriptive sign, so I just reached across the rope for my picture, so I don’t know much about it.



Suits of Armour - Required Castle Attire

 After the tour we wandered through some village souvenir shops (maybe I bought something?) and reloaded the van for the ride home.

As we were snaking our way back up the mountain road, I notice the battery light begins to flash on the van and could only hope that we make it back to our house without getting stuck, but other than that and a short 15 minute traffic jam due to some car accident, we did arrive safely back home around 09:00 PM.






Unmarked Grave?



We didn't know what this cross (gravemarker?) was for at the base of the castle below the parapets hundreds of feet above, so we began to script our own tale of the castle Princess who was rejected by her lover for serving stale borscht or something and in a severe case of unrequited love threw herself off the highest parpet above - and this is where she landed; forever marked by this one marker.  Her name long lost in the annals of ancient yore.












We had castles, van problems and grumpy drivers, hunting museums, soaking rain and wet clothes.

A Great Day!  I love these kind of Adventures!!

Here are more pictures - don't forget you can click to enlarge on any photo and see all of them

Sunflowers Along the Highway



Mountain View Along Highway



Small Village Along the Way



Small Village Winding Streets



Inside Castle Rasnov



See? Not All Pictures Are With Cute Girls!



Castle "Streets"

Exiting the "Secret Stairs"

Castle Bran Courtyard

Castle Bran Library Room




Castle Bran From "The Backyard"

Castle Front Door. 
"What Knockers!" "Why, Thank You"