Category: Bran Castle

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Where Did Vlad Dracula Live as Voivode of Wallachia, 1456-1462, Part 5

Vlad the Impaler, Curtea Veche Bucuresti

Curious where did Vlad Dracula live during his second and longest reign of Wallachia, besides Targoviste? Then join my travels today.

Vlad had spent years traveling through the Ottoman lands, Moldavia, and Transylvania—but where did Vlad Dracula live during those years, and which courts, fortresses and roads shaped the man he would become?

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Rucăr Bran Corridor, Romantic, Beautiful, Charming, Historical Uphill #Im4Ro

Rucar Bran Pass

Strolling uphill from Rucăr to Bran is like walking through a dream-like space among villages lost in time, and under the watchful eye of millennial Bucegi – Leaota mountains on one side, and the spectacular Piatra Craiului, Prince’s Stone (like a sleeping dragon covered with a blanket of clouds) and Iezer on the other.

Rucăr is located in Arges County, the historical province of Wallachia, while Rucăr-Bran Pass and Bran Castle are located in neighboring Brasov County, in the historical province of Transylvania.

Yet the beauty of the natural passthat winds uphill from Rucăr, through a mountain corridor, to finally reach Bran Castle lies not only in the nature surrounding it, or in the history trapped underfoot, but also in the memories it carries.

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A New Literary Comparison, Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Vlad the Impaler

New Literary Comparison Bram Stoker Dracula Vlad Impaler

A reader’s literary comparison between Bram Stoker’s Gothic character Dracula and Wallachian Voivode Vlad the Impaler, aka Vlad Dracula.

I was reading through the notes Bram Stoker made prior to writing his gothic Dracula novel – the originals should be in Rosenbach Museum & Library of Philadelphia. Like many of you, I know that the opinions are divided between scholars and fans who believe that Stoker used Vlad the Impaler as his inspiration for Dracula, and those who do not.

If my scientific background taught me anything, is to research and draw my own conclusions. So here we go, looking at Bram Stoker’s notes and at how he portrayed his literary character Count Dracula and comparing them to what historical documents and sources tell us about Vlad the Impaler the man, aka Vlad Dracula, Vlad III, Voivode of Wallachia.

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