Lake Snagov, Snagov Monastery - Vlad Tepes island burial? Complex Astoria

Lake Snagov, 

Snagov Monastery, 
Burial, Possible once,  Vlad III Tepes

Complex Astoria

Approach Romania with a view to history that can be corroborated, and history-stories that cannot, but carry weight.  Then find that the parts that cannot be corroborated, take on an independent fictional existence. Enjoy them all, but vet.  With so many images of Vlad III Tepes, Vlad the Impaler, it takes conscious effort to approach his biography with detachment, see Vlad III Tepes, see See http://www.pitt.edu/~slavic/courses/vampires/images/vlad/vlad.html. 

1.  Lake Snagov.  Is, or was, all or part of Vlad III Tepes buried here.  Row out, from the summer hub, Complex Astoria, to find out.  That is the only access.  Early morning is lovely.

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Lake Snagov, Romania. Row to monastery from Complex Astoria











Complex Astoria is a traditional resort area now, and about 18 miles from Bucharest, and built during the communist era for the elite. It looked like a perfect first destination from the guidebook, but it did not mention that closes well before we were to arrive in the area, in October  There were caretakers about, and others, so we were given a nice room.  See FN 1 


2.  Snagov Monastery:

The only way to get to the island monastery, and the alleged burial place of Vlad;s body (the claim) is by rowboat. Strong young men at Astoria will do the rowing. Leave plenty of time. Transport to the island is by rowboat. Go fast, before all this changes to motor launches and noise. See it at http://www.bootsnall.com/travelstories/europe/nov03vlad.

Monastery, Lake Snagov, perhaps burial place of Vlad III Tepes, Vlad the Impaler

It was built in the 1300's, see http://felixromania.com/sights/wallachia/snagov/ Bones were found at a doorway and elsewhere here, some human and some elegant fabric, but there can be established no connection to Vlad, and some apparently there also were animal (chicken) bones.  Apparently he is not there any more.  The story tells that he was moved (his body - the head was decapitated during battle) to the outside, by the door, to protect it. Then, when places were dug up to find him, there was no sign -- only chicken or other animal bones.  Was the head taken elsewhere.
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There are records that he had once been buried in the church.

There was a printing press here in the 1700's, but then the place became disused, then used as a prison, and eventually, renovations began sporadically, up to 1995 or so. 

Snagov Monastery, Lake Snagov, Romania. Interior. Alleged Vlad burial

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At the small church on the island, it is pay to play.  A priest takes entry tickets to the interior spot in front of the altar where Vlad is said to be buried. See http://www.draculas.info/gallery/picture_of_monastery_of_snagov_vlad_the_impaler_grave-12/  This site looks like a Romanian offering an overview, to be preferred over the tourism sites, see http://dracula-transylvania.blogspot.com/2008/04/snagov-monastery.html/  

The interior is lovely, even if set for tourists. One novel, "The Historian," by Elizabeth Kostova, see http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=1589 focuses at one point on where the head might have gone, then the body, and by whom, and what happened to the parts next. Are all reunitings good things? See and speculate about the stories at http://www.castleofspirits.com/vlad. - Vlad tales.
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One novel, "The Historian," by Elizabeth Kostova, see http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=1589 focuses at one point on where the head might have gone, then the body, and by whom, and what happened to the parts next. Are all reunitings good things? See and speculate about the stories at http://www.castleofspirits.com/vlad. - Vlad tales.
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FN  1   Complex Astoria
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Overnight.  This had been a communist resort, still is a resort, see http://mapcarta.com/28166480.  Use your translator at http://www.tourismguide.ro/tgr/complex_astoria_snagov_1778.php.  Beware that it is seasonal. This was October, and just past the tourist season. More at http://www.world66.com/europe/romania/snagovlake. It was already in process of closing until spring completely, and we were the only guests there.  Nervous?  Why.  It's too late to go elsewhere, we don't travel fancy, our backpacks are all we have, and without faith in human nature no travel is worth it anyway.  When the door would not lock, we stuck a chair under the knob as seen on TV.  Done.
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There are many campsites and chalets at the resort. The main building is a large hotel with atrium, long halls with rooms. Just fine. Back to locks. Check that you know how to work the locks before accepting the room and unpacking. They are not the same as ours. May take several turns. As it turned out, ours would have locked if we just kept turning, and turning.
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Timing an arrival somewhere:
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If you find yourself in a place without restaurants or hotels, as here (we finally found the Complex) just stop at the nearest Magazin Mixt - at the nearest crossroads - convenience store - and make a picnic. Sit outside and eat, and just be friendly. Lots of horsecarts, people, children.

FN 2 

Roma in Romania: 

• Roma constitute 10% of the Romanian population, see Central Europe Review at  http://www.ce-review.org/00/41/dragomir41.html.  In Romania, they were originally brought in as slaves in medieval times, and are now dismissed and discriminated against as disruptive, criminal, etc. Read the Central Europe Review site above,  CER.  See also Gypsies,  Roma, Romani.  The US and other western countries follow suit. See http://sciway3.net/clark/freemoors/roma.html. 
•  Is Presidential Candidate Romney the inheritor of a Roma surname from a century ago, before becoming Mormon?  Possibly. There were no Mormons before 1820 --Joseph Smith, see http://historyofmormonism.com/, so Romney had to be something else. Our names come from somewhere.  Even if he knows he comes from Roma roots, or has any interest even if he specifically doesn't, is he different in now ignoring them.  Do any of us take ethnicity so seriously that we promote the group's thriving when we rise above?  See speculations at http://joyofequivocating.blogspot.com/2011/10/deny-thy-father-romney-as-roma-other.html.  Go check.  Ancestry.com can help.

For any candidate in any country for any substantial elected office: what have you done to promote the well-being of the Roma population in your borders? Education? Structures? Jobs? Health?

2.  Snagov Monastery:  The only way to get to the island monastery, and the alleged burial place of Vlad;s body (the claim) is by rowboat. Strong young men at Astoria will do the rowing. Leave plenty of time. Transport to the island is by rowboat. Go fast, before all this changes to motor launches and noise. See it at http://www.bootsnall.com/travelstories/europe/nov03vlad.
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The Monastery:
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Snagov Monastery, Lake Snagov, Romania. Interior. Alleged Vlad burial

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There is a small church on the island, with a priest taking the entry tickets to the interior spot in front of the altar where Vlad is said to be buried. See http://www.draculas.info/gallery/picture_of_monastery_of_snagov_vlad_the_impaler_grave-12/  This looks like a Romanian offering an overview, to be preferred over the tourism sites, see http://dracula-transylvania.blogspot.com/2008/04/snagov-monastery.html
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Apparently he is not there any more.  The story tells that he was moved (his body - the head was decapitated during battle) to the outside, by the door, to protect it. Then, when places were dug up to find him, there was no sign -- only chicken or other animal bones.
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Still, there are records that he had once been buried in the church.
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Travel tips. Cash for the Road. Complex Astoria. Dog Precautions; Eating

Precautions.

1.  Take some cash.

Do not assume that there will be ATM's immediately outside the main city where you land.  Use the airport rather than wait.  For more speed, take some cash in the local currency with you, despite the cost of doing that in the US, just in case.  Heading north toward Snagov, we were suddenly beyond urbanity, and there was no immediately visible place and no banks outside Bucharest for
ATM's that we could see.

Cash was vital.  The next largest town, Brasov, of course had ATM's, but we needed our ready cash for eating and spending the first night.

We got to the Snagov area in late afternoon, got ourselves well lost among little, poverty-overwhelmed villages and dirt-rutted roads. When we found the Complex Astoria to spend the night, we found out why the signs were down. It was closed for the season.  They opened a room for us, and luckily we had cash to pay. No credit card option there.\

2.  Pocket your hands. Stray dogs.

Hand safety can be an issue for the careless, walking around.  Ask before being friendly with dogs, and if noone is around, pocket your hands.  There are homeless dogs everywhere, in packs, and by themselves.

Why? We understand that Ceaucescu would not let people take their pets when they were moved wholesale in Bucharest and elsewhere out of neighborhoods that were then razed for big government buildings and boulevards, into high rises.  This is a huge issue, not only for humane treatment of all living, but for public safety.  See http://www.koirienystavat.com/en/dogs-in-romania/.   Puppies, show dogs, all were set loose. Thousands upon thousands are out there now.

These are often identifiable specific breeds, cockers covered in burrs, little doggies, even still.  New parliament buildings were needed.  Was that necessary, to forbid the pets, given the public health and other nuisance now?  By way of update, see http://www.ibtimes.com/romanian-stray-dogs-slaughtered-streets-red-card-romania-spreads-facebook-1505630

We were told to keep our hands in our pockets, so we did. The dogs trot along with you, just don't pet. Others not so friendly. We were told not to experiment.

3.  Food when there are no restaurants

Dinner when there is no dinner.  Magazin Mixt.
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Magazin Mixt means convenience store. At Lake Snagov, we had a fine meal from a general deli (dried sausage, rolls, cheese), a kind of bodega, at a village. People and especially children came around to stare, but we felt welcome and safe.
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Brasov, Bran Castle

Bran Castle is part of the Vlad Tepes collection of sites, in detail at http://romaniaroadwaysvladtepes.blogspot.com/2006/08/bran-castle-brasov-popular-tradition.html.

Bran Castle, Brasov, Romania

Bran Castle, a rainy look-back.

Our route:  Airport at Bucharest, head immediately north to Lake Snagov where Vlad Tepes may or may not be buried or have been buried all or in part, see Sinaia and Peles Castle, and then on to Brasov.

Find Bran Castle and the other Vlad Tepes sites in detail and with photos at  Romania Road Ways II, Vlad Tepes, site, at http://romaniaroadwaysvladtepes.blogspot.com/2006/08/bran-castle-brasov-popular-tradition.html. 

We integrate them here as a place holder.  How to see where we went, if we totally separate out Vlad Tepes?

Bran Castle:  obvious from the roadway, go there.

Brasov: Bran Castle - Popular tradition for Vlad. Not really Vlad.

 Brasov, Bran Castle

This looks "Dracula" but was he ever here? Probably not.

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Bran Castle, Brasov, Romania

1.  Bran Castle, in Brasov, is about 70 miles north of Snagov Lake, where the island monastery claims to hold Vlad remains, or did. Bran is about 87 miles north of Bucharest.  Brasov gets tourists because Bran Castle looks good, is indeed a real and very historic castle, see http://www.draculas.info/travel_transylvania/bran_castle_history_i/, and is not far Bucharest's airport.  It is located in a confluence of trade and military routes, defending against the Ottomans, and became wealthy with customs and other fees and duties.
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2.  Vlad's armies also attacked Brasov, but that did not relate particularly to Bran Castle. See the Draculas Info site.  The Bran Fortress is pivotal to Romanian history in its own right:  the incursion of Vlad tourists thinking this is pivotal Vlad does the castle a disservice, diminishing interest in real history.

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Bran Castle, Brasov, Romania

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The guides at the castle will tell you that Vlad was only there as a guest once in a while, if even that, or was imprisoned there. It is lovely, well restored, but tenuous in any significant connection or any connection at all to the historic Vlad Tepes.
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Tours do hype the factoid that Vlad lived there. But it makes a buck - or lei, or the new leu.  For the claims, see, for example.

• Claim:  Bran castle was a residence of Vlad. See http://www.vsra.net/dractour/dractour
• Claim:  Vlad used this castle as home base for his incursions from Wallachia, the southern part of Romania where he ruled from time to time, into the northern section, Transylvania. See http://www.draculascastle.com/html/branint1.

A recent TV show (this is an update 2/2/07) showed Bran Castle and the town of Brasov, as one of the walled towns that Vlad used in anchoring his rule, especially against the Ottoman invasion. There was no hint of that when we were there, but we see now that he had other connections to Brasov.  He was arrested near Brasov by Matthias Corvinus; and he later, for other reasons, led an assault on the town and impaled many on a nearby hill.  It was a successful commercial town, with many influential Saxon merchants.  Vlad led an assault on Brasov (no mention of Bran) to break the hold of the Saxons.  Credibility of all the accounts historically is questionable, but they clinched his reputation. See overview account at http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/vlad.html.

3.  Vlad the Impaler and "Impalement"

Impalement:  this was also a means of "crucifixion", see Crucifixion, history, uses, variations for etymology and more information than you want to know.  The point is that the method was common. Did Vlad do more than most? Probably, or not? Takes more research than merely looking at woodcuts with agendas, making a point.
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4.  Return of property.
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I read that the government is giving the castle back to the heirs, so it may or may not remain open as a tourist destination. Vlad or not, it is lovely.
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5.  Comparing history with legend
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Some sites do a fine job of comparing the legends with the historical reality, as far as that is known or debated now. We took time to read the exhibits.

Rasnov Citadel

Rasnov Citadel, Romania

Romania was on the routes to the Crusades in the Holy Land, and this castle fortress was built by German knights, the Teutonic Knights. The citadel dates from the 1200's. Find the Teutonic Knights and their incarnation in many places, especially in the Baltic area as Malbork, see  Poland Road Ways.  Rasnov is known in German as Rosenau. With so much fallen into ruin, it was being reconstructed when we were there.  There was no restriction on access, up and down staircases, parapets.  This is the area known as Burzenland, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzenland/  Tartar invasions stopped its development as a monastery.  Little houses within the walls served to protect refugees from the invasions below.

It was under construction, renovation, when we were there.  See it now (update 2014) at http://www.romanianmonasteries.org/romania/rasnov-citadel/. 

Teutonic Knights and Crusades.  After the crusades failed, the Teutonic Knights, then unemployed, regrouped as mercenaries in the Slavic countries, here, Poland, at their castle at Malbork.  Once militarily trained, and ideologically set, the context for activities is mutable.

Teutonic Knights, Grand Masters, Malbork, Poland

There is a lovely video on Romania that includes the fortress, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6eXrgs5tHo.  Visit and find signs not to a hotel, but to a pensione. Follow the rutted road, around and around, and within a wall is a fine, hospitable place to stay.  

The coloring in the video is closer to the real -- camera flaw on my part here. Some photos come out purple.