Tracking Vlad the Impaler: A Winter Journey Through Romania’s Haunted Rails

Join me on a wintry pilgrimage through the heart of Romania. Snow on the Tracks: Shadowing Vlad the Impaler to Sighișoara is a travel essay close to my heart, recently featured as a finalist in the Pilgrimages writing competition on Intrepid Times. This journey by train, from Bucharest to the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, the medieval town of Sighisoara, threads through snow-dusted forests, ancestral echoes and the pulse of a country still shaped by its legends.

It’s a story of looking out the window. And into the past.

Read the full piece here: Snow on the Tracks: Shadowing Vlad the Impaler to Sighișoara.

With thanks to Intrepid Times for publishing my travel story and to my wonderful husband for supplying those gorgeous pictures.

19/10/202319/10/2023

Vampire History You Never Knew of, a Comprehensive Journey

spooky shadow night passage Sibiu comprehensive journey vampire history

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

The eternal enigma of vampires lingers in the realm of night. Enigmatic creatures, known for their mysterious nocturnal journeys in pursuit of the life-giving crimson essence, yearn for the vitality they’ve forfeited, thereby weaving a tapestry of legends across history.

25/08/202324/05/2024

The Boyar, with a Dagger, in a Sibiu Square, or Assassinating Mihnea cel Rău

Evanghelical Church Sibiu, Southern Portal 1457, has a baroque style door

There are numerous historical stories associated with Sibiu, Transylvania, but the assassination of dark Mihnea Vodă cel Rău, son of Vlad the Impaler, by a boyar, with the dagger, in the church square stands out.

01/07/202114/04/2025

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.

24/06/202114/04/2025

Bran Castle, Time Tunnel Explained, All You Need to Know #Im4Ro

Bran Castle, Romania, inaugurated an unique Time Tunnel, a museum that comes to life, but unless you’re obsessed with the history of Romania it will help to know beforehand what is each exhibit’s connection with Bran Castle. So here’s all you need to know before visiting the Time Tunnel at Bran – or a virtual one.