It’s love
Beautiful Bistrita of its publication in 1897. He never visited Transylvania, except in his exotic imagination. I did, on a train. Well, being me, it would be.
I crossed the Carpathian range from Suceava to Bistrita (pronounced Bistreecha), winding through high, wooded mountains, with mist-covered peaks, a mysterious, primitive landscape occasionally relieved by Alpine houses.
This is still a peasant culture, with waggons drawn by horses that have bright red tassels hanging from their ears – to deter “the evil eye”. You still see bunches of dead leaves and garlic on shops and houses for the same purpose. Dracula may be vanquished, but superstition is not.
Bistrita is the jumping-off point for the forested Birghau Valley where Bram Stoker set his story. He describes the scene accurately, having read up his sources in the British Library. It’s much the same today.
In fact, the fanciful Dubliner originally intended to set his fantastic work in Styria, part of modern Austria, but