Romania Bucharest Dracula And Transylvania

M ention Romania and people       the history of Europe. A pig on    immediately think of           all counts, this man treated       Dracula and a mid-evil         Romania as his personal fiefdom    country. Recovering from years of     through much of the twentieth      economic misery, Romania is           century. While leading the         quickly becoming the hidden jewel     country into economic ruin, he     of Eastern Europe.                    built lavish estates for he and                                          his wife. While Romanians starved  Dracula v. Ceausescu                  on the streets, he and his wife                                          spent money like Joan Collins at   In pop culture, Romania is always     a plastic surgeon. When he was     equated with Count Dracula, Bran      finally expelled from office, the  Castle and Transylvania. These        people were so outraged by his     assumptions are wrong. Vlad Tepes     excess that he and his wife were   is widely regarded as the person      literally stoned to death.         on whom the Dracula character is                                         based. Known as Vlad the Impaler,     Unfortunately, the country didn't  there is no disputing this was        recover quickly. The last five     one nasty individual, but he          years, however, have seen major    wasn't a vampire. On top of this,     advancements, and Romania is now   Vlad the man never resided in         a must visit location.             Bran Castle, a real castle and                                           the home of the fictional             Bucharest                          Dracula. Sorry to burst your                                             bubble, but there was a person        Once considered the Paris of the   arguably worse than Dracula or        East, Bucharest suffered greatly   Vlad in Romania's history.            during Ceausescu's reign. Ancient                                        buildings with French and Turkish  Introducing Nicolae Ceausescu,        influences were replaced with      the reigning worst dictator in        communist inspired concrete block  buildings in redevelopment            area, you'll find bears, wolves    projects. Currently, the city is      and other threatened animals       a microcosm of the lurching           roaming freely. On top of this,    recovery of the country. Elegant      the land is ripe with outdoor      neighborhoods border slums and        activity opportunities such as     there appears to be little or no      skiing, hiking, camping, hunting,  middle class. There appears to be     rock climbing and parachuting.     only the poor or rich. When           While all of this exists in other  visiting Romania, you will have       travel destinations, there is no   to fly into Bucharest. Just don't     tourist trap feel in Brasov.       stay too long.                                                                                                 Carpathian Mountains               Brasov                                                                                                         The Carpathian Mountains are       Brasov is located in the hilly        visually stunning. While there     terrain of Transylvania and is a      are attractions throughout the     good place to visit. Located in       mountains, such as Bran Castle,    the center of the country, Brasov     don't try to simply visit a        is surrounded by the Carpathian       particular place. Instead, rent a  Mountains. The city is a              car in Brasov or hire a driver     resounding example of old world       and just go for a ride. The        Romania with an ancient center        scenery is so overwhelming it is   city square and little cafes          hard to describe. You'll drive     throughout.                           down and up into gorges that seem                                        endless, see rivers bombing down   The real appeal of Brasov is the      mountain sides and see animals     surrounding land. Unspoiled, the      only found in National Geographic  mountains surrounding Brasov are      documentaries. Go for this drive   full of little villages and           and I guarantee you will be        surrounding forests. In this          blabbering about it for at least   five days.                            Eastern Europe and you should                                            definitely visit. You don't even   Romania is the hidden gem of          need to wear garlic.               About the Author: Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of travel journals. Writing journals are great travel accessories and travel gifts for him or her. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com for more travel articles. Source: www.isnare.com