Please be warned that there are violent images and sordid tales in today's blog.
Well, here we are! We made it through Romania all the way to Castle Poienari, the real home of Vlad Dracula, aka Vlad Tepes aka Vlad the Impaler.
Please note that Bran Castle, touted as being Vlad the III's castle, is not. He may have attacked it once, but that's about it. He is not buried in the tomb they have on display in Bran. A headless corpse, that might have been his, was lost during WWII. (His head was sent to the Sultan in Constantinople to prove that he was truly dead.)
At the age of five, Vlad was initiated into the Order of the Dragon.
Vlad's father next moved his family Targoviste in Wallachia where he ruled. Vlad received a well rounded education, studying philosophy, mathematics, science, languages and, of course, combat skills.
His father was ousted from power by Hungarian forces. He made a deal with the Ottoman Empire, the Turks, to secure his return to his throne. The deal was to pay money to the Sultan and to send his own two sons to Constantinople as hostages.
When Vlad was eleven, he and his brother were imprisoned by the Turks where they were beaten and raped repeatedly for years. His older brother, Radu The Handsome, cracked and converted to Islam.
Vlad was eventually released and sent back to Wallachia circa 1446. The Hungarians, still not happy with Vlad's father on the throne, attacked him and Vlad's eldest brother. The father was killed and the eldest brother, Mircea, was tortured with hot iron stakes and buried alive in Targoviste.
Several years of chaos ensued which eventually led to Vlad Dracula taking the throne. He was a strong ruler, strengthening his country economically and defending it through brutal means. His punishment methods ranged from decapitation to burying and boiling alive. Perhaps he was a strong ruler because no one wanted to mess with him? I think, yes. He is, today, somewhat of a national hero for having saved not only Romania, but most of Europe from the invading Ottomans.
Vlad's favorite form of punishing his enemies was to drive a stake through the victim's anus, to come out just below the shoulder, avoiding the internal organs so the victim took longer to die. People could stay alive up to 48 hours that way.
It is said that Vlad took his meals in front of his dying enemies.
Vlad took revenge upon the family that had so brutally killed his father and brother. He attacked them one night when they were having a celebration, killed all the women, children and elderly men on the spot and took the strong men prisoners. He brought them to Poenari and made them build his castle. They worked until the clothes fell off of them and until they fell down dead.
Vlad also had to stave off multiple attacks from the Turks during his reign. Once, he impaled 40,000 Turkish prisoners of war, placing them around his castle and along the road to his castle. The next group of armed Turks saw this grisly spectacle, turned tail and fled. It is said that Vlad impaled up to 120,000 people during his reign. That sounds a bit far fetched as impaling was no easy feat but, hey, who knows.
It is said that Castle Poenari is one of the most haunted places on earth. After learning all of the above, you can understand why.
I had full-on sunshine while visiting Romania. Now, I kid you not, the day I visited Castle Poenari, a massive thunder and rain storm struck. Talk about ambiance!!
I took the C7 to the base of the Fagaras Mountains and parked near this garish sign.
There were dozens of wild dogs running amuck, begging for food. One bumped into the back of my leg with his muzzle while I was getting my Converses out of the trunk of the car. She stuck boldly and stubbornly to my side, guiding me along the thirty minute hike up the mountain to the castle. It was weird and kind of comforting at the same time. She was so congenial and so protective of me, I came to think of her as a real spiritual protector.
Here is the beginning of the trail.
Here is my spirit guide dog. Yeah, I know, crazy eyes! And this was at noon.
A portal, when I went under the tree, I felt as though I had passed into another dimension.
My guide dog was like, "Come on, come on, enough photos, keep moving!"
Is this tree perhaps haunted with a big spirit?
Then the weirdest thing happened. I looked up the hill and saw a natural rock formation that looked exactly like Vlad.
Vlad.
Rock formation.
Cuh-reepy!
At last, the castle!
The view from the castle, high up on a craggy cliff.
Turning right.
Looking across the river. Vlad's first wife threw herself off the castle tower down into the river gorge, preferring to die at her own hand than that of the enemy.
A plan of the castle. One third of which fell into the river gorge in 1888 during a massive earthquake.
View from one of the towers.
Vlad and his family lived here with 5 to 7 soldiers. The rest of the army camped down at the base of the mountain. Here are his living quarters. There were 3 floors, most likely this bottom bit here was the kitchen.
Moving my camera up, you can see where the wooden floor to the second level used to be. Still a few ancient support beams there.
And the third floor, most likely his personal rooms.
A very austere place to live. Not much fun. Very creepy. There weren't many windows for safety's sake. It was small, normal at the time for Chateau fort. You could feel all kinds of energy up there. It was an amazing experience setting my feet in Vlad Dracula's real castle, where he lived and breathed and impaled. Seriously, an amazing experience.
I have to say that I am so excited to get back to writing about my beloved France. Thank you all for being so patient and accompanying me on this marvelous voyage to the East-- Prague and Romania. I love eastern Europe and want to go back and see some more, maybe Poland and Hungary next time around. It is mysterious, beautiful, behind the times, a glimpse of old Europe. I am so happy to see it before the ancient spells wear off and the East becomes just like the West.
But, there is no place like home. And home is Lyon, France!
Bon, gros bisous et a demain!
Love, Charley
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