Romania Day 6 - In the Clutches of Dracula

Today we had another change of accommodations. We made our way to Brasov, a city surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, which is also located in the Transylvania region.

But before we drove to our hotel, we made a stop at the birthplace of 'Daculas' - Sighisoara.

There, we were first led through the rather small old town by Bogdan Bergmann and introduced to the history of the 'Dracula' myth.

In his book, which was published in 1897 and can probably be described as the ultimate vampire story, author Bram Stoker tells the story of Vlad the Impaler (also known as 'Vlad the Impaler'). He was the son of the Wallachian voivode Vlad Dracul (dracul means 'dragon'), which is where his name Vlad Draculea ('son of the dragon') comes from. Bram Stoker then removed this unnecessary 'e' and set the bloodthirsty story in Transylvania, which today has such a mysterious aura.

The true story of Vlad the Impaler actually has little to do with Transylvania itself, except for the fact that his father lived in the city of Sighisoara. However, both father and son were not from Transylvania but from Wallachia.

After visiting Dacula's birthplace, the local church, and the mountain school, we had the opportunity to have lunch individually. After a short detour to a Lidl supermarket, we continued our journey to Brasov.

At the end of the trip, we once again had dinner on the agenda, much to our delight, this time with more than just the typical dishes of potatoes, cabbage salad, and meat.

After we had settled into our rooms in two different but adjacent hotels, there was a short rehearsal for the concert on Thursday. We also took advantage of this opportunity to have a brief discussion to clarify any open questions and to look ahead to upcoming times.