And by Count Dracula, we really mean Vlad the Impaler, the prince of Wallachia commonly associated with vampire lore. Vlad III only has a loose connection to Bran Castle, famously depicted in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula.
The castle is much older than the novel and vampire lore itself. Teutonic Knights in 1212 built the castle, before it was destroyed and rebuilt in the 14th century, serving as a strategic military fortress until the 1700s. Vlad the Impaler is said to have only passed through the gorge a few times, the extent of his time at the castle.
Also known as Vlad Dracula, the monarch’s relationship with the mythical figure is tangential at best. Strigoi have existed in Romanian folklore for at least five centuries, beginning with Jure Grando, a villager accused of being a vampire in the 1600s, the first documented account of such a creature in history. Stoker was the first person to connect Dracula to the vampire legend, inspired by the ruler’s reputation for cruelty, though historians agree Stoker had little information about the real Vlad or the castle he never stayed in.
Nonetheless, it is known locally as “Dracula’s Castle,” due to the success of Stoker’s novel and its popularity as a destination for visitors to Romania. The town of Bran is easily accessible from Bucharest by train, taking about three hours.
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