Europe 2019 - Day 41 (Part 2)

16 June 2019, Sunday

Inside the Castle there were many paintings, and almost every room was symmetrically furnished (remember that the King was German - roll eyes). Some of the rooms in the Castle included the European room of weapons (but the weapons found here were only used in tournaments, not in real battles), the Oriental room of weapons, the waiting room followed by the King’s office / audience with guests. Usually a guest will only be given 10-15 minutes to see the King, and he would stand up throughout the meeting in order to keep the meeting short. But for really long and important meeting such as one with Franz Joseph (Emperor of Austria) then there is a sitting place. 

Then a library with a secret passage in the bookshelf! This is Scooby-Doo stuff! Inside the secret passage is a spiral staircase to the bedroom. It is not meant for escaping, but merely a shortcut to the bedroom. Then the music room, the Florentine Ballroom, the Venetian Ballroom or Hall of Mirrors (the room has mirrors all around it to make it look bigger), and the Moorish Ballroom with a fountain known as the Crying Fountain because the water  apparently flows in the shape of tears. The famous paintings and sculptures here are all replicas. Lastly the Turkish room which is the smoking room for smoking shisha, and the theatre or cinema hall. 

Then we were done with Peleș Castle and in to Bran Castle. On the way we passed the Prahova River, the elusive Caraiman Cross or Heroes Cross atop the mountain in the distance, and the Cantacuzino Palace, built by a very rich man who was kind of competing with the King and Peleș Castle.

Going to Bran Castle I imagined myself in Bram Stoker’s world, riding in a horse carriage along medieval roads and winding lanes through the forests with my heart full of trepidation, like butterfly wings beating against my chest with such zeal, anticipation and nervous wonder for what awaits me. 

Right. Back to reality.

Transylvania means “lands beyond the forests” in Latin. In the Middle Ages, Transylvania was not yet part of Romania, it only became a part of Romania after WW I. Before that they were under Hungarian authority. The Hungarian King invited a group of German minorities known as the Saxons to come to Transylvania, Romania and they settled down here in waves from the mid-12th century to the mid-19th century, bringing with them their culture and expertise in building, agriculture etc. Being knew to the land, they were scared of everything so their buildings were very thick, fortified, like a fortress. Using a short cut to beat the traffic, we passed through this once German village on the way to Bran Castle.

During the communist era, the Saxons wanted to return to Germany but nobody was allowed to leave the country at that time. So the communist leader made a deal with the German government to sell these people to Germany. Now there are next to no Saxons left in Romania.