Ever since my twins were born a couple of years ago, our house has steadily become smaller and smaller each passing day. I guess we could blame the increasing amount of toddler toys, the wife’s increasing “collection of memories” (I say that with affection) and our two dogs.Well, I have found a great solution to our problem — Bran Castle in central Romania. Yeah, Romania . . . I figure with 
having two dogs, a wife, and twins the cost of living in Romania would be lower in the States and I could live like . . . well, a King in matter of speaking. Plus it has a dungeon we could use as the mother-in-law suite.
Bran Castle is an example of 13th century architecture and was originally built by the Teutonic Knights as a stronghold against the invading Turks into central Europe. Over the years, the castle has had a list of colorful and interesting owners. Some of the past and present owners have been Queen Marie, the Communist government of Romania, and the Saxons of Kronstadt.
Oh, I forgot to mention that one of its most famous owners was Vlad Tepes. “The Impaler” is also known as Vlad Dracula or Dracula. In case you are not aware Vlad is the principal character that Bram Stroker fashioned Dracula on in his 1897 novel. Stroker also used Bran Castle as the model for Dracula’s castle in his novel.
Boy, what a conversational piece at parties — “Have you seen my house? No. Oh, it the castle over there that once owned by Dracula.” Now that’s one way to bring attention to yourself.
Enough on Vlad, lets talk about my new home. Bran Castle is a 4-story stronghold with a watch room, several bedrooms, dining room, chapel, music saloon, a great hall, a room for hunting trophies (if I only hunted) and etc. Enough space that I would need a road map to reach the other floors. Plus, the fountain in the square can provide drinking water for the dogs. Now that is a house!!!
For as little of $135 million I can have this wonderful piece of history all for my own. Now that is truly a bargain.
5 responses so far ↓
Karen Howarth // December 7, 2007 at 1:23 pm |
Hey there,
Fantastic piece of architecture and history… Would love to view this castle one day.. I heard on another page that you could get this castle for nothing if you dared to live in it, well if this is true, put my name down, I will have it…
Luv Kat X
Elena // March 3, 2008 at 6:12 pm |
Hi there my American friend,
maybe your observation could be a fantastic piece of history, too bad it’s not true. I know it’s hard to distinguish between reality and fantasy but still…I guess we can all agree that Bram Stoker was a novelist and that Dracula is a horror book. I understand that a history book may not seem as appealing but maybe then you will understand why for some of us Bran Castle is not “Dracula” ‘ s castle, but Vlad Tepes’ castle. I agree that it’s a fantastic piece of architecture and also of history, as long as you know the right history. Hope that one day you will visit Romania and realize that although there are no vampires waiting for you at the airport there are a lot of nice things to see anyway.
erik // March 9, 2008 at 11:45 am |
hat az en kedvencem van helsing
Alex // October 15, 2009 at 7:46 am |
Dear friends,
The bad news is the castle is no more available for sale, but the good news is that in this way you save a huge amount of money!
In the case you want to see what you missed here are the Bran castle’s floor plans: http://draculasestate.com/bran-castle/draculas-castle-floor-plans/
Sirus Dracul // November 11, 2009 at 4:57 pm |
Hi’ I would first like to start of f by saying that romainia is a wonderful place to be.um’ next is tha my relitives lived in castle dracula. meaning vlad dracul,vlad the impailer.is my many centuries old grandfather. i have documents dated back that state this fact…contact me for any information.i would love to get my families name out in the world.thank you ..