Summary
"Count Who?"
Our guide at Bran Castle in Transylvania -- yes, that castle, that Transylvania -- is being honest with us.See the full content of this document
Extract
Sink Your Teeth Into Transylvania
I didn't come here for honesty. In fact, I'm finding it hard to handle the truth.
But our Bran Castle guide, who is wearing an official nametag and so has some measure of gravitas, is hammering more nails in the misconception coffin.Until curious travelers began appearing at the castle, Bram Stoker book in hand, "we didn't even know about this Count Dracula," Mattei said. The castle was built as a military fortress in 1377, and most Romanians associated the place with their beloved Queen Marie, who received the castle as a gift in 1920.Heck, Stoker's novel wasn't even translated into Romanian until 1990.But the Romanian people know how to adapt. "When we saw the money come in with the people, we started to say, 'Oh yeah, Dracula, you mean Vlad the Impaler.' "Not that anyone or anything official (like signs and brochures) I encountered during a four-day tour of Transylvania and Bucharest actually perpetuated the ...See the full content of this document
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