Dracula’s Motherland is Shockingly Idyllic (PHOTOS) | The Weather Channel
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There’s more to Transylvania than the doom-and-gloom of Dracula.

ByEuna ParkOctober 30, 2018


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Transylvania is the famous home of the fictional character Dracula, but it's also full of beautiful mountains and idyllic villages. (Aurel Paduraru)


In central Romania lies the “land beyond the forest.” Transylvania is a mountainous region with a population of approximately 5 million and home to some of best-preserved medieval towns in Europe

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Transylvania is also home to Bran Castle, which was the inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Though Count Dracula is a fictional character, he was inspired by Romanian ruler Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler. He was notorious as a cruel and brutal leader who held public executions of his enemies. 

“Everybody wants to travel to Transylvania in order to find out where Dracula’s legend is from. But because they are distracted by his tumultuous legend, they do not see the real beauty of this part of the world,” photographer Aurel Paduraru wrote in a post on BoredPanda

There’s more to the region than the doom-and-gloom of Dracula. Transylvania is full of picturesque landscapes and villages that look like they’re right out of a fairytale. Tourists can visit the gothic castles and walk along the cobblestone streets or hike through the Bucegi Mountains. If you’re lucky, you may even find yourself waiting for horses and herds of goats to clear your paths. 

But if you visit on Saint George’s Day or the eve of Saint Andrew’s Day, legend has it that vampires linger around the crossroads in the villages.