Dodging Dracula in Transylvania

Transylvania is all the rage this Halloween, says Chris Carter. But travellers should expect more history than horror.

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Dracula's castle at Bran in Transylvania: the count is easily conjured from the mist
(Image credit: stock_colors)

In his 1897 novel Dracula, the Irish writer Bram Stoker described the Carpathian pass as "an imaginative whirlpool" where every known superstition gathered. I can see where he was coming from, says Dyan Machan in The Wall Street Journal. In reality the medieval villages and fortified churches of this mountainous region of central Romania, called Transylvania, have little to do with the fiction, but driving through mist and "ravaging rain" soon turns the night into a "vampirish clich".

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.