Transylvania, bwooa-ha-ha-ha

Dracula’s Dream is a multi layered concoction served in Vlad Tepe’s boyhood home in Sighisoara, Romania--I swear it sort of throbs, like a heart.

Drac Gula (son of Drac, the Dragon), prince of nearby Wallachia, famous for impaling Turks to repel the Ottoman Empire, and is, inexplicably, the poster-boy for Bram Stoker’s vampire character. Sadistic qualities aside, he is not remembered for bloodsucking. In Transylvania and most of Romania and Hungary, he is considered a national hero for his leadership qualities.

Those of you who know me also know that I had to see this for myself, so a ten-hour train ride later, I found myself wandering the cobblestones of this UNESCO World Heritage site. The fortified citadel contains wonders like a 16th century walkway and a 14th century church with a 12th century crypt, not to mention the totally creepy graveyard next door. The clocktower is dated 1099 and it has a real torture chamber in the dungeon and a display of medieval dentistry instruments in its remarkably well-kept museum. Horses still pull wooden wagons full of people along the roads in Sighisoara next to more modern vehicles, and you can still sample palinche (fortified brandy) from plastic soda bottles while you watch owls and bats wheel through the sky.