Bran Castle looks like a very convincing home to the fictional
character Dracula, even though the author Bram Stoker, never set foot in
Bran.
The Bran Pass to the south-west had to be protected
from marauding Turks, and it is fortunate today that the castle was
built, for it brings tourists from afar to one of Romania's most
beautiful and culture-rich areas.
Set at the entrance to the
Bran Pass area in the upper reaches of the Bârsa
river valley, Bran was a waypoint on the old strategic trade route
going through the Giuvala Pass at 1292 metres, from Hungarian-controlled
Transilvania to the more Romanian plains of Wallachia .
The Upper Bârsa Land area of the Bran district actually includes the villages of Bran, Poarta, Predeluţ, Şimon, and Sohodol, and for convenience, we
include on this page Zărneşti, Şirnea, and Fundata
as well.
The area has transformed from one of local interest to a
national centre focusing on rural tourism, eco-tourism, and of
cultural importance. Benefiting from a natural setting near the Piatra Craiului
mountains, Bran benefits from the surrounding villages with their
unique traditions, of great tourist interest and national value.
This fabulous highland area, between the Bran Pass and Braşov,
is characterised by high rolling hills, cradled between the King's
Rock, Bucegi and Postavaru mountains.
The first mention of the Bran area (Ţara Bârsei,
or Burzenland in the Saxon tongue) was about the ethnic Romanian
population living there in south-eastern Transilvania under the
Hungarian crown in the days of the Teutonic Knights, the area known
as "Land of the Bârsa", meaning the valley
and region around the Bârsa river.
The Knights were called on in 1367 to defend Transilvania and the
Hungarian overlords from the rising threat of the Ottoman Empire to
the south.
The existence of Bran village was recorded first in 1729, along
with the surrounding villages of Sohodol, Poarta, Predeluţ, Valea
Lunga, Lower Moieciu, Şimon, Upper Moieciu,
Zbărcioară, Şirnea and Coacaza, and in 1732 the village of Fundata
was added to the official register.
Bran developed quite quickly, owing mostly to it's location near
Castle Bran and it's seeming relation to the Bram Stoker novel.
The actual Dracula character in Stoker's novel was from near County
Braşov, from an early Hungarian migrant population called the Secklers ("Secui"
in Romanian).
Beautiful villas with great amenities, and little houses full of
hospitality today offer the tourist unforgettable days of enjoyment.
You can find great rates around Bran from $20 per person which
almost always includes a cold board breakfast with local treats.
In winter the Bran area is frequented for the great skiing in
nearby Poiana Braşov, and in the summer
for driving, hiking and the enjoyment of the unique folk cultures in
the area.
If you have some information for us about Bran, Piatra Craiului or County Braşov,
please
Let us know about it now! We appreciate all of your efforts!
The media darling of her day, Marie was Queen
Victoria's granddaughter, and breathed new life into Bran Castle.
Queen Marie represented Romania at the treaty talks in 1920 after
World War I, which saw Bran Castle awarded to her and her country
with all of Transilvania to form Greater Romania from 1920 to 1941
(when the Diktat of Vienna returned Transilvania and Bran Castle to
the Hungarians briefly).
Princess Ileana of Romania
Sister of King Carol II, Ileana was the last
Royal owner of Bran Castle until it was returned to the Habsburgs in
late 2006, ironically returning the castle (for a third time) to the
family who had ruled Transilvania for 1000 years.
Bran's castle is a famous spot for tourism, as it inspired the
depiction of the castle in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.
Situated near Braşov in Transylvania, is a national monument and landmark of Romanian
tourism built by the Teutonic Knights in (or around) 1212, after they had
been relocated from Palestine into the Kingdom of Hungary.
The castle is open to tourists, who can view the inside by themselves
or as part of a guided tour. At the bottom of the hill is a small
park to which examples of traditional Romanian peasant structures
(cottages, barns, etc.) from across the country have been moved.
Curiously, Romanians have a tradition of moving
traditional structures to open-air museums, with the country littered
with a dozen major sites like these.
The castle passed through royal hands for many generations. For many
years at the beginning of the 20th century, it was the principal home of
Queen Marie, who, despite her British birth and upbringing, became quite
a Romanian patriot.
The Teutonic Order began construction of a wooden fort
on the current site of Bran Castle in the early 13th century. After the fort's destruction in
1242 by the Tatars, King Sigismund of Hungary ordered the construction
of a new stone castle in 1377, while the settlement of Bran village
on the key trade routes continued to develop.
Positioned high atop a steep cliff, the castle
guarded a strategic route between Transylvania and Wallachia and was
key in the defence of nearby Braşov and
south-eastern Transilvania throughout the centuries until the
Ottoman threat effectively abated in the 1800s.
Soon after the creation of the Kingdom of Greater Romania after the
1920 Treaty of Versailles, the newly Romanian County Braşov
council donated the run-down castle to the Romanian royal family. The gift
was gratefully accepted by the Royals, and work began over the next
seven years to restore the castle and make it a suitable home for the
Royal family.
Much of the restoration work was done by the Architect to the Royal
Court, Carol Liman, who transformed the cold fortress into a suitable
summer home, complete with terraces, a park with promenades, fountains
and a tea-house.
The castle was decorated largely with artefacts, including
traditional furniture and tapestries that she collected to highlight
Romanian crafts and skills. In 1938, in her will, she gave the castle
and all her belongings to her daughter Princess Ileana of Romania.
Ileana, the sister of King Carol II of Romania, eventually married
Archduke Anton of Austria, and perversely enough, Bran Castle was again
controlled by the Habsburg dynasty.
The castle was seized by the Communist government of Romania in
1948, and went downhill quickly without the constant care it enjoyed in
the 1920s and 1930s, and by 1956 the remains were converted to a
Medieval History and Art museum. For many years it was tended to
erratically, but after a 1987 restoration and the subsequent Revolution
of 1989, it became a tourist destination.
The legal heir of the castle is the Princess Ileana's son, Dominic
von Habsburg and in 2006 the Romanian government returned it to him, so
von Habsburg promptly put the castle up for sale for a price of $75
million. Check back here later for all the news on who owns this
castle in late 2007!
Allegedly, Bram Stoker, who fashioned portions of his character
Count Dracula based on aspects of Vlad the Impaler, used Bran Castle as
his model for Dracula's castle.
In addition to its unique architecture, the castle is famous because
of persistent myths that it was once the home of Vlad the Impaler, a
famous or infamous medieval warlord; however, there is no evidence that
he ever lived there. According to most accounts, the Impaler
spent two days in the Bran dungeon, as the area was occupied by the
Ottoman Empire at the time.
Bran Castle was subsequently featured in multiple film adaptations
of Dracula, and has informally become known as Dracula's Castle.
The
local economy has made use of the connection to boost tourism; a small
market exists at the castle gates selling every imaginable article
connected with, or depicting the portrait of, Dracula and vampires.
This information is actually a misnomer.
Vlad the Impaler's real castle was the one
at Poienari down through the pass in Wallachia, not in Transylvania.
The "real" castle is about 90 minutes by car, and worth the journey.
News: Habsburgs Take Back Castle Dracula
Sibiu's celebrated Brukenthal Museum and Transylvania's Dracula
site, Bran castle, have been restituted to their legal owners by the
Romanian state. Habsburg family descendants of Princess Ileana, daughter
of King Ferdinand of Romania, are now owners of the 14th century Brasov
county castle, a tourist destination for vampire fans due to the
spurious link that Vlad 'The Impaler' Tepes may have spent the night
there a couple of times.
In both cases, the properties will remain museums. Representatives
of the Evangelical Church of Sibiu, the regained owners of the
Brukenthal, said they want their property to become “an international
museum, a European asset”.
It doesn't matter what time of year you are visiting the Bran
region, because the calendar of the entire year is filled with
festivals, celebrations, and great opportunities to understand the
traditions and the heart of rural Romanian culture.
You can organise some great cultural tours exploring the ethnography
of this area through traditional handicrafts, woodworking, fine dairy
products made from sheep's milk, and the
fascinating wool felting process, where wool is washed and made into
the felts used in local costumes and throws.
Traditional celebrations in Bran village follow the seasons,
with the springtime Festival of the Dividing the Milk, the summertime
Saint Pantelimon's Market Days, and each autumn, the sheep come down
from the mountains and are paraded through town and washed in
another fun festival.
Şimon, Moeciu, Cheia, Fundata, Sirnea, and other local villages
immediately around Bran lay out their old traditions and folk
customs, offering in their turn the possibility of really knowing
the hospitality of the Romanian people.
The Mountain Gathering Festival
At the end of August or the start of
September, you can see the folk event of "Nedeia", at which
boys and girls from the Bran area villages participate.
The Mountain Gathering Festival is an event rooted in
old times and continues to this day as an important manifestation of
the old Romanian customs before Christianity came.
The Gathering is most popular in the villages of the
mountains and foothills around Bran, particularly around Fundata
where the farming communities and isolated hamlets look to The
Gathering for it's function as a place for their young people to
meet each other, and also to sell some of their wares.
All
of the neighbouring villages and those too from further away take
part in The Gathering, which remains a great way to display the
traditional costumes, many specific to their own valley or commune.
Many a marriage proposal is also made and accepted at The Gathering
too!
If you happen to be around Bran at this early harvest
festival, count yourself lucky. You'll get lost in the fun and
probably find a very significant insight into the gentle and
powerful soul of the Romanian people.
Romanians consider the effect of The Gathering to be
something outside of logic -- almost a festival that people are
driven to join by a strong cultural and spiritual force, in which
all wish to meet together, to party and to play into the wee hours
of the morning.
Those who attend the Gathering festival report
feeling changed by the experience, with the sounds of the happy
songs, sights of the bright costumes, and the smells of the
delicious local foods staying with them for the remainder of the
year.
Happily sited in the southwest of Braşov, the old pastoral site
of Şirnea along the Wallachian border with County
Argeş, offers a magnificent opening towards the
crest of the Piatra Craiului mountains as well as towards the
Bucegi massif.
As the first true tourist village in Romania (really, they say this
locally), Şirnea
features many folk traditions specific to the area worthy of a good
look. Fundata, which turns into
Fundaţica along the road a bit, features the typically
picturesque rocky outcroppings found throughout the Bran Pass area at
the feet of the Craiului and Bucegi massifs.
Fundata village is purported to be Romania's highest at 1360m high,
situated in the middle of the Rucăr-Bran Pass at
the meeting of Wallachia and Transilvania.
It's an area of hamlets and little houses along 15km of road
and farming properties, a completely charming series of village houses
along the curving main road which curls up into the surrounding massif.
Most of the local guest houses combine the unchanging traditional
peasant farm life with great hospitality, comfort and fabulous food.
Expect wines, tuica, plenty of pork products, soups, and garden
vegetables in season.
The Pottery of Tohanu
At the entrance to Ţara Bârsei, the town of Tohanu
Nou on the main road to Wallachia is the most important Romanian
pottery centre in south-eastern Transilvania, and has been producing
pieces since the late 1500s.
The Tohan style of pottery is distinctive to the Southern Carpathian
district, and is a recognised cultural heritage artform throughout
Romania and Europe.
A Bite Before Dracula...
On the road between Bran Castle and the Bran
Pass, this little roadside stand sells smoked meats and cheeses and
freshly baked pretzels (covrigi).
The village fires at the end of October
fill the local forests in the Bârsa river valley with smoke
The Village Sâmedru Pyre
Traditional Bulz in the Embers
Once the Sâmedru Pyre dies down, balls
of sheeps cheese surrounded by corn meal (mamaliga) are put
into the embers to become delicious treats for the
partygoers!
The children creep into the woods, inspecting the
trees to identify the one spirit tree which will burn to bring about
the Sâmedru! In a festive ceremony, the warm months are
ushered out, and winter is invited to begin it's icy reign as the
fir tree burns.
According to tradition which survives to this day, what
unfolds in the nights of the 25th and 26th of October is unique to the
Romanian landscape. To Romanians, the Sâmedru (known more
these days as Ziua Soroacelor) is the mythological force which takes the
leaves off of the forest trees and beings the pastoral winter season.
The night-time ceremony hastens and confirms the coming
of winter, and unfolds after several market days, ending with Saint
Dumitru's Day. The children from the local villages go together
into the forest and orchards to find the one tree which will be set
alight, limbs, branches, and dry leaves at once.
Once the Sâmedru tree has been
identified by the children, the tree is ceremonially cut and is used to
make a great pyre, the base lined with the needles of the fir tree, the
pyre formed like the tower of a church.
The kids then go door to door in the village to announce that the
tree is ready to be burnt, chanting "Come to the Fire of
Sâmedru!", much like carollers at Christmas in America.
This chant is in fact an invitation for the villagers to come forth and
revere in this spectacle of annual death and rebirth, and to pay tribute
to the metamorphic power of the seasons.
Once all are gathered, the great pile is lit and soon shoots it's
light into the darkness of the surrounding forest. When the fire
builds to it's maximum ferocity, the children chant around the great
glowing tree: "Behold the Fire of Sâmedru!".
The Sâmedru ceremony has it's roots all through the Carpathians, and
celebrates the annual cycles of the calendar, the name itself a
derivation from the Great Saint Mucenic Dimitrie of the Thessalonians,
in Romanian, Sfântu Dimitrie, who has his day on the Orthodox and
pastoral calendars during this time of year.
Sâmedru is the first of the winter celebrations honouring the old
saints and the final quarter of the annual cycle, with celebrations
continuing from Sâmedru (from Sân
Dumitru) through Sân
Andrei, SânNicoară and the Crăciun
period (coinciding on the calendar with Western Christianity's
Christmas, but being more of a winter festival).
These four saint days are seen to assure the "balance of
the year", with saints assigned to other season. The
counterpart to the autumnul Saint Dimitrie is Saint George, who has his
day to bring in Spring and Summer on the 23rd of April each year.
Celebrated on the 26th of October, or sometimes also on
the 27th (called "The Shining", or "Day of the Dead"), the Day of
Sâmedru was represented in Romanian mythology
through a legendary shepherd who grazed his flock on virgin land never
trod upon by the foot of mankind.
In the Bran region, and throughout the south-eastern Carpathians,
the spirit of Sâmedru was often reported to be able to inhabit animals
or become it's own animal.
Ion Creanga's "Tale of the Pig" has at it's core
this zoomorphosis, where the pig becomes a man by day, and must wear a
the suit of a pig to pass as a proud porcine prince.
As the Day of Sâmedru doubles in some ways as a Day of
the Dead, offerings to Sâmedru and ancestors are given by village women.
Given to pyre of Sâmedru are butter and milk, honey and fruits, and
cinnamon and basil; all offered as part of a "autumn pantry" to spirits
past. Chants vary for this part of the ceremony, but go
along the lines of "Great spirits and ancestors, Help to bring to me
what you wish! Give me work for the house, abundance for the table
and a field of flowers!"
The Sâmedru Pyres are common throughout Muntenia, Oltenia,
Moldova and in the southern (more Wallachian influenced) portions of
Transilvania, happening most along hillsides, shorelines of lakes and
rivers, or at crossroads, high pyres are erected in the misty dusk of
autumn twilight.
After the pyre dies down, it's time for "The Games of
Sâmedru" to begin, with dancing and games around the fir tree to
release the summer and autumn and clear the way for the winter period.
In larger towns, there is often a market day for Sâmedru
with music and dancing, always with the main aim of Sâmedru: to
bring luck, abundance, and fruition to the work of the house, garden,
and to all relatives on the day where the leaves fall, the snows begin,
and the winter season starts!
Around the Curmatura area, from the high spine of
the crown of the Piatra Craiului mountains.
Photo: Gabi Ciuculescu
The Red Helleborine Orchid
Near Şirnea, this
cephalanthera rubra flourishes on the
forest margins
Photo:
Cătălin Ciobanu
She-Wolf Awaits
Admittedly not the most common thing you'll see
in the park, wolves nonetheless range here most of the year
The King's Rock National Park
The most beautiful and wild area in the eastern Făgăraş mountains is the Piatra Craiului
(King's Rock) conglomerate, the entire rocky massif a natural reserve inside
the Piatra Craiului National Park.
The main feature of the Piatra Craiului mountains is a 25km long
razor-sharp ridge cresting at "The Peak at Man" at 2238 metres high,
regarded as one of the most beautiful sights in the Carpathians.
The park and wilderness area starts from the edge of the town
of Zârneşti up to the confluence of the Dâmboviţa
and Dâmbovicioara rivers. The entire Piatra
Craiului National Park is located in the Carpathians, and it also
includes parts of the neighbouring Bran Pass. The entire park area is 14,773 square kilometres (hectares),
with 7,806 ha being located in the County Braşov and 6,967 ha in County
Argeş.
A special conservation area, covering nearly 5000 square
kilometres inside the park is made up of a small scientific reserve, and
four rather wonderful areas of irregular limestone in which
erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and
caverns.
The four feature-rich areas of limestone erosion and
formations (called "karst" by geologists), are the Zarnesti,
Dambovicioarei and Brusturet Gorges and the Bats' Cave natural monument
area. Grazing is forbidden across much of the park, although the
ecological impact of grazing domesticated goats and sheep versus the
native chamois (black goat) is less here than in other zones world-wide
where domesticated herds graze.
The wondrous relief of this area reminds one of the walls and
buttresses of a Gothic cathedral, the coloured layers of limestone
striated into amazing whorls of spectacular patterns.
The traditional villages of Măgura,
Peştera, Ciocanu,
Şirnea near Bran are interesting starting points for the routes on the
southern and eastern slopes, and provide great launching bases for
getting in touch with the traditional Romanian way of life.
See our accommodation section for
some great options in the foothills below the magnificent swath of the
Piatra Craiului mountains. A view like that each morning is
worth the short trip off the main road to find the perfect farmstay or
pensiune accommodation
If you only have a short time in the area,
Zărneşti
(a major rural centre with a population of 26,520, about 28km from Braşov) hosts the headquarters
and visitor's centre for the National Park, and gives easy access for
approaches in the northern part of the massif.
By car, you can continue your drive from
Zărneşti up an 11km long road to the cabin "Plaiul Foii", which
is a good starting point for a ridge climb. Alternatively, also
from Zărneşti, you can take a forest road from the south-western part of
the town, leading through the Zărneşti Gorges (Prăpăstiile) and then you
can hike up to the ridge from there.
On the western slopes of this park is the only place where the
charming garofita flower (a native Dianthus) of the Piatra
Craiului grows, looking like a delicate phlox, growing to about 8 cm
high. In addition to this most beautiful of nature's great
creations, there are also the many chamois and mountain cocks in the
area.
In the national park area about 300 fungi species, 220
lichen species, 100 different mosses, 1100 species of superior plants (a
third of the number of all plant species found in Romania), 50
Carpathians endemic species and also two endemic species for Piatra
Craiului can be found.
There are also 2 endemic species of spiders, 270
butterflies species, amphibians and reptiles, 110 birds species (50
listed in the Bern Convention and 6 in the Bonn Convention), 17 bats
species, chamois and other large herbivores and also many large
carnivores (wolfs, brown bears, lynx) living in the national park.
WARNINGS:
Avalanches can be fatal.
Do not expect Western standards for rescue teams or rescue
equipment, most are volunteer, and although enthusiastic, don't
expect a helicopter and a large organised search team.
Your mobile phone might work on some high peaks, but don't count on
it.
Snake bites can be fatal if you are not prepared with the
appropriate kit and the ability to evacuate quickly.
Take the advice of the park rangers and check with them first at
Zărneşti before entering the park for any activity.
The steep trails along the fascinating cliffs and ridges are the
most accessible in September, when the rains and winds are at their most
moderate, after the summer rains and before the winter snows start.
In October through April the trails are closed due to the danger of
avalanches.
The two-day north–south ridge trail is both challenging
and rewarding. Starting at either Plaiul Foii in the north-west or
Curmătura in the north-east, walkers climb up to the ridge before
following a somewhat precarious path along the narrow spine. The descent
at the southern end leads into a karst landscape of deep gorges and
pitted slopes where water penetrating the rock has carved a series of
caves.
Piatra Craiului Massif was declared a natural reserve in 1938 "due
to the unique character of the massif", preserving rare species like the
Dianthus callizonus, Hesperis nivea, Minuatia transilvanica, and
Leontopodium alpinum. It was only 440 hectare at this time,
but was increased to 900 hectare in 1962.
The main conservation area covers 4879 hectare, and the buffer zone
stretches on 9894 ha. In 1952(the year when the first forest management
plan was set up in the Piatra Craiului area) around 17.2% from the
entire massif surface was designated for conservation purposes.
In 1990 Piatra Craiului
was declared a national park with other 12 national and natural parks in
Romania. In 1999, coinciding with the implementation of the Biodiversity
Conservation Management Project the first park administration was
established.
"I'm in love with
Transilvania. I love the way the horizon rolls, I love
how the Carpathian Alps soar like a tidal wave two thousand metres high.
I
love the sound of the words: Făgăraş(fugger-ash), Ucea(oo-chay-ah),
Braşov(brash-ov).
"I love the timeless images of rural life flashing past
the window of my train. A shepherd leans on his stick, wearing a
fleecy coat the size of a small car.
"A ramshackle wooden wagon jolts down a muddy track, lead by a prancing, skinny
black horse with blinkers and a faded rosette. Mucky kids squat in
ditches, tossing pebbles into pools.
Stout women in headscarves carry wood
or chat over a fence, tough as old boots. Wizened old men sip from small
glasses, playing chess in their rumpled black suits, white shirts and black
hats."
==LODGING===================================
Need to get more local information and advice? Talk to a local agent about local things to do and sites to see!
Listed below are some local agents who can help you with bookings and organize local tours in the Bran area.
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All
of the neighbouring villages and those too from further away take
part in The Gathering, which remains a great way to display the
traditional costumes, many specific to their own valley or commune.
Many a marriage proposal is also made and accepted at The Gathering
too!
The
Piatra Craiului "King's rock"
Mountains
Select Holiday Villas, Str. Principala , nr.140 in Bran
