On the trail of Count Dracula in the latest aristocratic Rolls-Royce.
No bats and not a single vampire stir the stifling summer heat. No undead and no impaler roam the hot and humid nights. There is definitely no need to grip the rosary tight or to splash on some garlic-scented holy water. Although we are in his hometown, very little reminds us of Dracula, Bram Stoker's fictitious keeper of Bran Castle. The literary figure was inspired by Vlad epe, an infamous evil-minded marauder and arsonist who terrified central Romania in the mid-fifteenth century. A Rolls-Royce Ghost in Transylvania -- this was meant to be a mystic trip through the ruins of the dark ages, when howling wolves, an eternal full moon, and scythe-swinging living dead set the scene for Dracula's descendants, who would sleep in coffins and drink blood for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Except it wasn't. The fabled dark forests, towering mountains, and yawning gorges are, in fact, at best lush rolling hills that would make a perfect setting for Shakespeare's pastoral sonnets. And the foreboding castle turned out to be a well-kept tourist attraction surrounded by souvenir stalls that sell mugs and T-shirts with vampire motifs. Perched on the only serious cliff that we saw within a 300-mile radius, the impressive edifice was relinquished by the government in 2009 to the children of Princess Ileana of Romania, among them Dominic Habsburg, who turned Bran Castle into a thriving business.
Photo Gallery: Ghost to Transylvania: Rolls-Royce Ghost - Automobile Magazine
Source: http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1111_host_to_transylvania_rolls_royce_ghost/index.html
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