Dracula's Crib

I awake and look out the train window, there is a shroud of fog on the countryside, just like you see in the Dracula movies. It is unbelievably beautiful; we pass lush green fields with shepherds tending their sheep, and villages that disappear into the grey hillsides.
I congratulate myself on the choice to come to the small village of Sighisoara, Romania instead of a larger city, not aware that I’ve already missed my stop at Sighisoara and don’t have any choice but to go on to the next stop.

The sleeping car attendant is Regina, a fortyish woman from Slovakian who is working this route for the first time. She works for the company that owns the sleeping cars and not the railroad company per se. (Like Pullman employees did, and still may, in the U.S.) She saved me last night when I got on the train and had a bedroom reservation but no ticket since I thought I’d bought both. Luckily I was able to go and get a ticket at the station before the train pulled out saving me tens of Euros over having to purchase a ticket on-board.

As the train was boarding we stood and talked about how she enjoyed her work because she liked to travel and work with the public. She said the working conditions were not that difficult and the salary good. She questioned why I was going to Sighisoara and not a larger city like Brasov or Bucharest? I told her I was interested in seeing how people lived in the small towns. As we board the train she took my ticket and tells me she will wake me fifteen minutes before Sighisoara.

The next morning Regina knocks on my compartment door and tells me we will be getting into Bucharest about an hour late. Then wiping the sleep from her eyes she says, “You’re not going to Bucharest, are you?”

“No, I’m going to Sighisoara.”

“Not today your not. You didn’t get off at your stop back there. Why didn’t you get off?” she asks.

“You have my round trip ticket. You were going to wake me to get off, remember?”

She sheepishly responds. “Oh I was, wasn’t I? Have you ever been to Brasov?”

Brasov is the largest city in Transylvania with about 330,000 residents. It was the first Saxon town north of Bucharest and is ringed by mountains and verdant hills.
Like almost all European cities it has its old section with a variety of interesting things to see.

The Black church built 1384 -1477, is the largest Gothic place of worship between Vienna & Istanbul. The height of the clock tower is 213 feet and the length of the church is 292 feet. It has a 4000-pipe organ that was built in 1839. In 1689 the invading Habsburg forces set fire to church blackening its walls, and giving it its name. You would think they would clean the smoke off the walls of a church that took so long to build, but this isn’t one of the 87% Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, it’s Lutheran.

Brasov also claims to have the narrowest street in Europe, Str Sforii.

Something it has that it doesn’t need is the big tacky “Hollywood” style BRASOV sign on Mt. Tampa overlooking the city. They would have been much smarter using their signage at the railroad stations so you would know where you are.

Another thing Brasov has is bears. There are an estimated 80 black bears in the Brasov area. The come into the city and eat from the trash dumpsters. They have killed a man who was sleeping on a park bench one evening and chased tourists up the BRASOV sign atop Mt. Tampa forcing them to stay there for several hours. There is even an evening tour to go see the bears rummaging at the dumpsters.

A big political fight is brewing over how to deal with them. The hunters want to have a higher kill quota and the naturalists want to capture and relocate them.

I take the day long castle tour offered by the hostel and it is entertaining. The first stop, Peles castle, built by King Carol I. The Moorish, Florentine and French styles make it a beautiful place. Most impressive I think is the central vacuuming system. You don’t see that in a lot of old castles.

Next on the tour is the famous Bran Castle. Bran Castle is considered Dracula's Castle however there is no proof that Dracula was ever even there. For those who do not know who Dracula is, his real name is Vlad III Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad III Drakul. He was a cruel ruler of Walachia in the 15th century. Dracula was born in Transylvania (Sighisoara) and lived from 1431 to 1476. He defended Transylvania and Walachia by scaring the hell out of the invading Ottoman forces. He did that by sitting and eating steak while impaling thousands of Ottoman soldiers on skin-piercing rectum-to-underarm stakes. Despite his cruelty and crazy behavior he is often revered in Romania as a defender of Christendom against the invading Turks.

Our final stop is the Rasnov Fortress an old fort that sits on top of a hill. This fort is quite large and impressive. The Rasnov Fortress is surrounded by large walls and inside the walls there are buildings, towers, churches, and land where the cattle and other animals could graze. One of the big attractions inside the Rasnov Fortress is the well at the centre of the Fortress. It is 460 feet deep and provided the inhabitants of the fortress with fresh water. The story goes that two captured Turkish soldiers were put to the task of digging the well. They were told that they would be given their freedom once the it was completed. It took them seventeen years to complete the well, but they were still killed afterwards. The Rasnov Fortress was used to defend against all kinds of invaders including Mongols (Tartars) and Ottomans (Turks).

Brasov is a great small city, I love it here. The people are friendlier than anywhere I’ve been, everything is inexpensive, the food is good and it has enough things to do. I would stay another day or two but I want to visit Sighisoara and get to Vienna by Saturday.

Sighisoara, (pop 32,000), is surrounded by Saxon villages, some of which can only be accessed by horse and buggy or walking. But its claim to fame is the birth place of Dracula. Vlad Tepes was born here in the medieval citadel, a 14th century walled city. It is said that it is the only citadel left that still has private homes people live in. It has a172-steps covered Stairway to the Gothic1345 Lutheran “Church on the Hill” with a great old German cemetery behind it.

The new town bustles with tourist in the day time but at night it is a wonderful small town with good restaurants and relaxing parks. I enjoy walking around and meeting people. A couple sitting on a park bench smoking cigarettes, three women maintaining the cemetery of the Red Army soldiers killed in the liberation of Sighisoara from the Nazis. Awaking mornings to the sound of horses bringing wagons of goods into town is such a great way to welcome the day. It is much more than the tour books say.

One strange thing I found here was two young women had teeth with fangs like Dracula has. When I noticed this on the first woman who worked at the hostel I thought it odd, but when a waitress later that day had the same kind of teeth I thought it must be some kind of tourist thing. Later, I asked the woman at the hostel about her teeth, (like I should talk), and she said, “What do you mean? These are my natural teeth.”

Thinking fast I said, “They are so pretty when you smile,”

I wasn’t sure if she was putting me on or not. I don’t believe in the Dracula myth but I did go to the market and buy some garlic.