Bran Castle

Cristian, our tour leader, took us for a walk this morning along a trail on the opposite side of the old town from where we walked yesterday.

The trail was not as wooded, but still very pleasant. There were more sections of the old city wall still intact on this side.

We also passed some of the city's sports facilities: an outdoor ice hockey rink (now drained for the summer, of course), courts for European handball, a large tennis facility, and a high school track oval with soccer fields in the center, rather than the American football field we're used to seeing.

On the way back to the hotel, we searched for and located the old Jewish synagogue in the city. But like most in this part of the world, it no longer functions and stands as a museum. There was a fee to enter, so we passed. We've already visited enough of these.

Because the housekeeping staff at this hotel is incredibly inefficient, our room was still not serviced after most of the morning (in fact, they didn't get to it until about 3 p.m. -- still earlier than the previous day). So we vacated and did some reading in the lobby.

We then decided to take another walk to visit the Orthodox church that we can see in the distance from our hotel room. Fairly recently restored, it has an especially beautiful dome.

The day was growing hot, so we sought out a place in the shade to linger over a beer. We found a craft beer spot, but our selection wasn't the best. Perhaps if our Romanian had been better....

We signed up for the optional tour to Bran Castle, (pronounced Brawn) but it didn't begin until 4:15 in the afternoon. This castle (or at least a sketch of it) was the inspiration for the castle described by Bram Stoker in his horror novel, Dracula.

Stoker used Transylvania and the castle as backdrops, even though he never actually visited here. He also borrowed the name from Vlad Dracula, the brutal 15th century ruler of Wallachia (the Romanian province south of Transylvania). Although this guy never visited Bran Castle either!

The castle remains intact, and was in fact occupied by members of the Romanian royal family until World War II and the communist takeover.

After our tour, we were served dinner on the castle grounds. The menu was duck, followed by something called "Romanian Funeral Dessert." It's much better than it sounds, consisting of whole wheat grain (like an oatmeal), nuts, honey, and rum. The dessert is uniquely Romanian and often served at funeral lunches, hence the name.