Saturday 6th July 2019
Today we were making the 2 hour trip to Bran near Braşov, in the region of Transylvania to visit Bran Castle. This medieval fortress is a popular tourist destination, as it is said to resemble the home of fictional character Count Dracula, in the novel by Bram Stoker.
Our journey began on the main E68 passing through several small villages and the small city of Făgăraş with views of the stunning golden domed Orthodox Cathedral but our Sat Nav had soon found us a shorter route on the DN73A, apparently.
The shorter route would have been fine, apart from the fact that the roads were once again in need of maintenance including resurfacing!
Nevertheless we did get the opportunity to experience driving through some fantastic scenery in the Carpathian Mountains and admiring the farmhouses dotted high above us on our way to Bran.
After a short hold up in road works just outside Bran we parked up close to the centre of the town and made our way on foot to the castle.
We had decided to visit late in the afternoon, as it was a Saturday and we thought we might avoid the bulk of the tour groups. How naïve we were 😉 The town was heaving, as was the castle!
After winding our way through an overcrowded area of souvenir sellers we climbed up the cobbled path towards the castle entrance. The castle looked imposing even from this angle.
Ray was happy to make use of his newly acquired reduced concession, as he has now reached that age 😉 40 RON for me, 30 RON for the OAP 😉
Our tour of the castle was dictated by the huge number of people ahead of us and we followed the flow as we snaked our way through various rooms, up and down several staircases, one of which was incredibly narrow, around an internal galleried terrace, with views of the courtyard below, to which we finally descended.
The castle having once been a fortress between 1211 and 1918 became a royal residence from 1920 to 1947 to Queen Marie of Romania and her family, after the citizens of Braşov offered her the Bran estate in gratitude for her contribution to the unification of Romania.
She restored and renovated the castle to its present state. It is now a museum dedicated in her honour.
At the base of the castle is a delightful park area with a large lake, pathways, several beautiful old trees and planted borders. From here the views up to the castle perched above are superb and there is a delightful little restaurant, originally a small barn, which the Queen had transformed into a tea house.
We enjoyed an early evening meal in the late sun for a reasonable price and Ray even sampled an ice cream dessert with garlic infused honey drizzle!
As we made our way back to the car Bran was beginning to get busy again with early evening visitors and heavy traffic through the town so our decision to leave came at the right time.
Our journey back to Cârţa was on the main road via the city of Braşov and nowhere near as picturesque but we were able to sample more death defying manoeuvres by Romanian drivers along the way!