Bran was exactly as expected - CRAWLING with tourists and coaches from all over the place! There isn't much else in the town itself apart from the castle, but the castle here is pretty cool.

'Draculas' Castle

Full credit to the locals here who have marketed the castle (very sucessfully) as Draculas Castle - even though it has no connection with either the original Bram Stoker story or with Vlad 'The Impailer' Tepes. Still it definately brings in the tourists. There is every conceivable form of tourist 'tat' that you can imagine here and ABSOLUTELY every piece of Vampire/Dracula merchandise every created.

I had planned to stay at a Cabana (Cheap Chalet style accomodation) a short way out of town. However, when I finally arrived there it looked as though the place had been closed for a couple of years! The outside bar area was inhabited by several sheep and they looked quite settled in. Time for an updated guide book I think!

Wandering back into town I was approached by a 'tout' offering rooms. Sounded like a pretty good deal - Own room, hot shower, TV and pretty cheap too. I decided to go along and check it out. As it turned out the room was in a family house - it was infact their downstairs living room that he was offering and the 'bed' was the sofa. Still it was a good deal and the owner seemed very friendly. She didn't speak a word of english and i'm sure she realised that I didn't speak any Romanian, but she still insisted on talking to me. I've no idea what the conversations were about but they must have been good as she was always smiling - a very happy lady. I did my best to get the jist of things but typically did a lot of nodding and smiling. Nice house, friendly owner, big garden, two dogs and several chickens.... what more could you ask for?