Transylvania often conjures pictures into ones mind of great looming castles and murderous vampires that transform into bats and fly across the mountains.
Well, one part of that is correct at least (hint: It’s not the vampires).
Some people don’t even realise Transylvania is a real place, not just a made-up land from storybooks. However, it is – and until the Romanian Unification in 1918 it was its own province.
The region of Transylvania located in the centre to north west of Romania, and is bordered on the east and south by the Carpathian Mountain Range.
The stereotype of Transylvania’s great castles is not so much of a stereotype but more of a fact – this region holds some gorgeous structures which have travellers flocking from all over to visit.
One famous castle is Peles Castle, a late 19th century castle which you may recognise from the 2017 hit Netflix film, A Christmas Prince and it’s 2018 sequel, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding.
In fact, when Dan and I visited Peles Castle in March, they were busy filming the third instalment in the series, announced by Netflix as A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby.
Even though we were visiting on a day it was closed and knew we wouldn’t be able to enter the castle, we were hoping to get close enough to the castle to take some nice photos.
However, the filming production meant we had to keep our distance, which I didn’t mind too much about – it makes for a cool story after all!
Another famed structure in Transylvania is Rasnov Fortress.
From RomaniaTourism.com:
Rasnov Fortress (Rosenau in German), is located on a rocky hilltop in the Carpathian Mountains, 650 ft. above the town of Rasnov. First mentioned in an official document in 1331, the fortress was built by Teutonic Knights as protection against invading Tartars and was later enlarged by the local Saxon population.
Strategically located on the commercial route linking the provinces of Transylvania and Walachia, Rasnov differs from other Saxon fortresses in that it was designed as a place of refuge over extended periods of time. As such, it had at least 30 houses, a school, a chapel and other buildings more commonly associated with a village.
The defensive system included nine towers, two bastions and a drawbridge. Surrounded by 500-foot-slopes on the north, south and west sides, the fortress was obliged to surrender only once, in the year 1612 when invaders managed to find the secret route that supplied the people inside the fortress with water.
One of the most well-known castles in Transylvania is Bran Castle, also known as Dracula’s Castle.
The castle is known as such because it is often referred to a the home of the title character in Bram Stoker’s story Dracula, which is interesting because there is no actual evidence that Stoker knew of this castle.
However, the castle was home to Vlad the Impaler, who is said to be the inspiration for Stoker’s Dracula, and thus the connection between Bran Castle and Dracula was most likely born.
The castle is now a museum dedicated to displaying art and furniture collected by Queen Marie, the last Queen of Romania as the wife of King Ferdinand I, who resided with her family at the castle before it was seized by the Communist Regime in 1948.
In 2005, the Romanian government passed a special law allowing restitution claims on properties illegally expropriated, such as Bran, and thus a year later the castle was awarded ownership to American Dominic von Habsburg, the son and heir of Princess Ileana, Queen Marie’s daughter.
A visit to Transylvania is not complete without a stop in Brasov, the regional capital, if for no other reason than to admire the beautiful old buildings surrounded by the mountains, Biserica Neagră – aka The Black Church – a 15th century gothic structure, and the Hollywood style Brasov sign which can be spotted on the mountains above the main square (Look closely in the picture above and you’ll spot it).
There’s also Strada Sforii (Rope Street), which is said to be one of the narrowest streets in Europe, with a width varying between 111 and 135 centimetres.
Very interesting article. It is not a country we hear a lot about. Nice to discover it this country through your article.