Castle Bran

Our second day in Romania took us to Castle Bran, the castle associated with Count Dracula in the book by Bram Stoker. Although the castle has actually nothing to do with Dracula, it is marketed that way for tourists and surrounded by cheap souvenir stands carrying tacky vampire stuff. Carbon might have been horribly disappointed in the castle if we hadn't done our homework beforehand, reading that it would not be spooky or actually have anything to do with Dracula. He was prepared, and the castle turned out to be cooler than he was expecting. It is in excellent repair and was an enjoyable self-tour experience.

We also took the tour of the luxury castle, Castle Peles, which I don't have any pictures of because they charged 50 lei (about $17) "photo tax", and it didn't seem worth it to me. If you like Baroque opulence, this castle delivers, but it wasn't what Carbon expected from a castle.