A Romanian Castle Crawl!

Our Adventure In Transylvania

If I had to come up with one reason why the European countryside is so much cooler than in America, it would definitely be the castles!

Last year, my brother and I did a road trip from Milwaukee to California, and it was an absolute blast! We drove through the Rocky Mountains, the stunning canyons of Utah, the Nevada desert, and the California coast.

As breathtaking and diverse as the scenery was, we definitely did not run into any castles.

In Europe, castles are peppered throughout every region, serving as living reminders of the grandeur that kings and queens used to treat themselves with.

Sidney and I just had the most amazing experience going castle-hopping through the Carpathian Mountains of the Transylvania region!

Well, okay. We saw two castles. Not exactly a castle marathon.

However, these were, without a doubt, two of the coolest castles I have ever seen!

Our first stop was Peleș Castle, which is a Neo-Renaissance structure near the Romanian town of Sinaia.

This castle served as the summer retreat and hunting lodge for King Carol I of Romania. It was officially inaugurated in 1883.

We were absolutely lost for words when we first saw the outside of this stunning structure.

It definitely has a German/Austrian feel to the design, and the gardens offered so many great views of the exterior.

We also got to tour the interior, where we saw the lavish marble corridors, dining quarters, and foyer.

I have been to a few castles in the UK and Ireland, and I enjoyed the distinctly medieval feel of those ancient fortresses.

However, there is something to be said for contemporary castles with snow-capped mountains serving as a natural backdrop.

We were also extremely fortunate with the timing of our tour. Usually, there are large groups that have to wait for over an hour for their turn to see the inside of Peleș Castle.

We were in a group of less than 20, and we walked right in!

Although, we have heard that the best time to go is in the Fall when the leaves change. We might have to come back sometime down the road!

The next stop on our road trip was Bran Castle, which is located about 15 minutes outside the city of Brașov.

This was a very different castle than Peleș, both in style and history.

Bran Castle is a medieval fortress built in the late 1300’s that eventually became the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula.

In fact, many people simply refer to it as “Dracula’s castle”!

We learned all about how Dracula was inspired by an actual historical figure. His real name was Vlad the Impaler, and he was scary enough without the vampire mystique.

He would brutally murder his enemies by impaling them on a stake and enjoyed watching them die slowly.

Vlad the Impaler’s kingdom was known as Wallachia, but it stretched over much of the modern Transylvania region of Romania.

He was under constant attack from the Ottoman and Hungarian empires, and eventually died in 1477 at the hands of the Ottomans.

Although Bran Castle was never officially Vlad’s home, it served as the subject of the Dracula story because of its imposing and haunting appearance.

Our last stop of the day with the city of Brașov, where Sidney and I were the only ones in the tour group brave enough to try a traditional Romanian restaurant!

We were very happy with our decision. We shared a few traditional Romanian soups, and a delicious smoked pork knuckle.

We are already considering taking a train back up to Brașov before we leave Romania. It was such a cool little mountain town, and had a very different vibe than Bucharest.

We are thoroughly enjoying Romania, and the entire process of discovering a new country!

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