At first bite
Out for the count in comfort
he settled on this part of the world after reading Transylvanian Superstitions, written by Emily Gerard, Scottish wife of a Polish cavalry officer, published in 1885.
She wrote: “Nowhere else does this crooked plant of delusion flourish so persistently and in such variety.”
So, Jonathan Harker notes: “I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some imaginative whirlpool.”
You don’t see many victims going round Bistrita with neck wounds that refuse to heal these days, only hideous tattoos like those on the small number of visiting Brits.
The Golden Crown Hotel itself – which wasn’t a hotel at the time of the book but that’s just part of the fable – now houses a couple of shops, one for Vodafone and another for surgical stockings.
Come to think of it, Dracula’s In Dracula-town, I stayed in threestar Hotel Codrisor, approached by a charming stone footbridge over the little river Bistrita.
Quiet, a short walk to the centre and the old fortifications, including the ancient stone Coopers’ Tower. At €30 a night for people might have wished for some elasticated bandages. This is a little-visited corner of Romania, but I can recommend it heartily.
Train travel is cheap, hotels are generally reasonable – €30 a night for a luxury room – and you can eat well for a fiver.
The local firewater, tuica (plum brandy), is a knockout. A half-litre of homemade bought at a roadside market cost €5 and lasted a week. Wine comes in at €3 a bottle. I flew directly Visit the orthodox church of Bistrita Monastery a room with a balcony, a bargain. In Cluj, beware the Hotel Pax, directly opposite the main railway station with trains throughout Transylvania and the tram terminus for the airport.
It’s convenient, but not cheap and pretty grim. The lovely old town of Iasi from Liverpool John Lennon airport with Blue, an airline I’d never heard of before, to Cluj-napoca in the northeast of the country. Planes on time, staff helpful.
From there, I travelled east through the Carpathians overnight by train, an experience in itself, to the historic city of Iasi (pronounced Yash) and retraced my steps via Suceava over the next seven days. This was the first time I’d visited Romania since 1970, and then I only went to the capital Bucharest over the so-called Friendship Bridge from Ruse in Bulgaria.
It was during the days of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and I was ordered off the pavement by gun-toting thugs in uniform.
It’s taken almost half a century to return. I’m glad I did. Romania today is much more welcoming, with a wealth of history.
Just don’t forget a cross to ward off possible vampires.
schedules for Romania’s domestic railways are at cfrcalatori.ro.