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When we decided to visit Romania and to
seek Dracula's castle, we disagreed
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initially on whether this meant the
fictional Count Dracula or Vlad the
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Third of Wallachia otherwise known as
Vlad the Impaler. We decided to start
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with Stoker's Count. At the start of Bram
Stoker's Dracula, the young solicitor
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Jonathan Harker has a strange journey to
Castle Dracula, ending up taken by
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carriage to a 'vast ruin castle from
whose tall black windows came no ray of
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light'. This was our first goal!
Harker faced wolves, mysterious figures
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and warnings on his way to the castle...
but our first challenge was the Bucharest traffic!
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Bucharest, according to a 2014 study by TomTom, is the city with most traffic in all of Europe.
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But anyway, now we're going to try and get out of Bucharest and head up towards the Carpathian Mountains...
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and Dracula's Castle!
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Transylvania, and Bran Castle, was mostly
part of Hungary.
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They would have actually had to come down through the Carpathians to get to the castle whereas we are going straight up to the bottom of the Carpathians to get there.
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[MUSIC -'DRIFTING']
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I can see a castle!
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I'm pretty sure that's it! We've done it wife - we've found Dracula's Castle!
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Heading north from
Bucharest, our first destination was Bran.
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Past souvenir shops and a small
open-air Museum of old Romanian village houses
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we approached our goal - Bran
Castle!
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We'e currently here just outside of Bran Castle - Castle Dracula.
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When Bram Stoker wrote his book in 1897 he hadnever actually been to Romania or
Transylvania
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So he got his information from books - mainly from the British Library and other libraries
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round London and one of the books had
an etching of Bran Castle in it.
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It is the only Castle that matches the
description that Bram Stoker gives,
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so this is now known the whole world over as Castle Dracula!
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I think it's fair to say that I have achieved what we set out to do in less than two days and we have
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found Dracula's Castle!
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"Welcome to my house
in to freely and of your own will,"
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says Count Dracula on Harker's arrival. "Come in the night is chill and you must need to eat and rest."
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As we were following Harker to the castle we decided we should eat as well!
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Drinks?
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I do not drink wine... That's what he says in the book...
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Oh dear.
We're at the Castle Bran restaurant,
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the castle is just outside the
window, and when we go in touch to get
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permission to fly the drone here we were
recommend to have dinner, so why not indeed!
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You can get normal coffee, gonna give
you three of the puddings but they're mini versions.
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Is a mini version of the
pudding it'll be enough? I don't know.
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When there's three of them!
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So Bram Stoker's Castle Dracula on a
bright, sunny morning it's a beautiful,
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beautiful castle but you can see already
in a bit of a storm you can see why this
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was a setting for Dracula and it does
have all the things that he describes in
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the book. It has the precipices where he's
looking out the windows and you just see
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a drop down. The fact that Jonathan Harker
was just trapped in there in the book
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and you can almost imagine that figure
of Dracula coming out of one of the
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upper windows and crawling down the wall.
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Just looking at the castle I felt like a
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ten year old boy again, reading of
Harker's terrifying adventures in Castle Dracula.
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On entering the castle, however, I
remembered that there was another, less
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fictional Dracula that we were here to
find.
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Vlad Dracula was a 15th century prince also known by his unofficial title
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Vlad the Impaler.
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He divides opinion. To
many he is seen as evil, yet to many
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within Romania
he is a folk hero. On our search for this
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Dracula's castle we will be seeking a
legend as much as a historical figure.
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Vlad was probably born in 1431 in Sighisoara, Transylvania. The second son of
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Vlad the second. Vlad the second was made a member of the 'Order of the Dragon',
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a chivalric order. This is why he used
the title Dracul and his son the title Dracula.
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Vlad and his younger brother were sent
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as hostages for years to the Ottoman
Sultan, as a guarantee that Wallachia
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would follow Ottoman rule.
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In 1447 Dracula's father was assassinated by
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rebellious boyars, likely under orders
from the regent of Hungary.
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Vlad's older brother Mircea was blinded
and buried alive and the Hungarians put
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Vlad's cousin on the throne.
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As a result, the Ottoman army helped install Dracula as
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a puppet ruler of Wallachia instead, in
October 1448. This lasted less than
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a month before the Hungarian army helped
chase Vlad back out of Wallachia.
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Eventually Dracula managed to win
Hungarian support as his cousin lost
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favor and in 1456 it was his turn to
arrive in Wallachia, with a Hungarian army
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and he was out for revenge!
On Easter Sunday 1459 Dracula arrested
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those Nobles who had been involved in
his father and brothers deaths.
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The younger of them was sent an Poenari to rebuild Dracula's fortress. Those unable
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to help were impaled on spikes. His wars
against the Turks would involve much
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more impaling of his enemies and his
rule over Wallachia was seen as fair
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and orderly but often brutal.
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In November 1462 Vlad crossed to Transylvania for a
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meeting with his Hungarian ally Matei Corvin. However on arrival he was
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arrested on what were probably false
charges of collusion with the Turks and
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imprisoned in a dungeon where some say
he was driven mad.
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In 1476 Vlad was
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released to lead armies against the Turks
once again and in November he begins his
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third reign as ruler of Wallachia.
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Sadly this did not last long. In January 1477
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Vlad was murdered and his head
displayed upon a stake in Constantinople.
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As Bran Castle lies inside the old
region of Transylvania not Wallachia it
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would not have fallen under Vlad the
Impaler's rule and there are no records
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to suggest he ever captured it, however
he would likely have passed by the
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castle from his capital in Targoviste
on his journeys to punish the merchants
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of nearby Brasov. We explored the castle
looking for any links with either of our Dracula's.
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The courtyard looked of
considerable size and several dark ways
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led from it under great round arches.
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In no place save from the windows in the
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castle walls is there an available exit.
The castle is a veritable prison and I
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am a prisoner.
Last night the Count asked me in the
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suavest tones to write three letters. The
first should be June the 12th the second
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June 19th and the third June 29th.
I now know the span of my life, God help me!
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The plain wooden desk, writing
at the table. Writes the letters that Dracula makes him write.
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To convince his wife or
his fiancee that he's still alive.
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The fingers point both ways- I don't know what to do!
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There's a sign above you telling
you to go that way.
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Yes but there's one there telling me to go that way! Oh no!
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He says in the book, Jonathan Harker gets
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lost because the whole cast is maze-like. While it's felt a little bit like that it's not been... But when you get to this point here...
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Suddenly all gets very confused.
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We are in Transylvania
and Transylvania is not England.
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Our ways are not your ways and they shall be to you many strange things.
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After you, my dear. . .
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While Greg found much that reminded him
of Count Dracula, my search for Vlad the third
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was coming up a little ... short!
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My favorite writer Karen chance
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she takes real historic people and
historic events
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she puts a bit of mythology into them
she spins it into a great story and then
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gives the characters character and new
purpose. One things that really
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excited me about coming to Romania is that her main characters - you've got Mircea,
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you have Vlad and Radu, known as 'The
Handsome'. The father gave them away to
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ensure his loyalty. He then sent the older
brother leading the troops knowing that
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they were going to fail. So you had the two
younger children who were going to be
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tortured because they were held prisoner
and he wasn't loyal and then he had his
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son whose own people turned against him,
they blinded him, they buried him alive and
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it just, in a silly kind of way, it makes
me feel closer to her characters by
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coming to where the original ones, the
real people actually were.
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One of the legends of Vlad said that on the well in Targoviste he kept a golden chalice.
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Anyone could use it to drink and it was not
guarded, such was Vlad's control that it
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stayed where it was.
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In his way, yes, he did brutal things but that's the time it was.
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His own people - a lot of them didn't think of him as a monster. He was someone
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that was good to the poor. Like they said here, a kind of Robin Hood character.
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He was hard on the people who broke his rules but on everyone else he looked after them.
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The story about the well with the golden
chalice, it was a beautiful example of
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exactly that. He will give you wealth, he will look after you but if you break his rules
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you'll be impaled on a stick or tortured. But if you stick to the rules he was very fair.
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In an exhibition in some of
the rooms however, we were reminded again
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of Vlads darker reputation. As we came
face to face with some of the harsh
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punishments handed out in his era and
beyond.
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That's less torture and more restraint.
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and begins to think 'can I do an escape from that?'.
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I guess I should just be grateful he
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wasn't looking at any of the ones with spikes!
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Very quickly any lightheartedness left
us as we looked around the torture exhibition.
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Weapons used by policemen and
jailers to control and repress unarmed and often naked prisoners.
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This is what people used to do to each other, a lot.
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Just can't imagine - I know people still
torture each other now but this was
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judges and justice.
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It's hard, don't want to imagine it really.
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Lets face it, this was the torture we
expected to see here.
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If they got it right
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you could be impaled so the spike
comes out of your mouth and you're still alive,
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for a while.
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It does just make you
wonder why Bram Stoker felt the need to
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invent a monster.
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The story of Dracula and the vampires and everything else is fictional
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and yet still I don't
think there's anything in Bram Stoker's
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Dracula that is as grotesque as just one
of these torture instruments.
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I think it's time to leave the torture
rooms and get back on with exploring the castle.
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It's stunning.
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This castle is stunning and it's Dracula's Castle in terms of Bram Stoker's book.
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But to get to actually Vlad the Impaler
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There are going to be castles that have more significance than this beautiful one.
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It burns! It burns!
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If we are going to find places Dracula actually was, and we're gonna find actual
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Dracula's castle we need to start off with his birthplace in Sighisoara.
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Here we are in sunny Sighisoara, as they
say. It's raining today, we've managed to park.
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There's no parking in the Citadel, the walled city itself so we've managed to
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park up at the bottom, just about.
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We've got the promised cobbled streets. Lets go look for his house!
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Vlad Dracul was hosted here between 1431
and 1435 by the Mayor of City Sighisoara and
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he had children here but for our purposes the most important is that in 1431 his wife
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gave birth to Vlad who would later
become Vlad the son of Dracul,
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Vlad Dracula and he's what we are here for.
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So we are stood outside the house where Vlad Dracula was actually born. However, they are apparently closed today.
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We discovered that while the
restaurant which now takes up Vlad's
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birthplace was closed, we could get into
a shop on the ground floor of the building.
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I'm doing my bit of souvenir shopping.
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So what we've discovered really
so far in Sighisoara, as well as the
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birthplace of Dracula (that we couldn't
get into and is a restaurant) is everyone
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here seems to be incredibly proud of the
Romanian heritage and traditions. Now
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obviously they were salesmen and sales
women as well but they want to explain
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the meanings of the spoons, they have a
ceramic which apparently is the oldest
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ceramic in the world.
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With these, the birds - any that have the birds on- they mean woman. And then the beast means man.
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Lets get one of each then.
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They want to share
it with you which is really nice.
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Coming to Romania, I knew that I wanted to get one of the carved wooden spoons. I'm going to be a nerd again
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but it's thanks to Karen Chance, in one
part of one of her books, it explains
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that Mircea's house is full of very
expensive things and yet when the house is
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being attacked and destroyed, the people
who know him best go for his collection
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of old wooden spoons from his childhood,
they were the only thing in there that
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had sentiment for him and so I knew when
we were coming here, there's a few
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souvenirs that I'm keeping my eye out
for like the eggs we've just bought but the
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wooden spoon is the one thing that I was
really 'I have to get one when I'm here'.
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Having found Vlad's birthplace and
loaded up on wooden spoons, we climbed to the top of Sighisoara.
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Modern city. All the traffic and noise down there. Then up here you have the cobbled streets and the old buildings.
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I know that's how it happens but it feels weird to see it like this, that's all.
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Okay so we were supposed to be spending the night in Sighisoara, which was the birthplace but because that hotel was covered in mud, we've had to make
the best of it and we've come right out to Corvin Castle.
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Now Corvin Castle is one of the places Dracula was supposed to have been imprisoned.
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It's an incredible castle, isn't it!?
Very Hogwarts. Isn't it though!
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We are here today, just outside of Corvin
Castle in Hunedoara.
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I think is how it is pronounced. And somewhere in
the dungeons down there Vlad Dracula was imprisoned.
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It's before opening time,
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security have cleared us to film with the drone. We've got permission go on to the bridge.
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Greg is a bit nervous. It's a big drop and water under there.
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So he's a tad nervous right now.
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Dracula may have struggled to appreciate
the beauty of the castle, as at 31 years
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old he was brought here as a prisoner of
Matei Corvin, accused of writing
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letters colluding with the Turks.
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Going into the dungeons which apparently sent Vlad Tepes mad.
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I don't think this is it. It said 'below the castle'.
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So this is a dungeon but not 'the dungeon'.
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I set off to try and find the right dungeon
while Felicity continued to struggle
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with a major part of Vlads reputation.
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'Vlad Tepes' means 'Vlad The Impaler'.
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00:22:19,499 --> 00:22:23,519
The Turks have another name for him which I probably can't pronounce right but it
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all means The Impaler but it was the
Turks that did it first. He has the
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nickname for it, he's famous for it, he
didn't create it. The Turks were doing it first.
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They took him as kind of prisoner, he was
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the hostage to keep the father loyal to
them and they raised him.
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You know they taught him the Koran, they
tried to make him one of them and that
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includes the way that they tortured. So
he has this huge thing associated with
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him that was not originally him at all. I
don't get why.
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We thought we might see
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the room where Vlad was held prisoner,
they've actually discovered using radar
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scans the underground substructure of
the castle and they found rooms under
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there which would have been the
prisoners at the time that Vlad is
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believed to have been held prisoner here
so while we won't be walking in those prisons
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they would be beneath our feet. Tucked
away in the dark where he could hear, I
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mean we've seen some of the torture
instruments and things, the theory is
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that while he was down there he would
have heard people being tortured and even
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thrown to animals and that sent him
insane - that's the theory that
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believes that he went insane here.
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As we felt Dracula once again slip through
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our fingers, we took the time to explore
the rest of this amazing castle.
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That's where Dumbledore sits.
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Next to McGonagall.
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Next question, up or down?
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Greg's favorite place - the kitchen!
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It's empty though.
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00:24:38,220 --> 00:24:41,680
They knew you were coming, they probably
locked it all down!
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Nah, there will be food somewhere!
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00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,980
So what does it say about this well?
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They had three prisoners dig it and they
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promised them their freedom or the owner
promised them their freedom and before
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they completed the well he died and his
wife refused to honor it and so there are
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00:25:04,539 --> 00:25:10,700
various versions of what the
inscriptions said but the suggestion
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is that they placed a curse on the castle.
What they wanted to write was
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'You may have water but you have no soul'.
246
00:25:55,360 --> 00:26:00,830
So we've jokingly compared this to Hogwarts a few times, it has that style it has
247
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that power and then, I don't know, snow just adds to the magic. It's amazing.
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Thank you. I messed it up! (laughter)
249
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Before leaving Corvin, we stopped off at a
souvenir shop for an impromptu history lesson.
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The coin, made by Vlad Dracul, the father of Vlad Tepes, and it's copying exactly
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00:26:51,330 --> 00:26:59,550
this image which is the head of a Dacian wolf, the body of a dragon and the
252
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cross, the sign of Christianity.
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So we've just been talking to the lady in
254
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one of these souvenir shops and she was
telling us that it's actually only the
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second time it's snowed here this winter.
She says she feels a bit sorry that it's
256
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,270
not all settling on the ground because
it makes it look even more fairy tale but I
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think we're happy- it's pretty fairy tale! But yeah we are incredibly lucky, it's only the second time it snowed here this winter.
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I've been to some lovely castles, but I'm sorry, but I think this one is my favourite. It's so beautiful. It is amazing.
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00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,640
I think one of the problems we're
gonna have with Dracula generally is he
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is a legend. There is the legend of Vlad
Dracula and it's a bit like if you try
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to go and try to find Robin Hood, yes you
can go to Sherwood Forest, yes you can
262
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go to the supposed tree where he was
supposed to be and it's all a bit sketchy
263
00:28:00,190 --> 00:28:05,620
and I think that's part of the trouble
we're having with trying to find
264
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Dracula's Castle. Going to Corvin today
and we know that Dracula was imprisoned
265
00:28:12,580 --> 00:28:16,840
and it's believed that Dracula was
imprisoned there and the actual spot he was
266
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:21,280
imprisoned is believed to be underground. He is a legend and so some of the
267
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:26,610
information is a bit more sketchy.
So what we need to do is we now need to
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00:28:26,610 --> 00:28:30,420
go and find some sort of castle some
sort of fortress where we absolutely
269
00:28:30,420 --> 00:28:35,700
know he was ruling from. We've been to
where he was born, that's somewhere we
270
00:28:35,700 --> 00:28:39,440
can definitely one hundred percent pinpoint
and say Vlad was here when he was born
271
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:45,510
but we didn't go to a castle in Sighisoara
so let's head out, let's see if we
272
00:28:45,510 --> 00:28:48,740
can find one of the castles that he
ruled from.
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00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,540
We've come across here to
274
00:28:53,550 --> 00:28:59,610
Poenari Fortress and we came through the
mountain pass. Now the one problem
275
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we've got here is the potential for
bears- It's even on the map! The fortress
276
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:10,180
has been closed a lot over the last
couple of years because of bear attacks on tourists.
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00:29:12,060 --> 00:29:17,120
Not that I'm afraid of grizzly bears or anything but, you know, a healthy respect for them!
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00:29:18,380 --> 00:29:23,500
A healthy 'not wanting to get too close to one, out in the open'.
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00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:31,180
I would just walk forward and see
where we find out...
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00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,370
We are at the base of the Poenari (fortress) steps. There's definitely no one about here the
281
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:44,820
people in the restaurant over there tell
us that the guy to pay is at the top.
282
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:49,820
It doesn't look like there's anyone here, there's only a car with ice on it- it's just...
283
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,420
That's their souvenir shop and everything (closed).
284
00:29:52,420 --> 00:29:55,450
There are days like this where fourteen
hundred and eighty steps would be our
285
00:29:55,450 --> 00:30:00,120
biggest worry of the day. Not here!
286
00:30:01,260 --> 00:30:04,440
That one looks a bit rotten, what do you think?
287
00:30:05,180 --> 00:30:08,420
This is Felicity trying to decide on the best stick.
288
00:30:08,420 --> 00:30:13,820
So we can still see off in the distance electrified fences which apparently have come in
289
00:30:13,820 --> 00:30:18,580
sometime over the winter to try to stop bear attacks.
290
00:30:19,380 --> 00:30:20,900
We're about third of the way up.
291
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:26,240
We've currently seen neither bears nor anybody we have to pay.
292
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,060
Or anybody at all!
293
00:30:29,140 --> 00:30:31,520
I thought you'd seen a bear or something!
294
00:30:31,580 --> 00:30:33,660
If I'd seen a bear I'm not saying 'hang on a
minute'.
295
00:30:33,660 --> 00:30:34,600
You might!
296
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:35,780
I'm gonna say bear!
297
00:30:35,780 --> 00:30:46,300
They let themselves into people's fields. They let themselves into people's gardens and their rubbish bins. They walk along the main road.
298
00:30:46,300 --> 00:30:50,680
If they can get in and do that stuff and we've seen that they can open cars
299
00:30:52,700 --> 00:30:55,880
what chance has an electric fence of stopping a really determined bear?
300
00:30:55,900 --> 00:30:59,700
We've got to be two thirds of the way now.
301
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:06,820
This is me, picture of elegance... about to fall on my face!
302
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:12,920
To quote Mr. Alexander, "It didn't look that high in the catalogue!"
303
00:31:14,020 --> 00:31:16,520
I have not got any garlic cloves.
304
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,860
Have you got any onion?
I have not got any onion.
305
00:31:19,860 --> 00:31:25,440
Have you got anything that's supposed to work against a strega or a strigoi or a vampire or bear?
306
00:31:25,620 --> 00:31:28,112
If I have to I will fashion a hasty stake.
307
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:33,960
Are we talking about the food kind to appease them or the jabby kind to deter them?
308
00:31:34,220 --> 00:31:37,260
Are you just stalling because you don't want to climb up those steps?
309
00:31:37,460 --> 00:31:38,620
Shucks!
310
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:42,010
Seriously I'm not sure what all this
worry about bears is about,
311
00:31:42,010 --> 00:31:46,080
they're absolutely fine. I know bears they have little rainbows on their chest and they
312
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:50,200
do some sort of rainbow dance
or something, and they're all different bright colours.
313
00:31:50,220 --> 00:31:51,380
What about Paddington?
314
00:31:51,540 --> 00:31:53,480
He's not a Care Bear!
315
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:57,360
To be honest, Care Bears look like they're on drugs so that might be the scary kind of bear.
316
00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,640
Isn't Paddington meant to be a friendly bear?
317
00:31:59,940 --> 00:32:02,640
I don't know, a bear on drugs seems like it'd be alright.
318
00:32:04,060 --> 00:32:07,320
Depends what kind of drugs -
the ones that make you paranoid or the ones that make you chill.
319
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:10,540
True.
What about the picnic baskets?
320
00:32:10,540 --> 00:32:12,340
What about them?
321
00:32:12,540 --> 00:32:14,020
That's Yogi!
322
00:32:14,020 --> 00:32:15,980
I don't know many bears.
323
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:18,120
Uh oh!
324
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:18,880
What?
325
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,900
No, not that 'uh oh', the on video 'uh oh'!
326
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,860
The 'Uh oh' where Vlad has sent out a welcome party for us.
327
00:32:25,860 --> 00:32:28,500
What are you talking about? Are there people?
328
00:32:28,500 --> 00:32:31,720
I think there were, before Vlad got his hands on them.
329
00:32:34,820 --> 00:32:36,300
I said not that 'uh oh'!
330
00:32:36,300 --> 00:32:40,940
If they're on stakes, they're going to be no bother to us, are they?
331
00:32:40,940 --> 00:32:45,200
yeah but it's not the people on stakes
you worry about wife, it's the people
332
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,720
that put them there!
333
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:51,440
Well we finally made
it up to the fortress. We've finally
334
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,270
found a man to pay right at the very
very top.
335
00:32:53,270 --> 00:32:56,880
Very nice, very friendly guy. We are the
only people out here apart from him
336
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:58,860
(and his gorgeous dog)
337
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:05,420
and of course the two
people currently on the spikes.
338
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,780
Look! Ready?
Yep, go on.
339
00:33:15,620 --> 00:33:18,300
That satisfying crunch!
340
00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:24,580
It's hard to imagine what it once was, it feels quite small because there's only a little bit
341
00:33:24,590 --> 00:33:32,570
of it left but this is the one where
Vlad reclaimed it because it was his
342
00:33:32,570 --> 00:33:37,550
family that built it originally, it was
the Wallachian rulers that created it
343
00:33:37,550 --> 00:33:44,390
and it was left to go into ruin. He
took it over and he kind of rebuilt it
344
00:33:44,390 --> 00:33:52,220
and then when his younger brother was
coming to try and take him hostage he
345
00:33:52,220 --> 00:33:57,940
escaped but his wife, not wanting to be
captured and enslaved by the Turks,
346
00:33:57,940 --> 00:34:02,400
she threw herself into the Arges river.
347
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:11,540
Vlad Dracula, leader or Wallachia, is
forgotten because we found a dog.
348
00:34:11,540 --> 00:34:14,100
Maybe we should call him Tepes.
349
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,920
I don't think 'The Impaler' is a nice name for a dog!
350
00:34:18,380 --> 00:34:20,460
So as we are in what could probably be most
351
00:34:20,580 --> 00:34:25,599
realistically described, of the ones
we've seen so far, as 'Vlad's Castle' as
352
00:34:25,599 --> 00:34:31,000
'Dracula's Castle' here at Poenari
and this is a defensive fortress, it's an
353
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:35,589
incredible place and one of the big
problems with trying to do a video about
354
00:34:35,589 --> 00:34:42,190
Vlad Dracula is that he his story
entwines history and myth so much
355
00:34:42,190 --> 00:34:46,089
that trying to pick the pieces apart
and trying to figure out which bits are
356
00:34:46,089 --> 00:34:52,629
real, which bits aren't, really becomes
such a difficult job and we're trying
357
00:34:52,629 --> 00:34:55,780
our best. You know, we're a travel
documentary we're not a historical
358
00:34:55,780 --> 00:34:59,340
documentary but we want to get the facts
right and what we're finding is the
359
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:05,060
facts are blurry. What we are presenting
is a story, a legend.
360
00:35:05,060 --> 00:35:08,080
So I always feel sorry for Vlad.
361
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:14,380
He had a horrible life, he
did his best to rule and then you get
362
00:35:14,380 --> 00:35:19,750
bits like after his wife died he married
again but he also had mistresses. One of
363
00:35:19,750 --> 00:35:23,980
them claimed to be pregnant and so he
literally tore her apart to disprove it
364
00:35:23,980 --> 00:35:27,380
and I look at that and think urghh.
365
00:35:27,380 --> 00:35:32,420
It gets hard to feel sorry for him when that's what he did, for that reason.
366
00:35:32,420 --> 00:35:37,359
But again you live in the
world of who wrote the history and did
367
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:39,100
that ever happen?
368
00:35:39,100 --> 00:35:48,160
They all said that it was written by his enemies and that they made him out to be a monster whereas his actual own people, they had him as a bit of a hero.
369
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,700
So one of the
legends of Poenari castle and one of the
370
00:35:51,700 --> 00:35:59,349
stories of Vlad is that he had to escape
from here and he was being chased and so
371
00:35:59,349 --> 00:36:07,839
he had his blacksmith's re-shoe the horses
with their shoes on backwards in order
372
00:36:07,839 --> 00:36:14,010
to leave a footprints
going backwards. So in honor of that
373
00:36:14,010 --> 00:36:16,800
little story, now I've got to get this
right because it's no good just putting the
374
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,190
shoes backwards, you've actually got to
swap feet as well if you're going to do
375
00:36:20,190 --> 00:36:27,040
this. Okay, here we go. Let's see if we can get this working.
376
00:36:31,420 --> 00:36:39,880
I'm sure that's just what the horses look like!
The best bit about this is whoever comes up here
377
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:51,020
next is gonna wonder how somebody
climbed up the outside of the castle here!
378
00:36:51,020 --> 00:36:58,040
I would say that's it - that's pretty
good actually! Have we got the footprints clearly in camera?
379
00:36:58,050 --> 00:37:04,400
That ladies and gentlemen is not just travel
documentary, that is historical recreation
380
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:09,260
experimentation at work. Now you've got to
step in exactly the same prints.
381
00:37:09,260 --> 00:37:15,660
Mythbusters eat your hearts out! My poor
sweet dog is wondering 'what are you doing!?'
382
00:37:15,660 --> 00:37:20,540
Now, if anyone asks you what happened here, you don't tell them as it would spoil it.
383
00:37:20,540 --> 00:37:23,720
Okay, you just say somebody climbed
over the wall.
384
00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:30,720
Come on my sweet.
There's a good baby.
385
00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:36,300
Faced with a reminder of what impaling actually looks like and some of the other things that are
386
00:37:36,300 --> 00:37:40,320
attributed to him and yes other people
were doing impaling but he still did it
387
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:46,050
and suddenly, suddenly you can see why
it's so easy to paint him as a villain
388
00:37:46,050 --> 00:37:50,100
and it's very very hard to see past that.
389
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:51,840
So Gregory didn't like the idea of
390
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:58,430
calling him Tepes- Impaler, so I'm gonna call him Arges, after the Arges River.
391
00:37:59,540 --> 00:38:04,560
We had to say goodbye to Arges at the
castle but luckily Felicity had a new
392
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:06,780
anti-bear strategy for our descent.
393
00:38:07,260 --> 00:38:12,060
Bears I am here therefore you be over there!
394
00:38:12,060 --> 00:38:14,460
No bears.
395
00:38:14,460 --> 00:38:16,340
I don't know who they're kidding
396
00:38:16,340 --> 00:38:20,800
with the electric-fence, have
these people not seen Jurassic Park!?
397
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:26,640
The expression 'bear with a sore head', now
they're supposed to be hibernating right
398
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:32,090
now. We're told to go along making noise
so that bears can get out of the area.
399
00:38:32,090 --> 00:38:35,550
What if we actually just wake them up
from their hibernation
400
00:38:35,550 --> 00:38:39,930
they become a bear with a sore
head and they come to smite me down for
401
00:38:39,930 --> 00:38:45,240
making noise. How do you know which thing to do? If I tiptoed past them they'd
402
00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:47,910
probably crack an eye and go 'nahh' and go back to sleep
403
00:38:47,910 --> 00:38:52,230
if I'm there stomping along and shouting
and singing I don't know about you but
404
00:38:52,230 --> 00:38:53,860
I'd kind of smite me down!
405
00:38:53,860 --> 00:38:59,010
Here we are nearly back down to the entrance of the
406
00:38:59,010 --> 00:39:05,520
climb up to Poenari Fortress. We have, it
appears, managed to avoid being eaten by bears.
407
00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:07,740
Hey- we've got a few steps left yet!
408
00:39:07,780 --> 00:39:11,840
But having avoided being eaten by bears,
Felicity has decided we are going to try
409
00:39:11,850 --> 00:39:14,420
looking for bears...
410
00:39:32,130 --> 00:39:36,510
In the early 1990's in Greece and Turkey
they actually first set up bear
411
00:39:36,510 --> 00:39:41,190
sanctuaries. It was mostly for dancing
bears, it was a place that the Bears
412
00:39:41,190 --> 00:39:45,060
could go where they would actually be
looked after instead of ill-treated for tourism.
413
00:39:45,060 --> 00:39:49,790
Then you've got countries like
this, when they actually joined the EU
414
00:39:49,790 --> 00:39:55,740
they had rules about zoos, you had to
reach a certain standard for the animal
415
00:39:55,740 --> 00:39:59,700
welfare in a zoo and a lot of the zoos
here weren't up to that level but police
416
00:39:59,700 --> 00:40:03,510
didn't want to do anything about it
because if you take the bear off them
417
00:40:03,510 --> 00:40:07,650
what do you then do with the bear, put it
down!? So the bear sanctuary like this
418
00:40:07,650 --> 00:40:11,520
actually gave the Bears a safe place to
go to where they would be looked after
419
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:15,660
and it's not like a zoo, it is a
sanctuary. You can't take a big camcorder
420
00:40:15,660 --> 00:40:21,660
in there so we've got a few pictures of
the Bears. The place was set up in 1998
421
00:40:21,660 --> 00:40:28,590
by Christina Lapis and she actually, this
is where she saw the restaurants and
422
00:40:28,590 --> 00:40:34,440
petrol stations that had bears in cages.
We saw an example of one of the cages as
423
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:39,030
we were going round. She wanted to be able to rescue them, there was nowhere to take
424
00:40:39,030 --> 00:40:44,130
a bear, like a sanctuary, so she set one
up. As you go around they make sure you
425
00:40:44,130 --> 00:40:49,290
don't get too close to them, they avoid
taking you near any bear for example
426
00:40:49,290 --> 00:40:53,850
there's one on the other side of the
park they won't let you walk by that one
427
00:40:53,850 --> 00:40:57,780
because if it sees people it gets up and
it starts pirouetting because that's
428
00:40:57,780 --> 00:41:02,490
what it was forced to do in order to get
food. They've got one that we have to
429
00:41:02,490 --> 00:41:09,330
keep bit of distance from and the poor
thing, it is new here, it's 15 years old and
430
00:41:09,330 --> 00:41:12,690
it is pacing backwards and forwards and just keeps bashing it's head against the side of the
431
00:41:12,690 --> 00:41:16,890
cage. That cage they haven't got the
electric wires on for obvious reasons.
432
00:41:16,890 --> 00:41:20,580
They've got so much land here and that
one, it just wants to pace back and forth
433
00:41:20,580 --> 00:41:26,700
in that one spot and just hitting its
head and they say these are they are
434
00:41:26,700 --> 00:41:30,060
still in a form of captivity but they've
got as much space as they can possibly
435
00:41:30,060 --> 00:41:34,710
give them and the one that's walking
backwards and forwards and bashing its
436
00:41:34,710 --> 00:41:41,010
head, it came from a zoo where it was
being kept in a very small cage, far too
437
00:41:41,010 --> 00:41:44,450
small, that Zoo is still allowed to have
another two bears. They built a bigger
438
00:41:44,450 --> 00:41:50,060
enclosure and they've still got two
bears after they've severely damaged
439
00:41:50,060 --> 00:41:56,750
that one. This place is for the animals
that zoos have destroyed and that people
440
00:41:56,750 --> 00:42:01,400
have taken in to try and attract
tourists, that is what they rescue here.
441
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,670
They also have a separate dog
sanctuary where they're trying to help
442
00:42:04,670 --> 00:42:09,560
the problem of the just overwhelming
numbers of wild dogs we've seen around
443
00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:13,250
and one of the things they do there is
free neutering because people because
444
00:42:13,250 --> 00:42:16,460
you have to pay and a lot of people
can't afford it a lot of dogs over here
445
00:42:16,460 --> 00:42:20,599
aren't neutered but they do neuter them all.
They're not breeding them which is a big
446
00:42:20,599 --> 00:42:25,040
thing for me, we go to a number of places
that call themselves a Sanctuary and then
447
00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,970
you find they breed them as
well and for me that's, it's not a
448
00:42:28,970 --> 00:42:33,410
sanctuary purely anymore. This one
they've said they've had to open the
449
00:42:33,410 --> 00:42:40,130
doors to visitors because that whatever
it is that I think maybe 50 lei or
450
00:42:40,130 --> 00:42:45,290
whatever it is you pay per person, that
is keeping them going. They need
451
00:42:45,290 --> 00:42:48,440
the money to keep the whole thing
running but because of that they do, in
452
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:53,030
the wintertime, it's two guided tours a
day. This is not a tourist attraction.
453
00:42:53,030 --> 00:42:58,550
This is not a zoo aimed at trying to
bring people in, this is just what it
454
00:42:58,550 --> 00:43:03,800
should be, it is a sanctuary. If they had
the money I feel that they wouldn't let
455
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:08,270
people in anyway because they're trying
to keep us away from the Bears as much
456
00:43:08,270 --> 00:43:11,839
as they can for the Bears own sake
because of the trauma they've had from
457
00:43:11,839 --> 00:43:16,839
people. If they had the money to care for
the Bears without tourists they would do that
458
00:43:16,839 --> 00:43:21,589
so it is for them, for the bears. And if you are watching this video on YouTube we will
459
00:43:21,589 --> 00:43:24,829
have in the description we will put the
link to their site. You can actually go
460
00:43:24,829 --> 00:43:30,170
to their site and see the live webcam of
the bears but you can also donate some
461
00:43:30,170 --> 00:43:37,069
money and of place we go, I I strongly
recommend you donate some money to these
462
00:43:37,069 --> 00:43:44,050
guys to help them keep this going
because this is a good sanctuary.
463
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:52,300
Leaving the Bears in peace, it was time
for us to continue our search for Vlad Dracula in Targoviste.
464
00:43:58,780 --> 00:44:04,300
So in a world of Dracula's castles this
is the old Princely Court. This was where
465
00:44:04,300 --> 00:44:09,270
some of the time he ruled from. Him and
his father both had complicated reigns
466
00:44:09,270 --> 00:44:14,860
where they got power and then they lost it and then they got it back and lost it
467
00:44:14,860 --> 00:44:19,600
and got it back.
Vlad Dracul only had two ruling periods
468
00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:25,480
and lost power for a bit in the middle but
Tepes, that's our Dracula, had the
469
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:31,230
power then he lost it, got it back for
a while, lost it, he got it back and then died.
470
00:44:35,670 --> 00:44:40,120
Hello person, welcome to my castle.
Thank you so much, the lovely tower you have.
Yes, the tower was
471
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:43,900
built by Vlad Dracula during his reign.
That's fantastic, someone should
472
00:44:43,900 --> 00:44:46,580
make a video about that!
473
00:44:46,580 --> 00:44:48,640
So this building here is the church but it's a slightly
474
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:56,350
more modern Church. Built in the late
1500's when Vlad died in the 1470's
475
00:44:56,350 --> 00:45:04,390
These ruins are too modern. Again this is
the palace built 1583 so again about 100
476
00:45:04,390 --> 00:45:08,246
years later that when Vlad had his
court here.
477
00:45:08,246 --> 00:45:10,510
Greg continued to search for the
478
00:45:10,510 --> 00:45:13,400
remains of the palace from Dracula's time.
479
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,000
They are saying this is part of the original.
480
00:45:17,010 --> 00:45:22,960
So I think this is still the 15th
century, I think to find the last bit of the 14th
481
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:27,910
sorry, the 16th century this is. To find the last bit of the 15th century where Vlad Dracula
482
00:45:27,910 --> 00:45:33,120
would have ruled, aside from the Tower, I think we need to go outside and up onto there.
483
00:45:38,319 --> 00:45:46,660
it strikes me that of the places we can
really tie Dracula to because we've had
484
00:45:46,660 --> 00:45:52,019
Bran Castle fictional Dracula, we
couldn't really placed Vlad there.
485
00:45:52,019 --> 00:45:57,699
Corvin Castle we think he was imprisoned
underneath but Poenari Fortress and here
486
00:45:57,699 --> 00:46:05,859
at Targoviste we definitely have castles,
fortresses, palaces that were lived in by
487
00:46:05,859 --> 00:46:10,900
Vlad the Impaler and it just strikes me
as odd, you build a fortress to last
488
00:46:10,900 --> 00:46:15,160
you build to be strong and be defensive
and yet so far the structure that has
489
00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:23,589
most or that was most intact that we can
definitely place Vlad Dracula in was a
490
00:46:23,589 --> 00:46:28,660
place he was born and lived in four years at his birth, that house is completely intact. This
491
00:46:28,660 --> 00:46:32,199
tower was the bit that was built during
his reign so this is what we have to go
492
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:33,700
up inside.
493
00:46:36,900 --> 00:46:38,660
Up we go!
494
00:46:53,640 --> 00:47:04,420
Once again you've got the beautiful old
ruins now mostly and then just
495
00:47:04,420 --> 00:47:09,900
I don't know why I feel there should be space between them and modern life.
496
00:47:09,900 --> 00:47:12,160
Having said that, I wonder how bustling
497
00:47:12,170 --> 00:47:19,390
it was when he was here. The houses
and everything would look different but
498
00:47:19,390 --> 00:47:24,979
presumably they'd still settle around
him, for protection and everything. But
499
00:47:24,979 --> 00:47:28,700
because it's changed again, they've built
on it since, I wonder what it was like,
500
00:47:28,700 --> 00:47:38,869
the view when he was here. This tower was
built during the reign of Vlad but his palace is no
501
00:47:38,869 --> 00:47:43,999
longer there outside. It's just the remains,
someone else's Palace has been built up
502
00:47:43,999 --> 00:47:52,609
since. This doesn't have the heart of
Dracula. I think to claim we've found
503
00:47:52,609 --> 00:47:59,239
Dracula's castle in this one, I think that would be pushing it. It was once here, we're in a
504
00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:04,699
location where it was once one of
Dracula's castles but now there is a
505
00:48:04,699 --> 00:48:11,869
tower and there is a palace from a
century afterwards. I think when it
506
00:48:11,869 --> 00:48:18,469
comes to finding Dracula's castle or
Vlad himself you really you really can't
507
00:48:18,469 --> 00:48:24,079
do better than Poenari Fortress. Bran
Castle good for Dracula vampire. Then
508
00:48:24,079 --> 00:48:30,199
you've got Corvin Castle which was the
fairy tales princes and princesses or if
509
00:48:30,199 --> 00:48:37,759
you're more like me and Greg, wizards and
witches, that was a Hogwarts style one. Then when
510
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:47,640
you do Poenari, that one is Vlad Tepes. So
apparently I was doing his name wrong, Tepes- Tepes.
511
00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:52,240
That one did feel, still a ruin, it didn't feel like anyone
512
00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:57,920
had messed with it. He lived there, he was
chased away from it, it was left to ruin
513
00:48:57,930 --> 00:49:02,970
there were earthquakes that destroyed it and now it is just left so people can go and
514
00:49:02,970 --> 00:49:09,120
see what it once was. But it feels like
his place. Then you come to this and
515
00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:13,500
it's surrounded by a big city, you've had
other people that built on it, you've got
516
00:49:13,500 --> 00:49:19,380
modern stuff with it and it's just a
tower. It doesn't have any heart or soul
517
00:49:19,380 --> 00:49:27,870
in it. It doesn't capture his essence at
all for me. Poenari really did.
518
00:49:27,870 --> 00:49:35,040
So here's the thing, I think we found Vlad's castle in Poenari. I think searching for another
519
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:41,010
Castle this point in time, it's not the
best use of our time. I suggest we go
520
00:49:41,010 --> 00:49:46,410
back to the map and see if there's
somewhere else important to Vlad's
521
00:49:46,410 --> 00:49:50,920
life that we can visit before we head
back to the UK.
522
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,480
Plan of action, sir?
523
00:50:05,240 --> 00:50:12,340
Okay, well I think if we got one more
place to head to for
524
00:50:12,340 --> 00:50:17,450
Dracula's life, it's got to be to try and
figure out and where he ended up.
525
00:50:17,450 --> 00:50:25,700
Which is gonna take us to Snagov. Let's head out, see if we can find Snagov Monastery.
526
00:50:25,700 --> 00:50:31,160
See if we can figure out where the last resting place of Vlad is.
527
00:50:49,340 --> 00:50:56,840
So we've just come out of the Snagov
Monastery. We weren't allowed to take the
528
00:50:56,849 --> 00:51:02,029
video cameras inside but we did get permission to take some photographs and
529
00:51:02,029 --> 00:51:08,009
this is where it is believed, under the
square of concrete that you'll see in
530
00:51:08,009 --> 00:51:13,799
the photographs, that is where it is
believed that Vlad's remains are buried.
531
00:51:13,799 --> 00:51:23,099
Or most of Vlad's remains of buried.
This Monastery is kind of his monastery. The locals all
532
00:51:23,099 --> 00:51:29,640
see him as a person that looked after
the poor, was against the boyars, the rich
533
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:35,849
people. He defended them from foreign
invaders, he was a good man to them even
534
00:51:35,849 --> 00:51:39,059
though he was a vicious one. It's
thought that he was killed very nearby.
535
00:51:39,059 --> 00:51:47,910
And when we say the remains of Vlad, it's
everything from the neck down. When he
536
00:51:47,910 --> 00:51:52,920
was killed he was decapitated and his head was taken- I think it was Constantinople
537
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:59,789
so Istanbul now. It was put up on a spike to show that they had killed the Impaler as he
538
00:51:59,789 --> 00:52:07,259
was known to the Turks as well. We came
out here to find Dracula's castle. We
539
00:52:07,259 --> 00:52:11,579
have got as close as I think we're going
to come to finding that as we've moved
540
00:52:11,579 --> 00:52:19,109
around. Also here we have finally come to
just pay our respects to Vlad himself.
541
00:52:19,109 --> 00:52:24,449
What's really interesting is we are
constantly torn between Vlad the hero
542
00:52:24,449 --> 00:52:29,339
and Vlad the villain. We saw in
Targoviste there was a calendar for sale in
543
00:52:29,339 --> 00:52:35,759
the gift shop there of heroes with Vlad
on the front and when you walk in to
544
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:42,880
this church it is a shrine to a hero.
So while we're torn, people here clearly aren't.
545
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:48,400
I feel like we've walked in his
footsteps as close as we possibly can.
546
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:51,700
We've been to where he was born,
where he was imprisoned, where he ruled
547
00:52:51,700 --> 00:52:59,200
and now where he rests. For someone that
is mostly now myths and legends I feel
548
00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:05,180
we've come as close as possible to the
real man.
549
00:53:06,540 --> 00:53:12,860
Hold on.
Yeah?
There's dinosaurs on this.
550
00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:18,240
Here there be dinosaurs.
551
00:53:18,240 --> 00:53:20,360
How far away is that?
552
00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:23,860
Couple of hours?
553
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:27,700
I think that needs investigating.
554
00:53:29,340 --> 00:53:34,380
So we've followed the sign on the map
that says there are dinosaurs here all
555
00:53:34,380 --> 00:53:41,140
the way to what's supposed to be the
Dino Park in Constanta. Just on the edge of the Black Sea.
556
00:53:41,140 --> 00:53:43,090
We've finally managed to get here,
557
00:53:43,090 --> 00:53:46,690
there were road closures and all sorts (GRR!) It should have taken us about two
558
00:53:46,690 --> 00:53:53,950
hours, it's actually taking us nearer four
hours (GRRR!) Trouble is we've not yet really
559
00:53:53,950 --> 00:53:58,000
seen much sign of a Dino Parc.
560
00:54:04,780 --> 00:54:09,260
What have they done to the dinosaurs!?
561
00:54:12,260 --> 00:54:13,540
Can we rescue those!?
562
00:54:15,390 --> 00:54:23,280
Turns out our long journey may have been to see a few destroyed dinosaur carcasses
563
00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:27,720
and a smashed up children's play park.
564
00:54:28,530 --> 00:54:33,520
So they've killed my dinosaurs and it
looks like they have real dolphins in
565
00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:39,310
tanks in a Natural History Museum!?!
As far as we're concerned it's just plain wrong
566
00:54:39,310 --> 00:54:46,680
and so this is not for us, we're moving
on.
567
00:55:08,190 --> 00:55:13,900
We have made it into Bucharest,
despite the complete lack of traffic on
568
00:55:13,900 --> 00:55:17,309
the Tom-Tom.
We are heading up, we don't have time to
569
00:55:17,309 --> 00:55:21,929
see all the museums in town. There are
quite a lot museums in town. We've got
570
00:55:21,929 --> 00:55:27,259
the Natural History Museum here, we've
got a Geology and Fossil Museum
571
00:55:27,259 --> 00:55:33,239
over the other side of the road which we
will hit if we have time but first of
572
00:55:33,239 --> 00:55:40,169
all our first intended stop is this one
up here, which is the Museum of Peasant
573
00:55:40,169 --> 00:55:45,719
Life. This is the front facade of the
Romanian Peasant Museum
574
00:55:45,720 --> 00:55:51,949
which is closed but only part of it.
They're doing some construction and so
575
00:55:51,949 --> 00:55:58,260
somewhere around the side we're
hopefully going to be able to get in and see something.
576
00:55:58,260 --> 00:56:06,239
Apparently the Romanian Peasant Museum is also a no-no for a week. So they're doing renovations so hopefully if
577
00:56:06,240 --> 00:56:12,760
you decide to visit it will be open for you.
You'll have to, if you do go, send me a picture or something.
578
00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:15,270
It is a shame but I suppose we'll
579
00:56:15,270 --> 00:56:19,920
have to go and look at some fossils and
dinosaurs instead!
580
00:56:22,180 --> 00:56:28,060
Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, give me dinosaurs! Dinosaurs!
581
00:56:29,620 --> 00:56:33,660
I'm going to have to look up how to pronounce some of these properly.
582
00:56:39,860 --> 00:56:45,300
A lot of them are found in the Hateg Basin. A few in the mountains as well but mostly the basin.
583
00:56:45,300 --> 00:56:48,580
Oh look at his little mouth!
584
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:50,400
Ice age.
585
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:57,500
Mammoth! Oh look at their tiny Mammoth!
586
00:56:58,400 --> 00:57:04,580
It cost us less than 2 pounds each to get in here and it's fantastic! This is what I
587
00:57:04,599 --> 00:57:10,180
want a Natural History Museum, Fossil
Museum to look like. It's Victorian. It's still
588
00:57:10,180 --> 00:57:15,860
set in an old-fashioned, possibly
Georgian even building looking at the decoration.
589
00:57:15,860 --> 00:57:23,320
Looking at the hips, they're a bit old-fashioned on the hips. I like it but to be
590
00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:27,609
dinosaur they need to be more underneath. Dinosaurs hips were more like human hips
591
00:57:27,609 --> 00:57:28,980
than crocodile hips.
592
00:57:29,180 --> 00:57:33,400
I was very intrigued because it does look quite Victorian, the way they have done the models.
593
00:57:33,400 --> 00:57:37,540
The bones have actually got, he should have a very elongated face.
594
00:57:37,700 --> 00:57:42,300
This is actually more
like they did in the stop-motion films.
595
00:57:42,300 --> 00:57:50,160
It makes me feel like a kid again, the style of it all. When I was a kid my mum would collect for me, I was like most kids
596
00:57:50,170 --> 00:57:54,280
obsessed with dinosaurs and there was a big (book) collection that would come out probably
597
00:57:54,280 --> 00:57:58,930
every month, about all the different
species of dinosaurs and fossils and the
598
00:57:58,930 --> 00:58:02,120
pictures are just like this.
599
00:58:04,740 --> 00:58:06,740
I like this place!
600
00:58:06,860 --> 00:58:11,340
After we geeked out at the old-fashioned
dinosaur displays, we headed down to
601
00:58:11,340 --> 00:58:16,980
the geology section of the museum, or as
I call it, 'rooms full of rocks!'
602
00:58:16,980 --> 00:58:24,320
When we get it at home, the cubes are tiny. Whether it's pyrite or marcasite, they are tiny!
603
00:58:25,180 --> 00:58:28,500
This is like, wow!
604
00:58:28,500 --> 00:58:34,620
This is calcite. I like calcite. Calcite when you move, is so shiny!
605
00:58:35,420 --> 00:58:40,620
Oooooh! Stibina. (or antimonite)
606
00:58:41,660 --> 00:58:48,440
Given how excited Felicity got over the
dinosaur museum, I found one more place for us to visit.
607
00:58:48,440 --> 00:58:55,180
Welcome to Dino Park! (sings Jurassic Park theme)
608
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:02,180
Dino Parc, Rasnov, is the
largest dinosaur theme park in Eastern Europe
609
00:59:02,180 --> 00:59:12,200
and made up for all the dinosaur
disappointment of Constanta.
610
00:59:12,200 --> 00:59:16,200
You know that's cheating!
611
00:59:18,540 --> 00:59:22,480
Should have been you trying to climb up
onto it!
612
00:59:41,200 --> 00:59:45,680
Is it like with the Smurfs where we're
supposed to pretend we're getting small?
613
00:59:45,680 --> 00:59:47,920
Yeah but dinosaurs are big anyway!
614
00:59:47,920 --> 00:59:51,400
Coelophysis! What is special about Coelophysis?
615
00:59:51,460 --> 00:59:53,600
Dinosaur in space!
Yey!
616
00:59:53,600 --> 00:59:56,480
On the shuttle the...?
Endeavor.
Very good!
617
01:00:00,140 --> 01:00:03,220
This is the dinosaur that I actually wanted to see here.
618
01:00:03,600 --> 01:00:07,780
Magyarosaurus. And the baby.
619
01:00:13,880 --> 01:00:19,820
He is actually the largest dinosaur in Transylvania.
(But one of the smallest sauropods in the world)
620
01:00:30,520 --> 01:00:33,400
It's mine! Isle of Wight!
621
01:00:35,540 --> 01:00:39,700
Voldosaurus. Weald Lizard. Weald of Sussex. (Wessex Formation)
622
01:00:47,380 --> 01:00:53,540
They said that Stegosaurus...
623
01:00:55,800 --> 01:01:00,160
They origionally said that the stegosaurus had the smallest size brain for the size of
624
01:01:00,170 --> 01:01:05,150
its body for any dinosaur. Then they got
better with their technology and they
625
01:01:05,150 --> 01:01:11,770
said that he wasn't actually the most
stupid dinosaur. Sauropods have the least
626
01:01:11,770 --> 01:01:17,840
intelligent bits of brain. So he was
smarter than a sauropod.
627
01:01:17,840 --> 01:01:25,460
And here we have, out here in the wilds of Romania, we have found a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex. Now these
628
01:01:25,460 --> 01:01:34,520
little chaps they are perfectly safe as
long as you avoid their parents... oh no!
629
01:01:35,210 --> 01:01:39,800
We had found our dinosaurs. Before we left Romania though, we wanted to try and
630
01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:42,820
visit a famous rock formation.
631
01:01:45,440 --> 01:01:48,040
We're still trying to see if we can get to see the
632
01:01:48,050 --> 01:01:55,730
Sphinx, which is a mountain formation.
Thing is the cable car we gave up on and
633
01:01:55,730 --> 01:02:02,890
now we're trying to drive to it. At the moment it's telling me that it's 14 miles away
634
01:02:02,890 --> 01:02:09,890
but it's gonna take me an hour and a
half to get there, which by my maths
635
01:02:09,890 --> 01:02:14,630
makes it they're expecting me to average
less than 10 miles an hour. Now they have
636
01:02:14,630 --> 01:02:17,869
said there are some unpaved roads so
I've got a horrible feeling sooner or
637
01:02:17,869 --> 01:02:25,240
later we're gonna reach a stopping point
but we are gonna try as hard as we can to get there.
638
01:02:25,240 --> 01:02:28,580
This might be why it takes people so long.
639
01:02:28,580 --> 01:02:31,540
Have to stop for change change of trousers!
640
01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:34,220
Yikes!
641
01:02:35,320 --> 01:02:40,260
Yikes! Stay well away from that edge!
I'm staying well away from the edge!
642
01:02:40,260 --> 01:02:43,300
We are not going to the Sphinx!
643
01:02:43,300 --> 01:02:46,280
No, getting to the Sphinx is frightening me!
644
01:02:47,810 --> 01:02:53,990
The road probably on my camera looks
great but there is just a huge drop
645
01:02:53,990 --> 01:02:57,730
on the other side of Greg right now.
646
01:02:59,940 --> 01:03:05,160
I feel a bit better here when the Sun is.
That on that side is okay whereas this is awful!
647
01:03:05,160 --> 01:03:11,460
You're just driving to towards -
Be careful! I'm being careful.
Driving towards sky. Yeah.
648
01:03:13,029 --> 01:03:18,150
It still says we're an hour and a quarter away.
How!?
649
01:03:18,150 --> 01:03:24,960
How many miles are we away?
Seven and a half. I'm sure that must be the cross we saw from below.
650
01:03:24,960 --> 01:03:30,040
I think you're probably right but stop looking at the cross and look at the road!
There's a good boy.
651
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:33,540
Is this a hotel!?
That looks like a hotel.
652
01:03:33,540 --> 01:03:40,900
Is there a hotel up here!?!
Yeah but it might be a hotel for hikers.
Hikers....crazy.
653
01:03:40,900 --> 01:03:46,080
Cabana Barbelle is that way.
Look- no entry.
654
01:03:46,080 --> 01:03:51,240
Well there we go, that ladies and gentleman -
Is that where it wanted us to go?
655
01:03:51,240 --> 01:03:52,960
That's where it wants us to go.
656
01:03:52,960 --> 01:03:55,020
The no entry sign, only six miles from our
657
01:03:55,029 --> 01:03:59,440
target summed up our search for Dracula
to me. For so much of our journey he'd
658
01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:03,760
seemed just beyond our reach. A figure we
knew was there but we could never quite
659
01:04:03,760 --> 01:04:06,730
connect with. We had seen where he was
born,
660
01:04:06,730 --> 01:04:11,770
we'd found his castle and we had visited
his grave. At times we felt so close to
661
01:04:11,770 --> 01:04:17,349
him but always through a mist of Legend
and propaganda. So here, looking out
662
01:04:17,349 --> 01:04:21,490
across the beauty of Romania seems the
perfect place to bid farewell to a
663
01:04:21,490 --> 01:04:25,980
legendary figure and a wonderful country.
664
01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:15,120
I think I cut myself shaving!
665
01:05:18,380 --> 01:05:19,700
How odd.
666
01:05:23,280 --> 01:05:27,020
Wait a minute,
I haven't shaved!
67987
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