Transylvania ha ha.......

I was very fortunate to be offered a week's work trip in April to Transylvania somewhere, frankly, I have long wanted to visit.

Those that know me know I like anything spooky and this, coupled with the mountains and the history, was perfect for me! A number of people have said, before I went and after I returned, that they didn't think Transylvania was even a real place, so firmly entrenched are we in the Dracula myth, but yes, it is a region of Romania and yes, there actually was a real Dracula - Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad the Impaler. He obviously wasn't a vampire, but he might have drunk the blood of his victims as it meant taking on their characteristics - be it strength or bravery. Dracula meant son of the Devil which is a reference I guess to a fairly brutal and cruel reputation, but they were different times and he is regarded a something of a folk hero in Romania.

Anyway, the myth is a little perpetuated in some areas - mainly for the tourists - but it is a fascinating country with some truly unique sights I've never seen anywhere else in all my travels, and I loved it.

bran castle - DRACUla’s castle

vlad tepes, aka vlad the impaler aka vlad dracul

the shoemaker’s house

We visited the cities/towns/villages of Bucharest, Sinaia, Brasov, Bucovina, Sighisoara, Bistrita, Cluj Napoca, Alba Iulia and Sibiu, and the overriding impression I had is that everything is very old, very authentic and very unspoilt, which was fascinating. Most of the smaller towns and villages date back to the 13th century and I don't imagine they look so different from those times. Small, crooked houses all brightly painted, narrow cobbled streets, tiny old churches, covered wooden walkways and fantastic old clock towers dominate town and village squares.

We visited the beautiful Peles Castle filled with stunning wood carvings and Bran Castle traditionally known as Dracula's castle, although Vlad Tepes was only held prisoner there for a short time. Prejmer Fortified Church really was an extraordinarily tangible example of the history of everyday people; a four storey fortified wall around the church; all built of wood which we had to feel our way round in semi darkness on uneven floors, and all utterly untouched since the 1300s. Tiny rooms where families sheltered in troubled times were just as they would have been back then. Astonishing and quite moving.

The landscapes varied as we travelled through this amazing country against the backdrop of the Carpathian Mountains, still with patches of snow, from the mightily impressive 1000ft cliffs of the Bicaz Gorges to the more rolling and pastoral Moldovan farmland region. We visited the utterly exquisite painted monastery at Voronet, one of only a handful left in the county with unbelievably beautiful, vibrantly painted Biblical scenes covering every surface, inside and out. We visited the unique Salina Turda salt mine with its three hundred foot cavern and lake at the bottom where you can row a boat in the dim light and people come to take the air to help with respiratory problems.

We also visited museums and huge churches in Cluj Napoca and Alba Iulia, had dinner in Dracula's birthplace and childhood home which is now a restaurant in Sighisoara and ended in Bucharest which is a busy, buzzy city - a little like Paris but on a vast scale, with little remnants of the older city still existing in tiny churches and ornate courtyards tucked away down narrow back streets.

prejmer fortified church

voronet painted monastery

dracula’S house in sighisoara

salina turda salt mine - boating 300ft down!

carpathian mountains

All in all, it was a fascinating, memorable trip. It's a wonderful place to visit if you want something a little different, somewhere unspoilt with a long, interesting history and a touch of spookiness on the side!!