Vlad, or Dracula, was born in in Transylvania into a noble family. His father was called "Dracul," meaning "dragon" or "devil" in Romanian because he belonged to the Order of the Dragon, which fought the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Therefore young Vlad was "son of the dragon" or "son of the devil.
Dracula lived in a time of constant war. Transylvania was at the frontier of two great empires: the Ottoman Turks and the Austrian Hapsburgs. Treachery, vindictiveness, and revenge ruled the day, as young Dracula soon discovered.
Dracula was imprisoned, first by the Turks, who hauled him away in chains, and later by the Hungarians. Dracula's father was murdered, while his older brother, Mircea, was blinded with red-hot iron stakes and buried alive. From until his death in , Dracula ruled Walachia and Transylvania, both part of Romania today.
Twice he lost and reclaimed his throne, once by fighting his own brother, Radu. Although the Vatican once praised him for defending Christianity, it disapproved of his methods, which soon became infamous. Dracula earned another nickname, "Vlad Tepes" pronounced tsep-pesh , which means "Vlad the Impaler. Team building and communication in the school. Leadership and educational management.
Understanding the Romanian Education System. Transylvania - landscape and legends. Romanian cooking an interactive, tasty experience! Defending Europe and Christianity, finding identities. The ruins of Poienari Fortress stand high on a cliff overlooking the Arges River, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Built at the beginning of the 13th century by the first Walachian rulers, the castle changed names and residents a few times over the decades; eventually, it was abandoned and left in ruins.
Vlad recognized the potential of the location and upon taking over the throne, he ordered that the structure be repaired and consolidated, turning it into one of his main fortresses. When the Turks attacked and captured the castle in , Vlad escaped via a secret passageway leading north through the mountains. Although the castle was used for many years after Vlad's death in , it was eventually abandoned again in the first half of the 16th century and left to the ravages of time and weather.
In , a major landslide brought down a portion of the castle which crashed into the river far below. The castle underwent repairs and the remnants of its walls and towers stand to this day. You will need stamina to climb the 1, steps to reach the castle ruins, perched high above the surrounding area like an eagle's nest.
Next visit Arefu, where many of the villagers trace their ancestry back to the loyal minions of Vlad Tepes himself in the movies, these are the ones who are always busy loading up Dracula's coffins with Transylvanian earth. Legend has it that when the Turks attacked and took over the Poenari Castle in , it was the villagers of Arefu who helped Vlad escape. Spend the night with the locals camping around a fire and listening to centuries-old folk tales.
Fringed by the peaks of the Southern Carpathian Mountains and resplendent with gothic, baroque and renaissance architecture, as well as a wealth of historical attractions, Brasov is one of the most visited places in Romania. Founded by Transylvanian Saxons during the 12th century, Sighisoara still stands as one of the most beautiful and best-preserved medieval towns in Europe. Designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, this perfectly intact 16th century gem with nine towers, cobbled streets, burgher houses and ornate churches rivals the historic streets of Old Prague or Vienna for atmospheric magic.
It is the birthplace of Vlad Tepes Vlad the Impaler , ruler of the province of Walachia from to find out more about Sighisoara. Address: Str. Cositorarilor 5 Tel: This ocher-colored house is the place where Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's famous Dracula, was born in and lived with his father, Vlad Dracul read more about the story of the Dracul name , until when they moved to Targoviste.
A wrought-iron dragon hangs above the entrance. The ground floor of the house serves as a restaurant, while the first floor is home to the Museum of Weapons. Located at the foot of the Bargau Mountains, not far from the Borgo Pass Pasul Tihuta in Romanian which connects the provinces of Transylvania and Moldavia, the town of Bistrita is one of the oldest in the region.
Archeological findings indicate that the area has been inhabited since the Neolithic age, long before Bram Stocker chose it as the setting of his fictional Dracula's castle. Saxon colonists, who settled here in , helped develop the town into a flourishing medieval trading post.
First mentioned in as Villa Bistiche, the name was later changed to Civitas Bysterce. Today, the old town's quaint 15th and 16th century merchants' houses, the remains of the 13th century fortress walls and a generally unhurried pace have preserved some of Bistrita's medieval atmosphere.
Borgo Pass Bargau in Romanian , made famous in the opening chapter of Bram Stoker's Dracula, is an oft-trod passageway through the Carpathian Mountains in northern Transylvania. Located near the small township of Tihuta, the pass peaks at 3, feet. The Bargau Valley encompasses some of the most beautiful unspoiled mountain scenery in the Carpathians with picturesque traditional villages located in valleys and on hillsides, ideal bases for hiking, riding or discovering their vivid tapestry of old customs, handicrafts and folklore.
Here, you will step into a realm that the fictional Mina Harker described in her diary as "a lovely county; full of beauties of all imaginable kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full of nice qualities. Vlad Tepes was born in in the fortress city of Sighisoara. His father, Vlad Dacul, was the military governor of Transylvania and had become a member of the Order of the Dragon a year before. The Order, similar to the Order of the Teutonic Knights, was a semi-military and religious organization established in in Rome in order to promote Catholic interests and crusades.
For his deeds, the Order of the Dragon was bestowed upon him, hence the title Dracul the Latin word for dragon is draco. While in medieval lure dragons served as symbols of independence, leadership, strength and wisdom, the biblical association of the devil with the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve gave the snake-like dragon connotations of evil.
Thus, the Romanian word Dracul stands in English for both dragon and devil. Commending them on their religious devotion, Vlad ensured that their hats would forever remain on their heads by having the hats nailed to the diplomats' skulls. During one of his many successful campaigns against the Ottomans, Vlad wrote to a military ally in , "I have killed peasants, men and women, old and young, who lived at Oblucitza and Novoselo, where the Danube flows into the sea … We killed 23, Turks, without counting those whom we burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were cut by our soldiers Thus, your highness, you must know that I have broken the peace.
Vlad's victories over the invading Ottomans were celebrated throughout Wallachia, Transylvania and the rest of Europe — even Pope Pius II was impressed. But Vlad also earned a much darker reputation: On one occasion, he reportedly dined among a veritable forest of defeated warriors writhing on impaled poles.
It's not known whether tales of Vlad III Dracula dipping his bread in the blood of his victims are true, but stories about his unspeakable sadism swirled throughout Europe. Tens of thousands killed In total, Vlad is estimated to have killed about 80, people through various means.
This includes some 20, people who were impaled and put on display outside the city of Targoviste: The sight was so repulsive that the invading Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, after seeing the scale of Vlad's carnage and the thousands of decaying bodies being picked apart by crows, turned back and retreated to Constantinople.
In , while marching to yet another battle with the Ottomans, Vlad and a small vanguard of soldiers were ambushed, and Vlad was killed and beheaded — by most reports, his head was delivered to Mehmed II in Constantinople as a trophy to be displayed above the city's gates.
Stoker, who never visited Vlad's homeland, was nonetheless known to have read Wilkinson's book. And if ever there were a historical figure to inspire a bloodthirsty, monstrous fictional character, Vlad III Dracula was one.
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