An interesting story, even though I have to stress that that is not Dracula's Castle, but modern media made it to be. However, now that the castle belongs to an american I forsee the restarting of the Dracula Land park which was supposed to be built around it but the Romanian govt didn't want to do it because they felt it is not representative. I think it's pretty dumb not to harvest on travel to something that you don't even have to market, but hey... that's just me :-)
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/420548p-354876c.html
N.Y. heir to get Dracula's digs
BUCHAREST - More than 60 years after it was seized by communists, the Romanian government is set to hand back one of the country's most popular tourist sites, the fabled Dracula Castle, to its rightful owner - New York architect Dominic von Habsburg.
The castle, worth an estimated $25 million, was owned by the late Queen Marie and bequeathed to her daughter Princess Ileana in 1938. It was confiscated by communists in 1948 and fell into disrepair.
It will be transferred on Friday to von Habsburg,who inherited the castle from Princess Ileana decades after the communists seized it, culture minister Adrian Iorgulescu said yesterday.
Von Habsburg is a descendant of the Habsburg dynasty, which ruled Romania for a period starting in the late 17th century.
The handover ceremony will take place Friday at noon in the 14th century castle's museum deep within the fortress in Transylvania, Iorgulescu said.
Restoration work began in the late 1980s and was partially completed in 1993. It is now one of Romania's top tourist destinations. Under the agreement, the owner will not be allowed to make any changes to the castle for the next three years, Iorgulescu said.
While known and marketed as "Dracula's Castle," it never belonged to Prince Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's Count Dracula character. But the prince is thought to have visited the medieval fortress.
The Gothic fortress, perched on a rock, has appeared in numerous Dracula movies.
At the gates of the castle, peasants sell Dracula sweaters hand-knitted from the thick wool of local sheep, cheesecloth blouses and vampire wine. The castle is the most famous of 15 citadels and fortresses in the area, which were built by peasants to keep out marauding armies of Turks and Tartars and cruel local medieval lords.
Another former royal property, the Peles Castle, built in the late 19th century in the mountain town of Sinaia, will be returned to former King Michael. He owned it before it was confiscated by the Communist regime in 1948.
