Romania: Bran, Brasov, and Bucharest
'We cannot say that Vlad the Impaler was entirely sane, but he is a great hero to us,' said Andrei, my guide, as we departed Bucharest, driving north out of the Romanian capital.
The car pulling away, I watched a black cat delicately pick its way across a window ledge on a distant neoclassical building, like a passing shadow.
This wasn't the only dark omen. A couple of hours later, leaving sunny Wallachia Province behind, we entered Transylvania.
The weather abruptly changed. Mist rose. Snow fell. The sky darkened.
Timeless Travels Magazine
Summer 2015
© Garry J Shaw
The car bumped along a potholed road. A Roma village, full of colourful wooden houses, bounced by. In the distance, a fortress perched upon a craggy mountain. 'A peasant fortress,' Andrei explained, pointing. 'The people ran there in times of trouble.' Just the type of thing you want to hear on the way to the famed 'Dracula Castle,' I thought, increasingly convinced that the Romanian tourist board had staged it all.