Romania — Touring Castle Dracula

Forget everything I told you on Monday about Bran Castle and you’ll have a lot more fun today. Suspend your disbelief as we concentrate on the horrors contained within the cold, dank walls of Castle Dracula. I can already feel the chill and the blood draining from my body. How about you? Not yet? Well, how about shaking hands to Vlad the Impaler, who has resided here, off and on, since the mid 1500s? Not familiar with ol’ Vlad? Perhaps you know him from one of his many aliases — Vlad III, Vlad Tepeș, Vlad Drăculea, Vlad Dracula, or just Count Dracula for short.

Let’s face it. A torture chamber is a must for any self-respecting impaler, and Vlad Drăculea does not disappoint. Vlad told me that this iron maiden is one of his all-time favorite entertainment devices. He even invited me to take it out for a spin, but I declined.

Indeed, I wouldn’t want to try that device out even if I were wearing:

Later, Vlad showed me some of his fashion designs, which often feature his favorite color:

Did you know that Vlad recently changed his appearance? By “recently” I mean some 470 years ago. Here he is visiting one of his favorite night spots after his demotion from prince of Wallachia to mere count:

The count also gave me some decorating tips, once again using his favorite accent color:

I eventually became unnerved when I noticed Vlad’s gaze kept drifting downward. I said, “Hey, Vlad, my eyes are up here, dude.” But despite my protestations, he kept staring at my neck. That’s when I decided to head back outside and into the sunlight:

On this week’s Fun Photo Friday of Romania favorites I’ll show you an actual, real-life, died-in-the-wool (see what I just did there?) werewolf Ursula stumbled across out on the surrounding castle grounds. Until then, one last look:

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)