For Sale: Castle Bran

I previously noted that the Romanian government had returned Castle Bran, known as "Dracula's Castle", to the Romanian royal family. Now the royal family has placed the castle on the auction block.

Expected to fetch as much as $135 million dollars (who knows how many Romanian lei that would be), the Romanian government is said to get preferred status to purchase the castle if it can match the best offer of a private buyer. Good luck with that.

Hopefully, whoever buys the castle will treat it with the respect such a historical structure deserves. Even if it wasn't really Dracula's castle and had no real ties to vampiric lore, it's a testament to the longevity of the Transylvanian culture.

Dracula's Castle Returned to Heirs

The Romanian government has returned Castle Bran to the decendents of the Romanian royal family who lost the castle to Communist rule. Castle Bran is associated with Romanian Prince, Vlad Tepes, also known as "Vlad the Impaler". It was based on the history of the Impaler's bloody defense of Romania against the Ottoman Empire that Bram Stoker developed the legend of Dracula.

Of course, while Castle Bran was one of Vlad's important outposts during the 1400s, it is less clear that he actually spent any significant time there. Even less evidence supports any actual vampiric action happening there. But it's old, imposing and against a dark Transylvanian skyline, quite spooky.

For more on the return of Castle Bran to the Romanian royal family, click here.

The Romanian Front

Looks like the Romanians are still fighting the war against Islamic Jihad even if they're denying it. Like Prince Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes (the man behind the Dracula legend) of the 1400s before them, today's Romanians stand on the front lines of the war on terror. With reports from alleged ex-CIA agents claiming that the governments in Romania and Poland allowed the CIA unfettered access to prison facilities to detain terrorism suspects.

And now the lily-livered Swiss and others in the E.U. are whining and accusing the Romanians and Poles of impropriety. Wah wah. They're lucky the Romanians don't start racking jihadists up on pikes like in the olden days. That seems like it would be an effective technique of keeping the terrorists at bay even today.

For more on Romania's history of fighting against the Jihad, click here.

Romanian News

The European Commission is concerned about Romania's political instability that is slowing down judiciary and anti-corruption reforms, Brussels media said. Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu has fired government ministers who support Romanian President Traian Basescu, thus ending a center-right coalition after months of political disputes between the two men that has nearly paralyzed the country, the EU Observer said Tuesday.

On Monday, Tariceanu announced the list of his reshuffled Cabinet, made up of his Liberal party and members of an allied ethnic-Hungarian party. No member of Basescu's Democratic party or its supporters were included in the reshuffled government, which still has to be approved by parliament, where the parties are almost evenly split.

Romanian Justice Minister Monica Macovei was among those fired by Tariceanu. Brussels officials consider her as a leading reformer who helped Romania join the European Union on Jan. 1. EU officials will be visiting Romania probably later this month to check out what progress has been made in fighting organized crime and corruption. If not satisfied with results, Brussels may impose sanctions against the Romanian government, the report said.

Romanian Prez Questions British Withdrawal Plans

A hasty withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq will cause "chaos and the division of Iraq", according to Romanian president Traian Basescu. Britain has announced plans to reduce its troop contingent while Denmark says it will withdraw its forces by August.

The Romanian president is under increasing pressure at home - from prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and the left-wing opposition - to announce a timeline for withdrawing the country's 600 troops from Iraq. Mr Tariceanu proposed bringing the troops home last year, but was overruled by Mr Basescu, who is commander-in-chief and has the ultimate authority on withdrawing the troops. Defence minister Sorin Frunzaverde, who is close to Basescu, said Romania would make a decision on its troops in a few days. He said Romania had to honour its commitments in Iraq, but "would take into account what its allies will do".

© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2007, All Rights Reserved.

Transylvanian Manor Lures Tourists

MICLOSOARA, Romania - There is only one count in this remote Transylvanian village of 512 souls nestling in the wilds of the Carpathian Mountains - and it isn't Count Dracula.

Count Tibor Kalnoky, a former veterinarian who grew up in France and Germany, moved back to the ancestral home after the fall of communism in 1989. In the last few years he has created one of Romania's most successful tourist ventures out of his ancestral hunting manor - and has counted Britain's Prince Charles among his guests.

Kalnoky's manor, which opened in 2001, lies deep in southern Transylvania, an area where myth and reality are loosely entwined. But you'll hardly hear a word here about Dracula, the Romanian warlord Vlad the Impaler or Bram Stoker's novels. Instead Kalnoky lures guests with the old world of Transylvanian customs.

Many visitors come from Britain and the United States to feast on tasty fare of pork or chicken stew, mashed potato tinged pink by paprika, home-baked cakes served by women dressed in traditional old Hungarian costume. Dinner is washed down with red Romanian wine and guests are warmed by a roaring log fire in the wine cellar before snuggling into decades-old goose eiderdowns in rooms decorated faithfully in the style of the Szeklers - the ethnic Hungarian minority to which Kalnoky belongs.

Take a hike in the hills and you may come across bears and wolves. Bird lovers can look out for eagles, black storks and woodpeckers. You can also travel in a horse and cart for a mountain picnic, cycle to nearby Transylvanian towns or and visit the Kalnoky family hunting lodge. Just north of Miclosoara, there is the cave where the legendary Pied Piper lured the children of Hamelin.

When visitors return to the manor at sundown for dinner, they are serenaded by Szekler music in the soft green drawing room, with antique furniture and dark wooden floors. It's low-key and relaxing.

Kalnoky is modest about his success and the rave reviews he's received over the past few years for his manor and smaller guest houses, which can host a maximum of 20 people. "It's all very unpretentious," says Kalnoky, sipping caraway brandy that is on tap at every moment for the guests.

Article by Alison Mutler, The Associated Press