Another day trip includes a visit to the Merry Cemetery in Săpânţa, which is a few kilometers away from Sighet.  The term “merry cemetery” may seem like an oxymoron, but a visit to it will have you looking at death in a different light.  Instead of the usual dark, gloomy tombstones that one would see at cemeteries all around the world, the Merry Cemetery consists of brightly painted blue crosses with colorful poems and carvings to represent the person who passed away.  We really enjoyed walking around the cemetery looking at the decorative details on the crosses, but it was too bad we couldn’t understand Romanian or we would have been there all day!

On our final day in Sighet (and Romania), we visited a monthly livestock market that we had heard about from Rob.  He graciously drove us and a couple of other guests to it and we enjoyed our time watching villagers in local garb haggle, poke, prod, and argue over pigs, cows, horses, and chicks.  Farming goods were also seen being sold and we can imagine that if you owned a piece of land and some animals, the Sighet livestock market would be the place for you.

The experience we had is best told in pictures and I have attached them for your viewing pleasure.  The one thing to note is that animals were sold out of  everything from truck beds to horse carts, makeshift wooden pens to car trunks!  When an animal was bought (especially if it was a big one), it would take the hands of many villagers and a bit of rope tugging to get the purchased animal to the cart or truck that would eventually take it to its new home.  We enjoyed our visit to the Sighet animal market and could definitely put it down as one of our more interesting cultural experiences!

The best place for us to start was Braşov.  Braşov is located in the heart of Dracula’s terrain with easy access to the other villages that were part of Dracula’s aforementioned territory.  Before I go too far, I will fill you in on Dracula and how he came to be in Romania.

A few centuries ago, there lived a ruler, named Vlad Dracula III, who came from a long line of rulers.  I couldn’t tell you his family history as his family tree was confusing and complex, but his father’s name was Vlad Dracul II and he was a member of the Order of the Dragon which is where his name, Dracul, came from.  Vlad Dracula III ruled during a time when the Ottomans were conquering to their heart’s content.  Being a sensible man, Vlad III refused to give up his lands or his power to the invaders so he made sure to get the message across by harshly torturing those who opposed him.  No, he did not drink their blood in the middle of the night and turn them into vampires.  Instead, he impaled them.  His brutal measures earned him the name, Vlad Ţepeș (Ţepeș meaning impaler), and the reputation of being one to fear.  This reputation may have eventually inspired Bram to write his famous tale of horror a few hundred years later.  In recent Romanian, the word drac means devil and it is Romanians who will tell you that when they are taught their history in school, Vlad III is considered to have both a negative and positive impact on their country’s olden days.

So what’s up with Transylvania?  Transylvania is the region in Romania that contains the sites of Dracula’s life and history.  Our first day trip from Braşov was to neighboring Bran.  Bran attracts tons of visitors each year because, perched atop one of its hills, is “Dracula’s Castle”.  Even from several meters away, one can see this foreboding structure and it is not hard to understand why ol’ Bram would use this as the setting of his story.  So popular is this castle, that you will be inundated with images of Dracula all over t-shirts, magnets, postcards, coffee mugs, ash trays, handbags…you name it.

Ironically, Bran’s castle is not really Dracula’s castle.  It only existed during his time and he may have visited it once in his life.  Vlad’s real castle is located in the middle of the Romanian mountains, rarely visited and harder to access.  Nevertheless, the visit to his novelty castle was not disappointing.  We appreciated the opportunity to explore the different rooms and read the information on the man behind the legendary books and film.  The castle provided a lot of information and antique photographs of the people who really did reside in it…Romanian queen, Marie, and her daughters.

After Braşov and Bran, we moved on to Sighişoara, Vlad’s childhood hometown.  Sighişoara is a quaint, renaissance-era village that has a town square full of cute cafes, a clock tower, and lots of churches.  The only menacing thing in this cheery village is the Torture Museum and even that is tiny.  We took advantage of the novelty of this town by dining in Vlad’s supposed birth home for our wedding anniversary dinner.   It was an interesting way to spend an anniversary, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Being in Sighişoara made us wonder how such a feared ruler and sinister character in modern history had such humble beginnings.

In the end, our research yielded mixed results.  Even if the credibility of these places and how they relate to Dracula is debatable, it was well-worth the visit.  The towns and scenery in this region are unbeatable.  If you’re a Dracula fan, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild and feel like a character in Stoker’s book…I, myself, would still make sure I was armed with some garlic before going out in the dark.