Bistrita, Piatra Fontanele and Hotel Castel Dracula: Bram Stoker's Dracula Story

 Bistrita

Bram Stoker's "Dracula"

Bistrita is the town located near the area where the "Dracula" author, Bram Stoker, located his fictitious Dracula's castle.

His character, Jonathan Harker dined at the Golden Crown here.  Bram Stokerwas born in Dublin -  see http://www.online-literature.com/stoker/. This is the Literature Network site.

1.  Weekend slowdown.

On weekends in Bistrita and other towns, things do close down, so don't plan for museums or sites after lunch and especially on Sundays. Find an overview of the town at http://www.museum.ici.ro/transilvania/bistrita-nasaud/english/istoria%20oras.

A walk around was all we wanted.

2. Hotel Castel Dracula

It was time for kitsch, so we stayed here.  The good news is that the kitsch is restrained, and localized. The rest of the accommodation is a fine hotel, although in need of some repair. 

Hotel Castel Dracula, near Bistrita, Romania

Hotel Castel Dracula is to the east, past Bistrita, and supposedly at the place where the fictitious castle in the novel, Dracula, was supposed to be located.







3.  Kitsch

The hotel has a secret passageway and room, that you have to search for yourself and then - gasp - it is there. The Coffin. And cape for dressing up.


Dan Widing locates The Coffin, Hotel Castel Dracula, Romania


Other than that, it is a full-service, comfortable hotel: good food, books for sale in the lobby, much research on the Stoker's Dracula-Vlad comparison.

Wish for a foggy morning so that driving is risky. The horsecarts are a hazard despite reflectors.

Then you will have to stay a few hours longer, and curl up with a good book.

4.  Hiking Center

The hotel has been discovered by serious hikers. It is near a wilderness park, with Big Animals (real wolves and bears), and the trails look great.

5.  Games

There is also a pool table and pub up the tower. For enviro-tourists, despite the touristy name Castel Dracula, stay here as your base for side hikes. Any big facility needs upkeep, and they are working on it.

Other accommodations:

6.  Warmth

We had no difficulty with cold nights.

Usually we stayed at any family pensione, or a "cabana" in outlying areas. A cabana is like a villa, small hotel-hostel-pensiones for travelers, at well-spaced intervals in mountain or recreation areas. All clean, safe, warm, with thin compact mattresses, but plenty of felted blankets in the duvets. The felted blankets, think heavy, tight wool blankets, soaked and dried several times to tighten it up and make the felt, very thick - not like hats. We sometimes put the additional duvet underneath.

Romanian Food

 Time to Eat

But what? Not to worry.

1.  Staples

Cornmeal.  Food is excellent in Romania; hearty, with a great deal of cornmeal, as in mamaliga, a cornmeal mush (like polenta, formed and unformed) with or without other vegetables, cheeses.  See http://www.food.com/recipe/mamaliga-cu-branza-cornmeal-mush-with-cheese-122683

See also cornmeal porridges (that that mamaglia, served like a mellow and rich polenta), soups -- especially ciorba, a sour soup. Recipe at http://www.natashascafe.com/html/ciorba.html
Hearty. It is not a spicy cuisine. See overview at http://www.romaniatourism.com/foodwine.

2.  Root vegetables, regular barnyard meats.

Overall, think home cooking.  Root vegetables and potatoes, cabbage dishes, chicken and lamb and beef stews, sausages, cutlets, 

Breads are whiter than we expected, but there is plenty of it.

Romanian Music: Roma, Traditional. Bucharest

 Romanian Music

Bucharest:

Music -- gypsy fast-fast at the hotel

Dan Widing with Romani musicians, Bucharest, Romania

At this hotel, we joined with another traveler who was on her own. Good times. The Rom, Roma, Romani, or as too-casually known, Gypsies, have a long history, see http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/minority-gypsies.htm

The language and culture of Rom groups vary from country to country, but with common roots. See also Gypsies, Roma, Romani  The persecution and killing of Roma during the holocaust has been buried beneath the more publicized persecution and killing of Jews and other groups.

Traditional trades, now diminished with the stopping of the caravans, and warehousing of populations in high-rises, include:  musicians and dancers, tinners and coppersmiths, jewelers, blacksmiths, panners of gold, sieve-makers, horse-dealers.  See the Eliznik site.

Local pubs also provide local music, as well as the sophisticated jazz.  Enjoy the local pub and its music. Even watch a video of a wedding that day. See Romanian music.


I believe Bercuvlahu is the video producer, not the musician. Is that so?

• Transylvania:  Hear traditional, zither sounding instrumentalists at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLig4uePuv8&feature=related

Dance music: This sound was on the car radio - there had not been a supplanting by Western music yet. Good.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDDNC7LZz-c&feature=related.

Songs:  Hear Maria Tanase 1913-1963, at, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79QVepeBrWA&feature=related.  Maria Tanase, a mid-20th Century, highly talented singer, see http://www.hrmusic.com/artists/mtaart.html

Roma, or Gypsy, band, Bucharest, Romania

And the concertina - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOqUnzxLAHI.  Keyboard, accordion, often Roma.  We saw shocking poverty among the Roma. This video of some Roma music is misleading, and highly idealized for the market, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5GjVD2r3-8&feature=related

Itinerary after the fact - Places unfolding. Improvised travel.

Roughly:

Bucharest (includes some Vlad sites),

Snagov - Vlad burial tradition,

Brasov - castle Bran, but he was not there or, at least, just as an occasional guest,

Curtea de Arges,

Poinari - Vlad Castle ruin

Sighisoara - birthplace of Vlad

Sibiu 

Bucovina  - painted monasteries,

Voronet - painted monasteries,

Putna - painted monasteries, hermit cave,

Vatra Dornei,

Moisei - see Jewish memorial, holocaust (villagers burned),

Sapinta - Merry Cemetery,

Sighetu Marmetiei - see prison there, intellectuals, political prisoners, interrogations, a US black site?,

Ieud - old wooden churches,

Maramures - ancient area,

Cluj Napoca - city now very modern,

Alba Iulia - watch the smog; castle and town walls,

Hunedoara - John Hunyadi, for a time, foster father of Vlad, killed Vlad's father

Targu Jiu - Vlad held court here

Horezu Monastery,

Ramnicu Valcea, - political rally

Mogosoaia Palace near Bucharest,  see Lenin statue toppled near the kitchens

Bucharest.  Vlad's Princely Court

Vlachs Ethnic Group. A Welshman among the Vlachs (WWI)

Romanian ethnic Vlachs. Dafydd Ellis.  A Welsh soldier, a medical orderly, in World War I, deserted and apparently lived among the Vlachs, a group identified with Romanian gypsies at the time, and currently.  He and friends had been known to frequent a shepherd community, perhaps that Romanian "Gypsy", and ultimately is believed to have continued to live but in Macedonia.

Dafydd Ellis:  In 1918, he went missing from Salonika, where he was stationed at a quiet field hospital far from any fighting, a teacher, a poet, a pacifist, who found that he was likely to be confronted with orders to serve with a combat unit, despite earlier military promises contrary.  See The Forgotten Story of Dafydd Ellis, at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.news.macedonia/_2Gl4IjKQyg and http://www.farsarotul.org/nl21_6.htm.

A film of this experience would educate and enrich many.  Carpathian origins now spread to Texas, see http://www.txczgs.org/dna.html

• The migratory Vlachs historically survived assimilation and spread their areas in ways surprising for a culture with few books in their language, although it is a Romance-rooted language, and peaceable culture.  Now, however, they are under cultural siege, another human resource being decimated by fast communications, see this overview of Balkan, Greek, Romanian Vlachs, at http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/albania/balkan-vlachs-born-assimilate  Areas of trade routes and herding necessarily mix ethnic groups from other lands, as well as local.  The history of the Vlachs, see http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/Vlach-north.htm/, and www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/vlach-south/.showVlachs extending through many countries, including Greece (Macedonia), Albania and Bulgaria. 

Adding to fine galleries: See Romania. http://www.pbase.com/bauer/romania&page=all.

History, Culture. Vlachs: Dacians, Geto-Dacians, early settlers in Romania, nomadic shepherds

Vlachs, Dacians, Geto-Dacians, Migratory Ethnic Groups


Vlach shepherd, Romania

This shepherd was alone in herding a large flock of sheep, as we all waited for them to scurry among the 18-wheelers and cars, through the village. Their dogs are indispensable. See more on the Romanian shepherd dogs at http://www.romdogs.tripod.com/ogar/romshdog.

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The shepherd we watched leaped across the road, carrying his possessions (no carts seen); and was gone. Stragglers among the sheep ran to catch up, and did, but he did not call. No sheepdogs.  Vlach origins, north and south of the Danube: http://www.fact-index.com/h/hi/history_of_vlachs.html.  Traders, shepherds, craftsmanship. Chronology there of dates and events.

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Someone described that kind of sight as a cloud of sheep. Exactly. Find one such reference at Dominick Finello's Pastoral Themes and Forms in Cervantes' Fiction/.

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Vlach sheep, crossing road, Romania
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The Vlachs are an ancient people that are in many eastern European countries. Tradition roots them in the Indus Valley, India migrations of an ethnic group commonly called "gypsies", or Roma (nothing to do with Rome, however), whether accurately or not, these peoples have kept their own ways.
See Gypsies, Roma, Romani.
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Vlach may the root of "Wallachia" or "Vlachia". Some believe that it was the Vlachs who originally founded Romania, and were the indigenous people when the Romans came. See the Romania section at http://www.mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/misc/europe.htm#Mong
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The Vlachs remain distinct. There were also, however Dacians in the area, another group also laying claim to the indigenous people-founding Romania status. http://www.rotravel.com/History/The-Geto-Dacians/ Their leader, Burebista, 82-44 BCE, opposed Caesar. The society was strong and well organized: they conquered some area Greek cities, and fended off the Celts. Also known as Geto-Dacians, they are referred to from the 6th Century BCE, with Herodotus the first to use the term "Getae" for the peoples north of the Danube. Danube?  Germany?
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The Danube stretches from its mouth at Moldavia-Romania (delta), back through borders with Bulgaria, then Serbia (old), Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, etc. See map at http://www.donau-info.org/donau.php?pg=0&lg=en.  The mighty Danube became the border, back at the Romanian history site now, between the Geto-Dacians and the Romans.  Finally, after fierce wars, the Romans, through Trajan, won. http://www.rotravel.com/History/The-Geto-Dacians/  Migrations ensued among tribes opposing Rome. Greek and Roman documents, says http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/dacia.htm, called these people Thracians. Other kings:  Decebal and Dromihetes.

Geto-Dacians. This also puts the Getae in line, possibly, as the Geats, the tribe later found in northern Europe, the tribe of Beowulf. Beowulf, earliest poem, Saxon, see http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/beowulf/. 

Hwaet! That is the word commonly translated as "Lo!"  or "Hark!" See first line of poem, Beowulf.  Nuts.  it is Hwaet!. See http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hw%C3%A6t

 See http://www.awesomestories.com/flicks/beowulf-grendel/who-were-the-geats.  Much speculation as to the origin of the Geats. Did they migrate, with many others, north, right up the Danube? Across Carpathians, through Caucasus? Why not look here, scholars? Wikipedia starts its analysis of identity long after the migrations of north-of-Danube peoples unwilling to live under Caesar, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tar.  I started far earlier, see Sigge Fridulsson, Fridulfson, and the Swedish legends (legends themselves rooted in unknowable events?) at Sigge Fridulsson, Caucasus Migration North, Caesar Era

 More Vlach history http//: www.friesian.com/decdenc2, and at http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/vlach-south/; and ://www.columbia.edu/cu/romanian/articles/aromani. And, of course, a book:  http://www.amazon.com/Vlachs-History-Balkan-People/dp/0312009372


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Road manners.

The fun part here was the good humor of the truckers stopped in their tracks in the village -- no anger, no fingers, just open the window, lean out and chat and smile in good humor as, when all seemed to be past, somebody went under the truck to coax out the last straggler. To an outsider, it looked like respect for someone else's assets and way of life. Room for many. What's the rush.
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Less developed countries respect others' lives more.  Is that so?  I seldom saw any kind of road kill. That may not mean a particular love of animals -- stray dogs are everywhere -- recognizable breeds --  from the edicts in Bucharest that people whose neighborhoods were destroyed by Ceaucescu's urban renewal.  Apparently, people could not move into the new apartment highrise boxes, with dogs. The absence of road kill could mean, rather than altruism:  1) skill in veering; and we agree; or 2) the practical side. A hit may damage your own vehicle.
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We have found them in Greece and Croatia, for example, see more about "Aromanian Vlachs: The Vanishing Tribe," at http://www.vlachophiles.net/.

Wikimedia Commons provides this map of migrations, and the resolution is as you see it: see http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Migration_des_Roms.jpg
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There are supposed to be some Vlachs in Texas - see map and discussion of migrations at http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/texasczech/Valachs/Who%20are%20the%20Valachs.htm
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Modern map of Eastern Europe, for identifying the foggy lettering above: Wikimedia Commons at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eeurope_rel84.jpg


The mother of the Hungarian hero, Janos Hunyadi (governor of Transylvania in the 15th century, castle at Hundoara, Romania) was said to be Vlach. The Vanishing Tribe site says that Vlachs set up Wallachia.
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Update - from our 2007 trip to Poland:
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Some Vlachs migrated to Poland - see the Magurski National Park site at http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/pnp/magu.htm. There, the people were called "Lemks," and lived in the Low Beskid region, with only a few survivors now. There are vestiges of their culture, and later orthodox religion there, and in roadway shrines. The article says they were deported in 1947 for political reasons. See populations post at Poland Road Ways.
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Vlachs - Once there is an awareness of something new, all sorts of other information comes out - now we find Vlach references in many places and contexts. More at a Vlach site, http://www.bastian.freeyellow.com/index.

Suceava, Painted Monasteries. Bucovina, Humor, Sucevita. Byzantine frescoes.

These Painted Churches, at the monasteries in the north, are World Heritage sites. See http://www.geocities.com/paintedchurches/. The Byzanatine frescoes date from the 15th-16th Centuries, see http://www.romaniatourism.com/painted-monasteries.html/ The paintings are sequential, a way to teach the Bible stories to villagers who could not read or write. Churches and painted monasteries in Bucovina (for Voronet, the nearest large town is Suceava) and Moldovita often also served as forts. War and peace at once. Many painted monasteries were mustering areas for gathering fighters,and the stories on the outer walls were a scriptural teaching tool for the orthodox while they waited - also for villagers seeking refuge inside. The monasteries usually have walls around for that defense, and many buildings for functions and shelter.

1.  Voronet Painted Monastery

Voronet painted monastery, Bucovina, Romania


Voronet was founded by Peter the Great, who then ruled Moldavia (the country of Moldova is nearby) in gratitude for his victory over the invading Turks.  The hermit Daniil, or Daniel, convinced him to undertake the effort. See http://www.romaniatourism.com/painted-monasteries.html#voronet'

See Voronet and others at http://www.romaniatourism.com/monasteries. See details also http://www.atdntis.ro/romania/unicef/index.

2. Sucevita Painted Monastery

Sucevita Painted Monastery, near Suceava, Romania

There are many of these painted monasteries at Suceava, northeast Romania. See similar one at Arbore, http://www.rotravel.com/romania/monasteries/arbore.php.

Sucevita was also a noble residence, and is on extensive walled grounds.




3.  Humor Painted Monastery, interior.  Humor is the name, not a description.


Humor painted monastery, interior, near Suceava, Romania

At many Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, there will be prayer shelters: a receptacle with beeswax candles, water and a layer of sand on bottom of a sheltered tray. Candles are placed to remember a life or make a prayer. The candle burns down to its natural extinguishing in the water.

Poinari Citadel. Global Menswear - The Cap. Measure by Pi.

 The Driving Cap

The Practical Cap at Poinari Citadel

Universals in travel.  The men's driving cap. See it here at Vlad's castle ruin in Romania, worn by The Guide.

Many of us know little of the stitcheries of driving caps vs. newsboys' caps, and other similar caps around the world. The fashion is global because it is practical, the cap is easy to carry, stays on, and looks good.

Dan Widing with guide at Vlad's castle ruin, Poinari Citadel, Romania. 

Style details.  We understand this about details: the well-designed and well-fitting cap accommodates base of skull to hairline, no puckering.  It should be stitched (not snapped) at the front (we do not recall here).  There should be three panels to be a driving cap, and more like eight for the more circular, wider newsboy's cap.  Think of the 1930's - kids on the streets hawking papers.

Sometimes there is a buckle in the back.  The longer the brim in front, the tougher the look.  This fine guide, who lives near the ruin, was gentle and had a welcoming cap.

Measuring for a driving cap.  What is your size?  For a European cap, measure your head, say in inches for Americans, then multiply that times 2.54;  or, for an American cap, divide by 3.14 or pi.

Putna. Painted Monastery; Cabanas for Hikers Trekkers

Monastery, Putna, Romania
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Timing is important at monasteries. Arrive before 5 PM in order to hear the chanting here at Putna Monastery, in the north. We just missed it.
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Putna is a welcoming place, with a fine hostel for the night. Look for "Cabana" on the signs. Stay at the local hostel. A late arrival is welcomed, and there will be good food nearby. 

Hostel, Putna, Romania. Cabana.















There are Cabanas for hikers and trekkers, and the rest of us, ranging from the clearly hotel-like, to the more informal youth rooms, conveniently spaced around Romania.  They were always safe and clean.  See http://about-romania.net/en/romania-getting-around/about-romania-accommodation/about-romania-cabanas.html

Cabanas:  Some boast their own companionably loud cafe. We chose some exercise and walked to another cafe in Putna on the main street. Dan, with Down Syndrome, often brings nods and smiles of recognition. In the town cafe, we sat in the pub room and watched the only tv show going:  a local wedding from earlier in the day,  If you are not an immediate invitee, participate in the pub later. Then someone motioned for us to follow, so we did, into another room where  another Down syndrome young man had been sitting with his parents, and were just leaving. We all gave especially long handshakes and smiles. Universals.
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Maramures. Carved Wooden Gates. Prislop Pass. Mongols. Gates: Barrier; Protection; and Status.

Prislop Pass, and Gateways Against Evils; For Recognition.
Gates Against Incursion, and as Memorials.
Genghis Khan

I.  Residence carved gateways.

Maramures, Home Gateway, Romania
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These are elaborate, see with recurrent twisted rope and other motifs.  The gates served notice of private property beyond, and against incursion.There are seldom high walls on the sides, however, so protection is minimal as a practical matter. here, roosters adorn the gate openings on top. See http://www.romaniatourism.com/maramures.html
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Elaborate carved gates mark the homes, out at the street, with walkways to the compound beyond. See Maramures gates at http://www.puzzleworld.org/Maramures/budes01. The bigger the gate, the more prestige sought or claimed, as anywhere else in the world. Gated communities are an old concept.
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II. Historical Gateways

Prislop Pass.

This gateway at the Prislop Pass, see video at http://vimeo.com/49895673 is in the mountains on the way to Maramures from the Suceava area. There is no residence, no building or community nearby, and it signifies instead the farthest advance of the Mongols. In about 1242, the Mongols had reached Brasov, destroying old churches, see http://www.romaniatourism.com/brasov.html

Prislop Pass, Romania, Gateway

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What stopped the Mongols? It was not a battle.  Mongol and other horses could not manage the pristine forests.  The Mongols, a/k/a Tatars, began in about 1214, kept at it until 1717, as far as they could canter in.  See http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2G74R_prislop-pass/

Reminiscence:  The film  Cold Mountain - with its vistas. No wonder. The movie was was filmed here.
 Currently there is much logging in the mountains, but the logging is turning to clear-cutting. 


III.  Ethnic Groups in Romania and elsewhere.  Mongols, Tatars.
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Mongols:  Western contemporary accounts are inaccurate in many respects.  The Mongol culture was far more than our lens showing brutality.  The interesting angle is that initial brutality to subdue an area was followed often with wisdom and accommodation in the subsequent administration, adaptation, adoption of ideas, fostering arts, culture, see http://www.phocas.de/The_Mongols/the_mongols.html.  Theirs was the largest land empire in history, and remains so, see http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200301/the.arts.of.the.mongols.htm
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Mongols contributed to Romanian culture and the gene pool.  See http://romanianhistoryandculture.webs.com/1241mongolinvasion.htm  After the Romans and Dacians had long blended, see Romania and the Eastern Question, 1989, at  http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/593Rom.html, enter the Tatars or Mongols.

What is the ethnic makeup in Romania now? Apparently, 1 in every 200 men (need to check if this in all Europe?) carry the Genghis Gene.

That is some 16 million men and who knows how many women that carry his genetic makeup, and it is unique and measurable, see Forbes Magazine on High Achieving Genes, the Khan's chromosomes, at http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml.
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Genghis himself fathered so many children, as did his followers, that any gateways on the highways designed to keep him out, did not keep out the conquest by chromosome. Epicanthic folds at the inner eye? Many disappear in Caucasians by age 2 or so, I understand.  Mongol history: see http://history-world.org/mongol_empire.htm