Posted on 11/15/2016 11:29:15 AM PST by nickcarraway
Romanian royal home draws vampire tourists; heir wants ‘a happy place’
When he lived as a boy in Bran Castle, Dominic Habsburg, now 79 years old, recalls it was “a happy place of light and flowers” that had been a residence to his grandparents, Queen Marie and King Ferdinand I, who once reigned over this
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
He’s going to have to “embrace the suck”
WSJ refuses to open for me unless I join.
Anyway, for those who can’t get in, here’s Bran Castle:
My Sister and Brother-in-Law spend about six months every year in Europe, usually using Hungary as a base.
Last year they visited that castle as well as Dracula’s birth place. In order to get to the castle they rode a wagon pulled by a John Deere tractor. Also visited another castle associated with him.
I stayed in or toured this place or both. Don’t remember when I was in Romania. Lol. Interesting to say the least.
Vlad Tepes was eulogized in Eastern Europe and the Catholic Church for successfully warring against Muslim Jihad!
Dracula was unknown to Romanians. They only knew of their national hero “Vlad the Impaler”, who fought the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, ordered Vlad to personally pay homage to him, but Vlad had the sultan's two envoys captured and impaled. In February 1462, he broke into Ottoman territory, massacring tens of thousands of Turks and Bulgarians.
So Bram Stoker wrote a novel and used Vlad as his model.
Unfortunately if you visit the castle, there are people in the courtyard selling Dracula memorabilia.
Dracula, aka Vlad The Impaler, was great.
He saved Romania from the invading muslim hoards and impaled them on stakes.
I have read that he also impaled his own soldiers just to freak out the invaders by showing them how bad-ass he was.
Don't know whether or not that's actually true, but I can tell you that I wouldn't have wanted to mess with him.
Most people don’t like him much.
Probably deserters. The Romans crucified them. In modern times they shoot or hang deserters. It does wonders for discipline in the ranks.
It also kept pensions low. The guy in charge of reenlistments was probably one lonely dude.
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