The Castle Tour, Romania

The next morning we went on the castle tour with a group from the hostel. The first was just another castle with the usual high stone walls, arrow slits, towers, remnants of a village and the usual spectacular view. It rained.

We then stopped at Bran Castle where Vlad the Impaler lived and ruled. Let me say here and now that Romanians view their past ruler with great pride. After all, he is the one who gets credit for ending  Ottoman rule which was said to be quite brutal. I know he had a cruel and nasty habit of spitting people like roasted pigs but he mostly impaled enemies. Somehow that's okay. Forget about Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. That's a work of fiction. 

Our group arrived at Bran Castle, climbed some stairs, then came upon a balcony with a nice view where a man was having a wonderful time taking pictures for people. This fellow stood out only because he had a cameraman with him with a big newscam type of outfit who listened to his direction and filmed accordingly. He was destinguished, I could tell that, and had an aura of one highly educated. However, he wore a sort of plain orangish quilted coat and had big teeth that didn't quite go along with the distinguished rich man image. I thought he might be a professor doing a documentary but Adam didn't agree because he wore expensive shoes, He came to Adam and wanted to take our photo for us so we let him. He had a wife with laquered hair who worried about his health and was obviously with a group. End of story, we thought. A little later a little brass band assembled in the courtyard and played a variety of international hits including Satchmo's "Wonderful World".What didn't make sense was the bagpiper in the Scottish plaid kilt. The next day I found mention in our guidebook of a guild formed to help save and restore Romanian monuments and castles. Adam looked up their board of directors and found our man, he said. The first couple photos didn't convince me but the third was exactly the way I remembered this man. I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I'm pretty darned sure I had my picture taken by the Prince of Wales and didn't even realize it. 

Our last stop was Peles Castle, some notable's summer palace. And palace it is, not having walls and towers. It was indeed spectacular in the same way Asheville's Biltmore house is. Rather than take the inside tour, Adam and I traipsed a little way into the town of Sinia and I was smitten. Its heyday was obviously the Victorian era but the spires, turrets and gingerbread far surpass anything I've seen in the states or anywhere else. I know I found my dream cottage at least once. Sinia, Romania ranks highly among my favorite cities in the whole wide world. 

Clowning at Rasov Castle

From Rasov Castle

Bran Castle