Bran Castle [ Bran - Brasov county] 28 pictures Bran Castle

The stark contours of Bran Castle,in wich it is tought that Prince Vlad Tepes,the legendary Dracula,lived.

A "highlight" excursion from all these resorts is to Bran Castle.Too much is often made of this feudal fortress' associations with the imaginary vampire of Bram Stoker's victorian novel.In fact,the castle's own towering strenght,its narrow stone stairways,the relative smallness of its Lord's rooms and the cleverly authentic way it is furnished give an absorbing picture of how a noble family ruled this district in the 15th and 16th centuries.And "ruled" is the word.

The castle commands a main route to Brasov close to the much fought-over frontier between Transylvania and Wallachia.If Vlad Tepes did live here,that was why and not because of the scenery!.

Bran Castle was called like that by the name of a village built all along the commerccial road who used to be the meeting place between Wallachia and Transylvania, road situated on the interior side of a mountain pass borded by two massive mountains:Bucegi Mountains and Piatra Craiului Mountains.

Bran Castle was always included in the touristic guides of the region ,because , as the legende says, Dracula used to come here very often.

The construction was raised up in 1382 by the local people , on a high rock , so that the hall region could be watched .In 1395 , Mircea cel Batran, prince of Wallachia, signed an alliance with Sigismund of Luxemburg, becoming the owner of the Bran Castle.

In XVIIth century , the castle become the property of the Autrichens and is given bacck to the Romanians not earlier than 1918;since 1946 Bran Castle has been administrated by Brasov and the teritories in neighbourhood too.

The fortess has four towers corresponding to the cardinal points . The towers are built in the same material as the walls of the castle : massive rock.The rooms and the corridors are disposed so they can descrive a mysterious labirynthe and in the interior yard ,there is a fountain who communicate with the hiding-places in underground.

Bran Castle was one of the favourite places of Queen Maria whih hart was found kept into a silver case and hided in one of the walls of the construction.

Position:on the route Bucharest-Pitesti-Campulung-Bran-Brasov, in the south of Brasov , only 37 miles away from this town.Surrounded by the mountains , this place is dominated by the vallies and the hills.
Not very far from the castle , there is the ethnographyc museum of the Bran village.
All the time of the year , the tourists can rent rooms in villas or in rustic pensions in villages like:Sirnea , Moieciu , Rucar.

2. Peles Castle[ Sinaia - Prahova county] 42 pictures Peles Castle

Built between 1873-1883 (first floor) and between 1896-1914 (second floor), by the order of Carol of Hohenzollern-first king of Romania-,in the style of german rennaissancce , following the plans of a Viennese arhitect Wilhelm von Doderer and of a german arhitect Johann Schultz from Lemberg,with gottic transformations made by the czech arhitect Karinel Liman between 1896-1914, Peles has 160 rooms and a central tower (66m high). The castle was royal residence on summer(untill 1974) and in present it shelters a museum with pictures, sculptures, carpets, furniture.

3.Pelisor Castle[ Sinaia - Prahova county]
Pelisor Castle situated near by Peles Castle,destinated initialy to prince Ferdinand, museum in present.