TravelswithCharie

In the peaceful town of Targovişte, 50 miles north of Bucharest, we visited the Museum of Communism, formerly a military garrison. This is where Nicolae Ceausescu  and his wife, Elena, spent their last days. Ceausescu was president of Romania from 1974 until his execution in 1989 and leader of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965. The monument in front of the Museum (first image) is that of Dan Al II cel Viteaz, a five-time Voivode (governor) of Wallachia. His reign ended in 1432 after he was defeated by the Ottomans. He was succeeded by the son of Mircea cel Bătrin, grandfather of Vlad Tepes the Impaler (also Vlad Dracul III) whose life may have been an inspiration for the stories about the blood thirsty Dracula. The Voivodes of Wallachia took up residence in the princely court of Targovişte, the reason I was in the vicinity. Please read my post about the life and times of Vlad Tepes here:  https://www.travelswithcharie.com/2023/12/the-curious-life-and-times-of-vlad.html On...

Bran Castle or Dracula’s Castle The most popular touristic destination in Romania is undoubtedly Bran Castle, more commonly known as Dracula’s Castle. Dracula is a work of fiction by a 19th century Irish novelist named Bram Stoker who had never been to Romania, let alone to Dracula’s Castle. Yet, Dracula haunts many of us so much so that we follow the pilgrims’ path to Transylvania to be where this fictional character supposedly lived and bit his victims to drink their blood. Fiction aside, the family of the real Dracula lived in the picturesque hilltop town of Sighisoara, under the shadow of the 14th century clock tower. Find out more about Sighisoara here:  https://www.travelswithcharie.com/2023/08/sighisoara-medieval-town.html Vlad Dracul, the father of Vlad III,  the Impaler, also known as Vlad Țepeş (and perhaps the inspiration behind the novel, Dracula) supposedly lived in this yellow house from 1431-1435. (There are studies that point otherwise.)  Vlad Dracul was s...