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Bran Castle

by - August 4 2010

Sometimes it feels like Transylvania is putting a special performance just for me. That is how it felt when, just as I crossed the gate into the grounds of Bran Castle, commonly marketed at Dracula's castle, the sky turned dark, lighting flashed, thunder roared, and rain started pelting down. It hadn't rained at any other point during the trip, and, curiously, the storm stopped as soon as I left the gates of the castle grounds. It was almost as if there was a permanent thunder storm constrained within the castle grounds.

Bran is a well preserved medieval castle that was used to defend Christian Transylvania against the invading Turks. The architecture is appropriately beautiful and the castle is filled with information about the castle, the wars, Vlad Tepes, and Dracular.

The castle and it's environs feature frequent use of the black wood that seems to be a key part of the Transylvania style. It seems that the black colour comes from some kind of stain that is applied to the wood. In places where the wood is damaged you can see that it is pale underneath.

As one might expect, Bran castle is absolutely filled with tourists.