One of Kristina's trio of questions was whether the countryside in Transylvania was spooky. Far from it. My primary memory of the train ride is of the gentle, undulating hills as we approached the Carpathian Mountains. Old Brasov -- a Saxon town nested between two mountains -- is yet more charming. (The Communist concrete housing outside old Brasov is less than charming, and the Hollywood-style BRASOV sign is just amusing.) On Saturday, one of Kim's colleagues led us on a walk around the former fortifications of old Brasov and to the base of the mountains, where many locals come for jugfuls of spring water. Rather than spooky, this part of Transylvania is the most beautiful area I've seen in Romania.
On Sunday, we took a bus out to Bran Castle, a.k.a. "Dracula's Castle", and were thoroughly underwhelmed. The castle is a very large fort-house at the top of a hill, but it's not the least bit spooky, and only tangentially related to Vlad "Dracula" Tepes. The museum inside the castle does not even mention Dracula, and instead highlights the possessions of Queen Marie, one of the castle's final residents before the Communist government seized the property.
The surrounding tourism industry, however, has made a mountain out of the razor-thin connection to Dracula; you can buy all sorts of fanged, bloody and batty paraphernalia at most of the several dozen kitscheries just below the castle, or you can stay at Vampire Camping 1km down the highway. Sadly, we did not have time to visit Sighisoara, which supposedly has much more legitimate Dracula connections.
A couple of photographs from Brasov, courtesy of Kim:
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