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Romania: Romania Road Trip: Day 6

Time flies and we've been on the road for the 6th day. Our course is already set back to Slovenia, still we had to see some more interesting places. Plan for today was city Brașov, notable for being the birthplace of the national anthem of Romania, and the Bran Castle, commonly known as "Dracula's Castle".

Previous days of our road trip: Day 5, Day 4, Day 3, Day 2 and Day 1.

Overtaking the truck with 2 extra horses on our way to Brașov

Brașov was definitely the most beautiful city on our trip.

 

Biserica Neagră or Black Church was built by the German community of the city and stands as the main Gothic style monument in the country, as well as being the largest and one of the most important Lutheran (Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession in Romania) places of worship in the region.

 

The Black Church has a six-ton bell, the biggest in Romania, an impressive 4,000 pipe organ built in 1839 by Carl August Buchholz (1796–1884) which is played during weekly concerts. From 1950 to 1960, during part of the Communist period in Romania, the city Brașov was called Orașul Stalin (Stalin City).

 

Bran Castle is commonly known as "Dracula's Castle" (although it is one among several locations linked to the Dracula legend, including Poenari Castle and Hunyad Castle).

 

The first documented mentioning of Bran Castle is the act issued by Louis I of Hungary on 19 November 1377, giving the Saxons of Kronstadt (Brașov) the privilege to build the stone castle on their own expense and labor force.

The Wallachian ruler Vlad Țepeș (Vlad the Impaler; 1448–1476) does not seem to have had a significant role in the history of the fortress, although he passed several times through the Bran Gorge.

The Teutons erected a wooden castle in 1212 in Bran (a Turkish name meaning “gate”), before they were driven away from the area in 1226  and in 1242 it was destroyed by the Mongols.

 

Rural life

Fantana Spanului - Monument dedicated to Battle of Segesvár, a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 31 July 1849

GeoCaches found:
- Welcome to Brasov County (BV-CV) DN11, GC2KM4F
- Turnul Lemnarului, GC2ZR3K
- Dracula's Castle, GC5D8, where I picked up trackable items "Travel Bug Dog Tag", TB616Q3, "9CWMTBR Teddy", TB4Z8MC and "Sotta masken", TB392J9 and they visited also the next cache with me
- Ispán well - Albesti/Fehéregyháza, GC4RRY9