Patricia Furstenberg, Writer of Historical Fiction, Children's Books
Travel via Stories
Any visit at the National Museum of Maps and Old Books in Bucharest is a memorable adventure.
As a traveller and historical fiction writer I have always trusted maps and had a thing for ancient books. I know I’m not alone.
Continue reading “The Unique National Museum of Maps and Old Books in Bucharest”
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?
Continue reading “Where Did Vlad Dracula Live as Voivode of Wallachia, 1456-1462, Part 5”
The years Vlad III spent in Moldavia and Transylvania, exiled, perhaps at the Edirne Ottoman court too, are the ones we now the least about-almost no records were left. These are the years that sparked my imagination writing the historical fiction saga Blood of Kings, Heart of Shadows.
So what exactly do we know about the time Vlad III spent seeking refuge at the Ottoman court an then exiled at the Moldavia court and in Transylvania? He was not yet calling himself Vlad Dracula, and not yet called Vlad the Impaler either.
Continue reading “Following Vlad III in Moldavia and Transylvania: Exile and New Alliances, 1449–1456, Part 4”
How did the boy born in Sighișoara, Transylvania, come to spend most of his youth among the people who threatened his homeland?
1442 – 1448: Captive in the Ottoman world, while his life hung in balance, young Vlad’s fate depended not only on the actions of his older brother and father, but also on the shifting alliances and ambitions of European powers beyond his reach.
Continue reading “Young Vlad III, Part 2: Captive in the Ottoman World – Where He Lived”
Following young Vlad Dracula through 15th century Transylvania and Wallachia to: Sighișoara, Târgoviște, Gallipoli and Eğrigöz.
When we picture Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Dracula, we tend to picture him in a castle: dark stone, narrow windows, a throne, perhaps the mountains rising behind him. Vlad did not spend his life in one castle, one principality, or even one political world. Not even on one continent.
To follow Vlad’s life is to follow a landscape of shifting power: Târgoviște, the princely capital; Transylvania and its fortified towns; the roads crossing the Carpathians; the Ottoman world where he was held hostage; the Hungarian royal court; and, eventually, the battlefields and forests through which he fought his way, always back to Wallachia.
Each left something behind: a language, an allegiance, a military lesson, a memory of captivity, or an enemy who would later become an ally.
Continue reading “Where Did Vlad the Impaler Live? Part 1: Sighișoara, Târgoviște, Gallipoli, and Eğrigöz”