Bucharest - Music, food -The Dracula Club

Dracula Club, Bucharest, Romania. Knock knock. Who answers.

Bucharest - Some Night Life

The Dracula Club and Other Vlad sites

1.  The Dracula Club in Bucharest is kitsch, plus good food and good fun - see http://www.travellady.com/Issues/Issue60/dracula.htm ("Dinner At The Count's")

Go to the front door, knock, and a little tiny door at eye level opens up and you will be examined. Closely. Then the little door will close.

Even if the premises are rented for a private party, ask if you can just slip in for a while.  We did that and had a fine time.

2.  For further Vlad sites in Bucharest, including the "Princely Court," Curtea Veche, being excavated, at http://romaniaroadwaysvladtepes.blogspot.com/2006/08/bucharest-princely-court-vlad.html

Romania. History of conflicts, seldom peace Life at crossroads.

The history of Romania suggests incessant strife among groups seeking survival or dominance: and larger-than-life leaders, voivvodes and princes, all set in a stark and often brutal (as were the ages) narrative relief.  An emergent strong impression is the ongoing courage and tragedy of the conquered, the fighting back, the briefly prevailing, only to be beset upon by another group. And always on the bottom: the Roma, old slave class of imported people, and poverty-ridden serfs, especially in Transylvania.  That site is pay-per-view JSTOR, so find it through the library.

Recalibrate from super-events to the more mundane realities.

• Reading:  In Europe's Shadow, memoir-history-travelogue by Robert D. Kaplan 2016,  review NYT.  The author is a master of the visit-first, write later approach, with the full title including its scope, Europe's Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond. It fills in history that mere timelines cannot, because depth requires a narrative of experience, referencing art, movements. The focus on modern times is missed on many tours.
• In Europe's Shadow:  https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2016/0202/In-Europe-s-Shadow-is-a-serious-yet-impassioned-survey-of-Romania 

Horezu Monastery, Wallachia, Romania

• Topics:  Old religions and current hermits, see http://otelders.org/modern-day-hermits/modern-day-hermits/  

1.  Value of a narrative.  For a grounding in Romania, both narratives and timelines share a flaw:  Variation in starting points, causations may be minimized.

• Begin at 1600, says the BBC.  
• There find Phanariot Greeks, Ottomans, Habsburgs, Michael the Brave, areas of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, Russian controls and administration, Romania teaming with Russia in the Russo-Turkish War, crushing peasant revolts, King Carol, Romania siding with Germany against Russia, Nicolai Ceaucescu, and then very modern times. That is a crazy quilt without frame.  
• Try 1919 to 2012 at the BBC again. 
• Same criticism.
• Try 8000 BCE to date, at http://www.localhistories.org/romaniatime.html. Better, but still just data.
• Try 104,000 BCE, at [104 mil BCE would be million?  apparently not, try mil as thousand, see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mil 

2. Concepts in basic Romanian history

1,1  Empires:  Byzantine, Ottoman, Habsburg, Russian. Yet the language harks back to Roman times, and the Latinate. Large area, periodic hackings to bits. Romania is a different mix from the Balkans ethnically, and economically. When to stop wars; when to intervene.  Ethnocentric populism movements, see Shadow 75.

1.2  Geography:  Carpathian Mountains separate Central from Eastern Europe.  Wallachia is flat -- anyone can invade, Shadow at 81.

1.3  Role of Orthodoxy:  Religious currents.  Despite the Latinate roots, it is Orthodoxy that appears to dominate, not the Roman Catholic.

• Jews, and the Holocaust. A slaughter. Read Gregor von Rezzori's 1969 Memoirs of an Anti-Semite, a Romanian raised in Austria.  See New Yorker at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/04/26/memoirs-of-an-anti-semite.  Or at https://www.nyrb.com/products/memoirs-of-an-anti-semite?variant=1094930213.  See Shadow at p.27, for the chasms between epochs. Shadow at 83 for stresses, 
• Catholic and Orthodox. Holocaust, good and evil coexisting,  Shadow at 118 ff. Architecture:  Shadow at 214, "intimacy with wood", the monastic percussion semantron, or toaca, call to vespers for example, hear and see at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZVFxGCUWjvwZlgHtBBDXfg

1.4  Ongoing impact of Communism in the 1950's and after:  an "indigestible" ethnic nation, see Shadow at 29. At 37 -- Communism uprooted traditions so the result is an unmatched kaleidescope. The need grows for impersonal laws, applicable to all, to avoid the intrigue and corruption that comes with weak institutions.

1.5  Historic Rulers:

• Mircea the Old, defeated Turks in Wallachia 1395, and again in 1400.  Shadow at 67. See Romanian  DVD at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKRWTJ_TB24
• Stephen the Great, Stephen III, Moldavia, 1457-1504. a diplomatic ruler, Shadow at 69. Note that, as with western Catholicism, there are right-believers and there are heretics, here Stephen the Great is a Right Believer, see http://orthodoxwiki.org/Stephen_the_Great.  When the views clash, comes war.
• Moldavia:  torn off by Russia, apparently, see Shadow at 73, but won back after Russia lost the Crimea, all this takes more research
• Michael the Brave, ruled all 3 principalities, until his assassination in 1601,  Shadow at 71.  Romanian 1971 DVD at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxv6LfcfryA
• Outsiders:  Metternich

3. Specific places, asbridges to current issues

• Mogosoaia Palace, 1698-1702, near Bucharest.  Shadow at 31. Here we found the toppled statue of Lenin, outside the old kitchens, see post.  The palace blends influences of Turkey and Persia. It was built by the Wallachian Prince Constantin Brancoveanu, a man whose love of architecture blended West and Orient. His tragedy was having to play the Russian czar against the Ottoman sultan, and of course he lost. Beheaded.  Romania's impossible.l choices.

• Brasov:  Shadow at 183.  Vlad was not there; hyped, privately owned. The city has more to offer, but the castle is pretty, and old.  Just not a Vlad location.

• Moldova, Moldavia -- ongoing vulnerability, see Shadow at 175. Note the observation that the West offers, theoretically, the rule of law; which Russia does not, but the cultural ties and economic dependency supersedes, see Shadow at 174.  Poland invades under Jon III Sobieski 1691, see Shadow at 195

•  Sighetu Marmetiei, or Sighet, city where the Cold War prison (now a museum) is nearly next to the locked Jewish cemetery, city of Elie Wiesel, see Shadow at 216

• Hunedoara -- Hungarian Iancu de Hunedoars, and the castle, Shadow at 221.  His victories held the Turks at bay for some 70

4.  Mega-events then and now

Wars.  The west of Romania, Eurasia, endured for example the 9 years' war, the 30 years' war, the 80 years' war, the 100 years' war, the 16th Century Italian wars, the 17th Century northern wars (Catholic crusading), The 18th Century Spanish succession wars. And more, sacks of cities Voivodes against Turks on their own. see Shadow at 44.

Early peoples:  Scythians, Cimmerians, Getae.  Shadow at 48. Spend time with early warrior cultures, because these spill into Russia, the Middle East, migrate north.

Cumans at 66 (the Basarabs, from whence came Vlad Tepes (see genetic haplogroup analyses of Y chromosome of persons with Basarab claims, at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0041803 that suggests perhaps they were not were Cuman, East Asian, after all). Yet, traditional "nations" groupings fall short, See Shadow at 53. Individuals are short-circuited when immersed in broad groupings. Explore ideas of Latin-Romanian culture, juxtaposed with Orthodox.  Regaining self-respect after immersion especially in Communism-Stalinism is a struggle, Shadow at 56. Crowds, leaving behind individuality: to what end.

Romanians remained or sank back into status of a frontier people, under threat, constantly on the defense.  Overview at Shadow 64ff, and explore varied histories of those now trying to live together including combinations of early settling Mongols, and now Sunni Muslim  Crimean Tatars.

1930's:   Explore intellectuals  -- this takes individual digging

• Mircea Eliade (critiqued in the book); see http://www.oocities.org/mircea_eliade/eliademethods.htm, 
• E.M. Cioran who died in 1995, NYT obituary of this "novelist, philosopher of despair"  at http://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/22/obituaries/e-m-cioran-84-novelist-and-philosopher-of-despair.html,
• translator Constantin Noica. See Shadow at 59ff.

5.  Tethers

Romania is dependent on Russian natural gas for 1/4 of its needs, Shadow at 48. Russian efforts to extend and incorporate Balkans into its pipeline networks are ongoing, keeping Ukraine and Moldova in upset cross-hairs.

Booklist in the nature of a library resource online: To recapture a sense of adventure, sweep, recollections of the author who loves his old paperbacks:

1. C. R. Boxer 1977, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire 1415-1825; and others at p.xxviii
2. The Governments of Communist East Europe by H. Gordon Skilling, with particular interest in geographical influences, p.xxiii
3. 1901, Buddenbrooks, the Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann at p.xxix, review NYT See Shadow at 51 ff.
   
4. Lord Jim; and Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad, p 12 -- empathy and objectivity; Romania having to liberate themselves as an extension of that idea, and some hopelessness
5. Crowds and Power, Eelias Canetti 1960-- crowd as mass who abandon individuality and grasp an "intoxicating collective symbol" -- to "escape loneliness" ? See p.17
6. No economic or political rest since the 1930's. Toll. P. 19, sources. Con artists survive better than those who play by rules, etc.
7. Tolstoy, Resurrection, p.21

Bucharest, Curtea Veche,The Princely Court - Vlad

Court, Vlad III Tepes, Bucharest, Romania













Curtea Veche,  Princely Court.  Another court, in Targoviste which was the center of the rule first, is also called "Princely Court,". Vlad's court location after moving the political center to Bucharest. See http:// www.rotravel.com/romania/sites/tour/old.php.

The area is a combination of ruin and structures, but is in process of reconstruction. Its history is given at library.thinkquest.org/C0125971/media/english/Map/bucu. Excavations are ongoing.

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Romania Road Ways Itinerary, Including Vlad III Tepes sites (Vlad the Impaler)

Post dates being put in chronological trip order, with the merger of this Romania Road Ways with the Vlad Tepes sites at Romania Road Ways Vlad Tepes.   Both topics, culture and history and specific Vlad III Tepes are being integrated. Post dates reflect the itinerary, not the dates actually seen. Please be patient with us.

Bucharest*
Snagov* -- Lake, Monastery burial of Vlad issues, 
Complex Astoria -- Communist era resort, with rowboats to alleged Vlad burial,
Sinaia
Brasov and Bran Castle*
Rasnov.
Curtea de Arges.
Poinari Citadel
Transfagarasan Pass
Sibiu
Sighisoara*
Targu Mures
Bistrita*
Piatra Fontanele 
Bucovina
Voronet
Putna
Prislop Pass
Sighetu Marmetei
Moisei
Ieud
Sighetu Marmetei
Iasi
Sapanta
Cluj Napoca
Alba Iulia
Baiu Mare
Hunedoara*
Petrogani
Targu Jiu
Horezu
Calimaneste
Rimnicu Vicea
Targoviste*
Mogosoaia
Bucharest*
......................

* Sites visited, and that have particular reference to Vlad III Tepes.  Those sites, separated at originally at Romania Road Vlad Tepes, are now merged here.

See also Romania Road Ways, included at our hub site for all trips to Europe (and other political and cultural commentary and research), at Europe Road Ways. 

For a fast reference to Vlad topics, see Vlad Tepes, The Historical Dracula, at http://www.donlinke.com/drakula/vlad.htm

More:  Go to the History of Central Europe at http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/misc/europe.htm#Mong. Scroll down to the Romania section. This is the most concise but clear and complete accounting we have found so far.

Bucharest, Count Dracula Club, fried rats to eat

The Dracula Club, Bucharest, Romania
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The Dracula Club, Bucharest. Excellent for Halloween. Knock, and a little door in the big door opens and a face peers out. This is a reputable fine food supper club-restaurant, not just a come-on. See http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g294458-d1070292-Reviews-Count_Dracula_Club-Bucharest.html/.  This may not be the place for a romantic proposal, but it served all our other purposes.


Enter and find yourself tightly embraced by the hospitality.


Dan Widing meets Dracula, Count Dracula Club, Bucharest, Romania (on Halloween)
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Enjoy the decor.  People, or parts of people, emerge from the walls.

Enjoy the fried rats - looked like chicken breast with dark pumpernickel breadcrumb coating, pimento puree within, and long tails and whiskers of something, perhaps fried angel hair pasta? See what else is offered, at  http://wwrn.org/articles/6176/?&place=eastern-europe&section=occult

Halloween was dress-up night. Watch for the really good actor who suddenly descends from the ceiling, seeking Mina, Mina, Mina; and grabbing bites where he can.  You may not be studying for an exam on Dracula, but get the overview on Mina at this crib site, http://www.gradesaver.com/dracula/study-guide/section6/

Who else has visited there? Mwah ha ha.  See Dinner At The Count's at http://www.travellady.com/Issues/Issue60/dracula.&gt/   Fitting an unfortunate stereotype, there was a group of American tour guides there at our visit.  They were rude and intolerant, barely tasting the fine buffet prepared.  This was not a friendly group at all. One even said aloud, in the face of a lavish and excellent variety of hot and cold foods, that she never ate local food.  I hope she chooses another career.

Bucharest. Current Events. Romania Draft Legislation. Dolphin Personhood. Recognizing Dolphins as Non-Human Persons. Draft Legislation.

What human qualities, if found in a creature not human, shall afford that creature the rights and protections of a human. Remus Cernea, legislator in Romania, the Black Sea area, city of Constanta, has appropriate ideas. He would afford to dolphins the same rights as people. Personhood, so that killing a dolphin, for example, would be subject to a murder analysis.  Would it be reciprocal? For another day.  For now, whether this effort succeeds is not the issue.  The issue is the effect of raising how we exploit creatures to the level of legislative discussion that is more pivotal to the cause of how we coexist with our fellow planet earth residents over time. See http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/14/oukoe-uk-romania-dolphins-idUKBREA1D1J920140214/.  For Mr. Cernea's Statement, Remus Cernea, and text of proposed legislation at the Draft Law, http://voxpublica.realitatea.net/politica-societate/draft-law-for-recognizing-dolphins-as-non-human-persons-102731.html

This is news in any nation that eats, uses, keeps animals. Dogs have long been excluded from humanitarian considerations in Romania, for example, even when pets. I recall in Romania the hundreds of stray dogs, all breeds, wandering alone or in packs even in unpopulated areas. Dogs forced loose by laws that forbade residents forced out of their homes for governmental purposes from taking their pets with them.  We reminded ourselves, tempted to pet, to talk softly, to coo, hello puppy, to keep hands in pockets, eyes ahead. Our impression was that Romania did not care, or was not allowed to care, about its animals. See http://www.occupyforanimals.org/romania---on-the-greatest-animal-genocide-in-european-history-government-initiated-anarchy-violations-of-human-rights-and-children-rights.html

1. So what is changing? Thinking. Thinking as to dolphins, if not dogs. Any nation can boast a politician, a lawmaker, with ground-breaking causes, but this cause should be spread.

Romanians are accustomed to Michael the Brave, who in the the tumultuous 16th C ff, managed to unite disparate interests with Polish, Hungarian, Transylvanian groups at each other. No quarter given to those subject to slaughter. He then lost, with betrayals, brutality ensued, Michael returned, prevailed but was assassinated, see Zsigmond Bathori, ,Michael the Brave, and Giorgio Basta article at http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/118.html. Scroll down to 1-753.   It is time for Remus the Brave.  Is that so? Or too melodramatic?

Michael the Brave, Cluj Napoca, Romania

For Remus Cernea, imagine the interests that will rally against his vision. May he, as we say, stay strong and perhaps America can follow.

2. Then ask:  On what ground do humans exploit, dominate, use fellow creatures. Because we can?  Because our religion (whose?) translates taking dominion to domination and not leading gently as a god?  See meaning of dominion, from old texts, at Vetting Roots, http://martinlutherstove.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-do-you-do-i-create-tumors.html?q=dominion.  Lead gently, as a god.

3.  Here, Cernea cites the dolphins' high intelligence, relationships within the pod, with other creatures, personality, but all that is only a start.  With equality of right to a life, even if environmentally different, and without ten digits up and down, killing would be subject to the same analyses as murder. The Black Sea rejoices.

Japan is recently in the news for its corralling of dolphins into a killing bay, slaughter of those who cannot escape.  Is it really just a matter of culture, and such deaths not to be reviewed by anyone not of that culture.

4.  How does the draft law look?  This cannot be subject to copyright, so here it is:  Let the Romanian legislature address all issues with clarity and vision. And go to the site and order a T-shirt. http://voxpublica.realitatea.net/politica-societate/draft-law-for-recognizing-dolphins-as-non-human-persons-102731.html

Draft law for recognizing dolphins as non-human persons

Art.1 All species of dolphins enjoy special protection on the territory of Romania, each individual of this species being considered to be a non-human person.

Art. 2 The hereby law defines a non-human person any being that does not belong to the human species, yet posses a developed intelligence, the capacity to form complex social relations, and is the bearer of the following rights:

1. Right to life

2. Right to bodily integrity, and to be free from any acts of cruelty

3. Right to free movement in their own natural environment, not to be captured or hold in captivity with other purposes other than to be offered medical assistance or to be protected from an impending danger.

4. Right to be protected in the own living natural environment, and not to be separated from the group or family he or she belongs.

Art. 3 Any violation of the rights of non-human persons is forbidden and shall be prosecuted with penalties that are equivalent with those stipulated in the Penal Code for violation of similar rights of human persons.

Art. 4 (1) Any current activity involving holding dolphins in captivity and/or using them in various entertaining facilities will cease in no longer than 12 months from the adoption of the hereby law.

(2) During this 12 month period, all dolphins that are considered fit for reintroduction by the specialists will be released into their natural environment populated by the same species.

(3) The dolphins that do not meet criteria for reintroduction in their natural environment will be placed in specialized care for the rest of their lives, and will no longer be used for entertainment purposes on any other purposes that will contravene the status of non-human persons.

Bucharest - Caravanserai

Romania is not a first thought when the old Silk Routes are mentioned.  Still, it was an important stopping point, a gateway into Europe.  Bucharest boasts a fine caravanserai, now offering a restaurant both in the inner courtyard, and in shelter when needed.  The architecture of these structures has remained constant over country boundaries, see AramcoWorld magazine, at http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201104/.  The large square design, two stories on the outer walls, large usually single gate entry, tall and wide to accommodate loaded camels, a well, areas for a mosque, rooms all around, and accommodations for royal travelers as well as those on pilgrimage.
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These took money and organization to sustain:  unending need for fresh straw, filled ewers of liquids, even wines for the European trader heading east?  There would be a scribe at the entry, recording your identity, your goods, your route, how many livestock.

The idea dates, probably, from the 5th Century BC, although there are references in Middle Eastern tales, such as Gilgamesh, to a traveler finding accommodation, an inn, 3000 BCE.  Inns, rather ramshackle, called "pandochions" accepted all comers as well, and the Good Samaritan of Bible Story, left the wounded traveler at one of those.  Then came a more refined Arabic "funduq".

In Romania today, there are the spaced hostels, pensions, the "cazare" everywhere (see http://www.romaniacazare.com/); and hotelier complexes that recall the huge enterprises of the old days.

 History of Romania's invaders, influences ethnic groups, see http://romaniaandmoldova.com/romania/

Bucharest - Ghencea Military Cemetery (Ceaucesu); Museum of the Romanian Peasant; Mogosoia Palace (Lenin)

Bucharest

Ghencea Military Cemetery

We save the capital city for the end of the trip. We aim right out of the airport into the great beyond, wherever that is.  Then, we are not rushed on our way back; or, if we are, it is easier to come back to a major city if we can. City traffic upon first landing is not a good introduction to any country.  Get out of it.

Bucharest is a cosmopolitan city, see http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/63/Travel_To_Romania.

1.  Propellers as markers. Romania honors its war dead in unique ways.

For the air force, those who served are buried with a propeller instead of a headstone.

Ghencea Military Cemetery, Propeller Grave Markers, Bucharest, Romania





















The custom of propellers marking graves of pilots is found elsewhere in Romania. For locating well-known graves, go online.  Visit Find A Grave, at http://www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=country&FScountryid=6

2.  Others who died in the political realm are not so revered, at least in public.  See Lenin statue, toppled, Mogosoaia Palace, near Bucharest.  Lenin's statue is discarded behind the kitchens at Mogosoaia Palace outside Bucharest.

At the Communist Exhibition at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, however, there is a lower level, creep down in search of the Ladies, and find reverential exhibits, complete with altars, for Lenin and the Ceaucescu, and others.

3.  Nicolai Ceaucescu is buried here, but at the civil side of the cemetery.

Grave, Nicolai Ceaucescu, Ghencea Civil Cemetery, Bucharest, Romania



The Ceaucescus are buried separately at the Ghencea Civil Cemetery in Bucharest, but are some aisles apart.

We looked for a long time before finding either grave, and were carefully watched by guards.

I believe the concern was simple vandalism, and we were not hindered in any way as we looked. Nonetheless, we were watched, watched. Guns ready.
We are not used to that. All we wanted was a look, and a picture. Got them. Got out.

There are tributes on the graves. Candles, objects, even a beer bottle.

Bucharest area. Current Events: Buzescu and Roma, Tsigani, Gypsies

We found several towns where the Roma arriving for an evening's entertainment, perhaps a casino, as in Sighisoara, were in limousines, in beautiful, lavish clothing.  Here, however, is the first article we found affirming that population's presence elsewhere:  National Geographic, September 2012.  Buzescu is south of Bucharest. We did not get there. Is it instead Buzescu Sidonia, near Pitest; or Buzescu HM, farther south from Pitest.

Of special interest is nomenclature.  We understand that "Gypsy" is often seen as derogatory, with a cultural preference for "Roma" instead.  Yet, both may well be needed for more direct communication with those of us on the outside, who are not familiar with Roma as different from Rome, etc. 

Here, we learn that some Roma in Buzescu, Romania, prefer to be called Gypsies or Tsigani.   

Lake Snagov. Quiet Resort; Development Pending?.

Vlad Tepes (Vlad III Tepes) Burial, or to what extent, on island in Lake Snagov

 

Lake Snagov, Romania. Dockside view, from Complex Astoria resort.











 Snagov is not only a resort area, but also the lake where Vlad's burial on an island monastery, is located, so they say. Fine estates line parts of the shore. As you are rowed out to the island and the monastery, you will also see Ceaucescu's palace, and isolated rocking boats of fishermen, and so quiet.  Visit fast. Development coming.

Lake Snagov area and Roma. Literature, Politics

Awareness of minority issues.
Obvious poverty among Roma. 

Amelioration route:  less clear.

1.  Lake Snagov area and Roma.

 There are Roma villages up the dirt roads. Taking out a camera seemed rude, turning people into objects, so we took none in the actual villages. The Roma villages we drove through were stark in their poverty.  Villages sometimes were of light-skinned people, peasants; others were the darker-skinned Rom or Gypsy, but in some cases we could not differentiate. The most isolated villages appeared Rom.  Along the road: old women bent double under firewood, gaunt faces in doorways. We could not be sure at that early time in our visit.  Everyone was helpful, pointed the way.  See FN 1

• There were no other cars out there in the country where we were, dirt and dust, dirt houses, dirt everywhere, no amenities, even so close to Bucharest. There were deep ruts from the wagon wheels, and horses. Horse carts. That has probably changed by now, with the funding coming in from the EU membership. Has it?

2.  Literature and Roma

Colum McCann wrote a novel, Zoli, in 2007 and based roughly on the life of a Slovakian Roma poet, Branislawa Wajs, see Gypsies, Roma, Romani, and Zoli  He followed it with a current events opinion Gypsies Put Europe To The Test: The Roma of Romania and Bulgaria, at the International Herald Tribune.  A trip to Romania means daily contact with the larger Gypsy or Roma issue, and unanswered questions about what can help the poverty without destroying the culture, and can or will the European Union and other Roma places (the US) tolerate difference  - http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/10/opinion/edmcCann.php.

The issue is how Romania, Bulgaria, and other countries regarding the European Union, will deal with their minority populations.

3.  Awareness.  Photo gallery of Roma, done by Leafpile - http://www.leafpile.com/TravelLog/Romania/Roma/Roma.htm.  A problem with photography is it must be paid for. Learn that and be prepared. Children will pose, and adults, but then the hands come out, more arrive. It is a culture issue.  Come up with the coins, even a bill, and more arrive.

• Look past the crowd at the doorways.  There usually is an adult there. Signal no more, the universal palms flat down, and slicing laterally, and glare, even ceremonially add more coins, and then point to the car, act out driving, and usually the adult will call the others back.  We were not comfortable taking pictures of Roma, looks like our over-concern for people's sense of privacy was off base. Do look at these.

• Further update, on the poor vs. progress. This is 3/3/08: Read the 2001 On the Margins: Roma and Public Services in Romania, Bulgaria, and Macedonia, With a Supplement on Housing in the Czech Republic, by Ina Zoon, Open Society Institute press 2001. See http://www.romadecade.org/egy-cikk.php?hir_id=9686   The report covers denials of health care, lack of adequate housing, and recommendations.

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.

Rasnov area. Cows of the household

Village at Rasnov Castle
Rasnov: Highly domesticated cows 

Rasnov area, Romania. Cows of the household

Evening is a good time to arrive in an area near Rasnov.  The cows coming down from pasture in the evening walk quietly in single file, or double, and on their own, coming through the village. Each weaves off at the home street, then lumbers and sways down the center or the side, and stops at the gate of its household, and waits for someone to open the gate.

Be watchful. As Dan took a picture of something else, near our pensione (rooms), a tan cow softly padded up from behind.  It was not on a lead, but soon was met by the owner and a soft lead.  Other cows stopped at their own front doors. Much surprise, no harm, no threat. 

Enjoy the idea of a partnership with one's cows, part of the family, a different angle on the circle of life. Nowhere nearby was a western-style downer-torturing feed lot.

Sinaia - Peles Castle

Sinaia, Peles Castle, Romania

Arrive at Bucharest, drive north, see Lake Snagov where Vlad Tepes was said to be buried in part at the monastery there; and then Sinaia. Peles Castle.

Sinaia. It is a prime ski area, great resort, and there is a splendid castle.  A fine video of Peles is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq9O9ecRVlM&feature=related/.  For photos and surroundings at  http://www.montania.ro/en_vile.

Beware of claims to a Vlad Tepes connection.   The castle, Peles, has no connection to Vlad that I can find, but this site suggests by its name that it does - http://www.draculascastle.com/html/pelesint.

Peles was built, instead, by King Carol I during a period centuries after, in the 19th Century, 1873-1883. See http://www.infotravelromania.ro/en/castle. Still, it is magnificent, and the photos at the infotravel site include other castles - worth a look.  See also  http://visit.peles.ro/the-history-of-the-peles-castle/

Carol I, King Charles I.

The town has all the shops and cafes you would expect. We don't shop, we people-watch and this was excellent for that.

Curtea de Arges, Monastery, Church

Curtea de Arges, Monastery, Romania

Curtea de Arges, Monastery 1517.

This Church was built by Voivode (designation for a warlord?)  Neagoe Basarab.  The name Basarab dates from far earlier, Basarab I ruling from 1325-1352, and it was this earlier Basarab who had unified much of the Romanian land from the Danube River to the Carpathian mountains, and conflicted with Hungarian ruler plans for those areas. See http://laivindur.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/basarab-i-intemeietorul/

Orthodox or Catholic?  See http://enciclopediaromaniei.ro/wiki/Basarab_I_Întemeietorul/ The best sites require clicking on the translate.

Th Curtea de Arges structure has origins in legend and fact.. One story claims that the Master craftsmen were killed, stranded on the roof until they died, so they could not create such beauty again. See http://www.rotravel.com/romania/monasteries/arges.

The Legend of Manolo.  Another names a Master, one Manole, who dreamed the building would be flawless if he walled his wife in the walls. So he did.  The building was beautiful, indeed. And it was then that the ruler herded the Masters to the roof, and Manolo tried to escape like Icarus by flying with wings. He leaped and did not survive. See http://www.romanianmonasteries.org/other-monasteries/curtea-de-arges

Another story adds details to the walled-in wife.  The ruler declared something like this: the first of the workers' wives to arrive with food for that day would be killed. The workers all told their wives to stay away, except for one.  His wife duly arrived, and was killed.  See http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtea_de_Arge%C5%9F_Cathedral.

The blogsite by Laivindur does not mention those.  Are they, then, unreliable?

Travel tip:  At Curtea, there will be a sign as you begin the road north to the Carpathians and to the Transfagarasan Pass, where Vlad III Tepes (the Impaler) had his castle, now a ruin at Poinari Citadel. The sign says whether the pass is open or not. We went without seeing the sign, but fortunately all was open, and there are places to stay if you are stuck. Just don't drive after sunset if you can help it - there are few markers to the next stopping point, and gas can run out.

Transfagarasan Pass, Carpathian Alps, Poienari Citadel

Transfagarasan Pass, Poinari Citadel

A main historian-tourist objective is seeing what corroborates events in the life of Vlad III Tepes.  Poinari Citadel is the mountaintop (a manageable walk with mild switchbacks up from the road) castle where, it is said, the Turks were threatening, and Vlad's wife so feared being taken that she hurled herself off the parapet to her death. 

Dan Widing at Poinari Citadel, Vlad Dracula's castle ruin, Transfagarasan Pass, Carpathian Alps, Romania

Poienari Citadel. Vlad escaped from Poinari Citadel, and went to another castle at Targoviste. See http://www.davidstuff.com/historical/vlad.htm; and the more tourist-oriented version for the story at http://www.romaniatourism.com/dracula-legend.html/

This fortress was built in the 1300's and became the main defense point for the Basarab rulers. See http://www.exploringromania.com/poienari.html

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Poinari Castle, Poinari Citadel, peak, at left, Transylvania, Romania

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