Vlach
09-14-2014, 09:40 AM
Follow in the footsteps of Vlad the Impaler on a road trip through Romania’s magnificent Transylvania, with medieval towns straight from a fairytale
http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4091681.ece/alternates/s615/Transylvania-travel.jpg
I wandered through cobblestone streets, dazzled by the colourful medieval and renaissance architecture, the citadels on the hillsides looking down, picture-perfectly framed by the forested mountain standing tall behind.
It could have been Germany’s Rhineland or Bavaria – but I was in Romania and this was Transylvania.
Nestled amongst the peaks and plains of the Carpathian Mountains, Transylvania was once on the wild edges of Europe.
For over 900 years it was under the rule of the Hungarians and Austrians, colonised by Germans, settled by Roma gypsies, and only unifying with Romania after the First World War.
I finally got the chance to visit this fascinating country on a road trip with my father and son which began in Bucharest.
The Romanian capital had been a revelation.
Despite Ceausescu’s best efforts to bulldoze in massive Soviet monuments, the historic old town is still filled with crumbling French buildings – many of them now bars, or spaces for outdoor raves on hot weekends.
The whole city is bursting with energy – outdoor barbecues rub shoulders with new shopping centres, ancient churches, empty 1970s blocks, and tiny bars in courtyards.
We went from 20-somethings drinking beers under the spread of a tree, to see bullet-pockmarked walls by the Communist Party Headquarters.
http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4091682.ece/alternates/s615/Romania-rural.jpg
Setting off in our generic Dacia rental car on a beautiful morning, it didn’t take long to reach the flat countryside of the province of Wallachia, with its tin-roofed villages, garden wells, and ubiquitous horse and carts – the rural scenes for which Romania is famous.
An hour-and-a-half later, we were high up in Sinaia, a Carpathian resort near the border of Transylvania.
We visited the magnificently ornate Peles Castle.
Built between 1873 and 1914, it has been the summer residence of the Romanian Royal family and is now the country’s the most visited museum.
Stopping only to stretch our legs on the mountainside populated with bears and wolves, we drove on, descending with dusk into Transylvania and the Saxon town of Brasov and then on to the smaller Sighisoara.
Transylvania’s Dracula connection is of course thanks to Bram Stoker, the Irish author of the original novel, who never even visited Transylvania.
His character’s origins are just loosely based on the 15th century local ruler, Vlad Dracul.
Vlad is better known by his nickname, The Impaler.
He wasn’t a vampire, but his nickname describes how he dispensed with his enemies, in particular the Turkish invaders.
His notoriety has echoed down through the ages, yet (in tourist shops at least) his persona has intertwined with the fictional Dracula’s, the two becoming a mustachioed one.
The 14th century Bran Castle – touted as “Dracula’s Castle” – has been serving for ages as a military fortress controlling the entry route to Transylvania and best known through its association with Dracula’s myth.
The region was heavily influenced by German colonists.
http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4091683.ece/alternates/s615/Bran-Castle.jpg
Invited over by the Hungarian kings to protect their frontier, they ended up staying for over eight centuries (in the process they were somehow wrongly labelled as Saxons) and built many impressive towns and villages, of which Brasov is a fine example.
The Germans have virtually all gone now, but their legacy remains.
Along with the magnificent architecture, they kindly left behind a culture of fine beer and wine.
We enjoyed a supper of sausage and sauerkraut, followed by an excellent apple strudel.
The next morning, we left Brasov and dropped onto the Tarnave plateau motoring past rolling fields and woodland.
The region is famous for its medieval ‘Saxon’ villages, their orderly Germanic hearts incongruous to their ramshackle Romanian outskirts.
We came off the main road to visit another, Viscri, where Prince Charles owns property.
After driving slowly to the end of a long dirt track, we were greeted by a sign declaring its Unesco World Heritage status.
There are seven Unesco-protected villages in the region, my favourite being Valea Viilor, with a rickety bell tower that got my knees wobbling as I climbed its precarious staircase.
We stopped at Sighisoara, with its splendid fortified old town clustered on a hillside.
Its beauty is staggering – one of the only living medieval citadels in Europe, with winding streets studded with towers.
Climb up them, and you can see out to the countryside. The Clock Tower had a great view, and a decent museum.
Just next door was Vlad the Impaler’s supposed birthplace.
http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4091684.ece/alternates/s615/Transylvania-travel-sat.jpg
His bedroom was darkened, playing mock horror music.
A guy in a cheap Dracula costume lay in a coffin surrounded by images of Vlad – so bad, it was almost good.
And on we continued. Driving through the surreal rural back roads.
Through lost villages with wood-fires burning. Past Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic spires.
There were Roma men with big hats, shawled wives, peasants with scythes and hoes, giant stork nests atop lamp posts – and everywhere the EU flag proudly flying.
Last stopover was Sibiu, with a main square imperious enough to grace the grandest of cities.
The houses there had eyes, making it feel even more like a fantasy land.
We returned full circle to the giant Carpathians then crossed back via the pine forests, before finally leaving Transylvania and the fairytale behind.
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/europe-short-haul/magnificent-transylvania-take-you-through-4091706
http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4091681.ece/alternates/s615/Transylvania-travel.jpg
I wandered through cobblestone streets, dazzled by the colourful medieval and renaissance architecture, the citadels on the hillsides looking down, picture-perfectly framed by the forested mountain standing tall behind.
It could have been Germany’s Rhineland or Bavaria – but I was in Romania and this was Transylvania.
Nestled amongst the peaks and plains of the Carpathian Mountains, Transylvania was once on the wild edges of Europe.
For over 900 years it was under the rule of the Hungarians and Austrians, colonised by Germans, settled by Roma gypsies, and only unifying with Romania after the First World War.
I finally got the chance to visit this fascinating country on a road trip with my father and son which began in Bucharest.
The Romanian capital had been a revelation.
Despite Ceausescu’s best efforts to bulldoze in massive Soviet monuments, the historic old town is still filled with crumbling French buildings – many of them now bars, or spaces for outdoor raves on hot weekends.
The whole city is bursting with energy – outdoor barbecues rub shoulders with new shopping centres, ancient churches, empty 1970s blocks, and tiny bars in courtyards.
We went from 20-somethings drinking beers under the spread of a tree, to see bullet-pockmarked walls by the Communist Party Headquarters.
http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4091682.ece/alternates/s615/Romania-rural.jpg
Setting off in our generic Dacia rental car on a beautiful morning, it didn’t take long to reach the flat countryside of the province of Wallachia, with its tin-roofed villages, garden wells, and ubiquitous horse and carts – the rural scenes for which Romania is famous.
An hour-and-a-half later, we were high up in Sinaia, a Carpathian resort near the border of Transylvania.
We visited the magnificently ornate Peles Castle.
Built between 1873 and 1914, it has been the summer residence of the Romanian Royal family and is now the country’s the most visited museum.
Stopping only to stretch our legs on the mountainside populated with bears and wolves, we drove on, descending with dusk into Transylvania and the Saxon town of Brasov and then on to the smaller Sighisoara.
Transylvania’s Dracula connection is of course thanks to Bram Stoker, the Irish author of the original novel, who never even visited Transylvania.
His character’s origins are just loosely based on the 15th century local ruler, Vlad Dracul.
Vlad is better known by his nickname, The Impaler.
He wasn’t a vampire, but his nickname describes how he dispensed with his enemies, in particular the Turkish invaders.
His notoriety has echoed down through the ages, yet (in tourist shops at least) his persona has intertwined with the fictional Dracula’s, the two becoming a mustachioed one.
The 14th century Bran Castle – touted as “Dracula’s Castle” – has been serving for ages as a military fortress controlling the entry route to Transylvania and best known through its association with Dracula’s myth.
The region was heavily influenced by German colonists.
http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4091683.ece/alternates/s615/Bran-Castle.jpg
Invited over by the Hungarian kings to protect their frontier, they ended up staying for over eight centuries (in the process they were somehow wrongly labelled as Saxons) and built many impressive towns and villages, of which Brasov is a fine example.
The Germans have virtually all gone now, but their legacy remains.
Along with the magnificent architecture, they kindly left behind a culture of fine beer and wine.
We enjoyed a supper of sausage and sauerkraut, followed by an excellent apple strudel.
The next morning, we left Brasov and dropped onto the Tarnave plateau motoring past rolling fields and woodland.
The region is famous for its medieval ‘Saxon’ villages, their orderly Germanic hearts incongruous to their ramshackle Romanian outskirts.
We came off the main road to visit another, Viscri, where Prince Charles owns property.
After driving slowly to the end of a long dirt track, we were greeted by a sign declaring its Unesco World Heritage status.
There are seven Unesco-protected villages in the region, my favourite being Valea Viilor, with a rickety bell tower that got my knees wobbling as I climbed its precarious staircase.
We stopped at Sighisoara, with its splendid fortified old town clustered on a hillside.
Its beauty is staggering – one of the only living medieval citadels in Europe, with winding streets studded with towers.
Climb up them, and you can see out to the countryside. The Clock Tower had a great view, and a decent museum.
Just next door was Vlad the Impaler’s supposed birthplace.
http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article4091684.ece/alternates/s615/Transylvania-travel-sat.jpg
His bedroom was darkened, playing mock horror music.
A guy in a cheap Dracula costume lay in a coffin surrounded by images of Vlad – so bad, it was almost good.
And on we continued. Driving through the surreal rural back roads.
Through lost villages with wood-fires burning. Past Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic spires.
There were Roma men with big hats, shawled wives, peasants with scythes and hoes, giant stork nests atop lamp posts – and everywhere the EU flag proudly flying.
Last stopover was Sibiu, with a main square imperious enough to grace the grandest of cities.
The houses there had eyes, making it feel even more like a fantasy land.
We returned full circle to the giant Carpathians then crossed back via the pine forests, before finally leaving Transylvania and the fairytale behind.
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/europe-short-haul/magnificent-transylvania-take-you-through-4091706