[above] The popular outward manifestation of the Dracula legend, Bran Castle - just down the hill from my house. Actually the charming summer residence of the late Queen Marie of Romania, there is nothing of the Count inside the gates, although a thriving tat market outside the gates is full of fabulously tacky Drac tat.
[Right] The real residence of Vlad Tepes (he Impaler), at Poenari, miles from anywhere, on the Transfagarasan Highway. 1500 steps up from the road, apparently (I haven't checked).
ITV is broadcasting a new series in the spring – subtly titled 'Demons' – a kind of British Buffy, with Philip Glenister playing an American vampire chaser, godfather to a teenage Van Helsing. The series is set in London, which means the cast and crew missed the chance to see the real and beautiful homeland of the fictional über-vampire, Count Dracula.
I don't like to mention the matter here, it being a seriously uncool topic in Transylvania. (Bit like an eager Beatles fan coming to Liverpool and banging on and on and on about the Fab Four. At least the Beatles existed, and two have been sighted this year in the city.)
Dracula was the invention of an Irishman who (I gather) never went to Transylvania, and although the Dracula name has some etymological relevance, the myth is redundant. But what a spoilsport I am. If Dracula, and his supposed inspiration, Vlad Tepes, bring folk to the area, they will see the true value of Transylvania and its people, and forget about the gothic nonsense. I am being hypocritical, of course, as I grew up on Hammer horrors, and once (when I was very young) trailed Christopher Lee through Shepherd's Market in London. (He is very tall. Easy to spot.)
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