Bran (Dracula's) Castle, Romania

Bran Castle was built starting in 1377 as a defensible position between the Romania regions of Transylvania and Wallachia to the south. There was fear of Ottoman invasion through much of Romania at that time. Thus most of the true history of this castle was of a military castle, although the Monarchy well built Peleş Castle did spend at least one recorded night here.

In 1987, Bram Stoker, an Irishman, wrote Dracula based on some research he did on Vlad the Implaler. He described a castle between Transylvania and Wallachia so everyone assumed he wrote about Bran Castle, but it does not match the description in his book. There is also no evidence, Stoker even knew the castle existed. Bram Stoker, also never visited any part of Romania. Also, Vlad the Impaler never set foot in Bran Castle.

We were lucky to have been at the castle on Nov 2nd, two days after Elon Musk, had reportedly rented out the castle for a Halloween party. The castle still had some cheap Halloween decorations inside (guy looks like he went to iParty). Elon also reportedly never showed up to his own party that night.Read more