After visiting Pele’s Castle, we were heading for Brasov for a short stop to do a little bit of sightseeing and walking around. We spent the time taking some photos, did some shopping, and ate some ice cream.

 

The famous “Brasov” sign, just like the Hollywood one. The Rasnov area has also its own sign, which we’ll be visiting next time.

 

 

 

Then, we were off to our final stop: Bran Castle, also known as the (unofficial) Dracula’s castle. This is not a very long trip from Brasov, so we were there shortly afterwards. Before coming over to the castle, there were loads of souvenir shops which we wished we’d had more time to explore, but due to the time limit we had to focus mostly on the castle, the main reason we came there. And it was so fun to finally see the Dracula castle, made famous by Bram Stoker’s novel. In the real life Dracula just spent some nights in the castle, while his real home Poenari Castle, which is now in ruins, is located on a mountain 60 km south/east from Bran. The place was not open for tourists during our visit, but we’ll definitely check it out sometime.

 

Bran Castle, seen from the park area.

 

Some interior photos.

 

From the courtyard.

 

A pretty cool “do not smoke” sign in the park area.

 

Outside one of the secret passageways to the castle.

 

So, all in all the “2 castles in 1 day” trip with TravelMaker was excellent, and we were able to get so much done in just 1 day. Both the guide and the driver made the trip truly enjoyable. Highly recommended if you’re wanting to make the most out of your day while visiting some castles near Bucharest!

And that was Romania for now.

Some final thoughts: Great country, great people, great food, and Bucharest was a surprisingly clean place in spite of being in a relatively poor country.  There are police everywhere to make the streets safe. Easy access to Taxis which also is very cheap. And of course a lot to see, and we haven’t checked everything off our list yet, so we’re definitely going back sometime. Here’s some of the souvenirs we brought back home:

One of the Romanian traditional masks which is used  in some customs, rituals and traditional dances, depending on the time of year. It’s also handmade, and really big.

 

See also:

• Visiting Romania, Part 4: Peles Castle
• Visiting Romania, Part 3: Exploring Bucharest, Part 2
• Visiting Romania, Part 2: Exploring Bucharest, Part 1
• Visiting Romania, Part 1: Grand Hotel Continental, Bucharest

Filed in Photo, Travel on Wednesday, July 17, 2019 Tags: bran castle, brasov, romania, romanian souvenirs, transylvania · 1 Comment »