Follow’s Dracula’s trail in Romania

“But never before or since have I felt the apprehension and isolation I did while climbing to Vlad Tepes' mountaintop fortress at Poenari. The forest was as quiet as a tomb; I can't recall hearing the song of even a single bird. The ascent was exhausting. At last I arrived at the lone approach to the fortress, a wooden footbridge. Of all the places I explored that are associated with Vlad Tepes, only at Poenari did I feel that he was somehow still keeping watch.”

“It’s starting to feel like a bit of a pilgrimage. We left Brasov, our base for this trip, several hours ago, and the weather is so appalling that very few other people seem to be out in these mountains today. [...] And then, across a short bridge, the fortress is there in front of us, looming through the mist. A couple of mannequins impaled on sticks wait for us at the top of the remaining steps, as if to assure us that we’ve got the right castle this time. The guard and his dog have disappeared back into their hut below, and we’re alone in the ruins.”

“One of my favorite places on the Dracula Trail is Sighisoara, in Transylvania, the birthplace of Vlad Tepes. I was enchanted the moment I entered Sighisoara's Upper Town. All at once I was in the middle of a perfect storybook medieval village enclosed by thick fortress walls, with cobblestone streets and Easter-egg-colored houses leaning every which way. Guarding the town square was a spire-roofed and turreted 14th Century clock tower replete with carved wooden figures that circle a track to mark the passage of time.”