Visiting Dracula's Castle (Bran Castle) in Transylvania, Romania

With howling winds we ascended the many steps leading up to the infamous Bran Castle. The castle associated with Bram Stoker's Dracula Castle is a national landmark and monument in Transylvania, Romania (Romanian: Castelul Bran; Hungarian: Törcsvár; German: Törzburg). We found the experience fascinating as most areas of the castle were open for tourists to explore including some dimly lit staircases. After checking out the castle we headed back down to briefly check out a market selling all kinds of trinkets and restaurant featuring hearty Romanian cuisine. Overall, if you're based in Brasov this makes for a fantastic 'spooky' day trip ;)
Visiting Dracula's Castle (Bran Castle) in Transylvania, Romania Travel Video Transcript:
So at last the destination we've been waiting for. We have arrived in Bran to visit Bran Castle which may or may not be associated with the Dracula. Hahaha. Let's go!
Oh ho ho, it's going to blow me over.
This is officially one of the windiest places I have ever experienced. The castle sits on a really rocky cliff so you get wind coming in every direction possible. And it is pretty crazy. We're just hiding out in this little nook for now.
Bran Castle sits on the border between Wallachia and Transylvania and it is the setting of Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula. That being said, there are other castles in Romania linked to the legend of Dracula.
We're now entering the secret staircase.
Now we're checking out the torture chamber rooms and it is pretty gruesome the methods that were used back in the day. It makes feel quite lucky to be alive this present moment.
Overall impressions of Bran Castle? It was phenomenal. What really surprised me is that from a distance it doesn't look that big but when you get inside there is a lot to explore. Like we probably spent well over an hour just checking all of the different rooms, climbing up and down the stairs and just getting an overall impression of the caste.
Alright, so now that we have visited the castle it is time to go for lunch and I am hungry.
So it is very cold day here in Bran and it is also lunchtime so we've popped into a little restaurant and we're trying to warm up with the hottest, heartiest foods we can find. I'm having some soup with some polenta and a cup of tea. Sam's gone with a salad and the beef. Meh, a little healthy a little bland but here we are enjoying our Romanian lunch.
So the food I'm most excited about trying is something called Romanian Mici and if you look down here it's kind of like a pork sausage or a pork roll. And, oh wow, check this out. Oh, that looks good. It almost looks like a spicy sausage.
Mmmmm. That is an amazing sausage. So juicy, so tasty, so flavorful. I love it. Oh, now I'm going to try some next.
So the polenta with cheese has arrived and it looks a little bit different from what I had yesterday. Yesterday my polenta came with cottage cheese and sour cream but this one appears to have cheese melted on top so I think maybe they put it in the oven. It looks like it was kind of baked. Yeah, baked polenta. Look at the gooey cheese. Oh la la. Wow. That's going to be hot. Mmmm.
I think it actually has goat cheese in the middle. Like a salty goat cheese and then mozzarella on top. Pretty good.
After lunch, we did a little wandering around the town and we found that it reminded us of Halloween with all its spooky trinkets and souvenirs.
There is a cool little market nearby the Bran Castle selling all kinds of trinkets including warm hats, Halloween costumes and other kinds of souvenirs.
Hello, pup. Hello. Meet Dracula's dog. Or are you a wolf? You're a wild wolf. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.
It's biting my ass now. It's not a game anymore puppy. No, hey. Hahahahaha.
This is part of our Travel in Romania series. We're making a series of videos showcasing Romanian culture, Romanian arts, Romanian foods, Romanian religion, Romanian cuisine and Romanian people.
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All photos and video taken by Samuel Jeffery (Nomadic Samuel) and Audrey Bergner (That Backpacker).
Music in this video courtesy of Audio Network