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Christian
Wilderness Press - Jim Durham's visit to
Dracula's Castle
Go
on missionary trips several times a
year with Jim Durham...email Jim:
jrd1942@juno.com
Each year when I come back from Romania people
ask me, “Did you go to Dracula’s Castle?” Well, this year I did.
I
attended a wedding in Columbus, Ohio, in June and there were two young
ladies from Romania working there at the reception. When I spoke to
them in Romania they were
surprised and later admitted that they were afraid that I might have
been listening to their conversation that evening. But my Romanian is
not all that good. One of the ladies, Manuela, told me that she was
from
Bran, Romania, and if I would visit there then she would show me around
the area. She would
be going to Romania the next week, so I took her phone number
and e-mail address and we communicated, which is how we met in
Bran.
As it turned out, a good Romanian pastor friend, Nelu
Glitia and his twin daughters, Rebeca and Debora, took me into that
area and showed me around, and we
did meet up with Manuela and spent some time with her. From where
I first joined this pastor and his daughters the trip back to their
home was about 500-600 miles, which took us two full days
The vampire, Dracula, of course is total fiction, but
Vlad Dracula was real and he
ruled the Transylvania area in the 1400’s. His father was Vlad
Drucul (i.e. Vlad the devil) and he named his son Vlad Dracula (i.e.
Vlad, son of the devil). Vlad
Dracula was also known as Vlad Tepes (i.e. the “Impaler”) because he
would execute people by impaling them on a wooden stake. While he was
not
considered an unfair ruler, he was a feared ruler, and not only by his
subjects, but also by his enemies. During his reign he was able
to maintain relative security
for his people. The
history of the area was very tumultuous in his lifetime. Vlad did
not live in
“Dracula’s Castle”, as he
was a native of Sighisoara, a city we visited at the end of our
trip; and that is the
subject of another photo story. (There
is no end to this.)
If you research Vlad Dracula, you will find different
variations of the details of his life.
The BRAN CASTLE (i.e. Dracula’s Castle) was the castle
described by Bram Stoker when he wrote “Dracula” in
1897 creating "Dracula the Vampire". He probably never saw the
castle. Who knows if he took the name from Vlad Dracula or if he
chose it because it means “Devil” in Romanian. This Castle is sort
of Romania’s answer to Disney
World, the more mysterious and
exciting they can make it, the more people want to visit
it, people like me. The
castle was originally built in 1212, but it suffered damage from time
to time. A castle
is not a "palace". A
castle is built primarily for defense; a palace is a "home for
royalty"; albeit, royalty did
reside there at one time, but Vlad never did.
Headed
for Bran, Romania
Move over and let
us by
Watch out
for the trains.
Haystacks and plum trees
Heading
into the mountains
Passing by rich gypsy "Castles" on the way
Rich Gypsy house
Poor Gypsy house
Gypsy village
Gypsy Mansion
Orthodox Church
New orthodox Church
Inside new Orthodox Church
Village and church on the way
Finally approaching
"Dracula's Castle"
Front of Castle
Stairs
Roof area
More roof area
View from
the
Castle
Upper levels
More rooftops
Courtyard
Manuela center, twins Becky
& Debroa, father Nelu.
The End
Sincerely,
Jim
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