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"Dracula's Castle" For Sale In Romania
galaad2 writes "Want to own the real castle that may have inspired the legend of Dracula? The Transylvanian castle associated with Vlad the Impaler, who may have been part of the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, is on sale for £40 million ($77 million). Bran Castle, near the historic city of Brasov, in central Romania, draws 450,000 visitors a year because of its association with 15th-century Prince Vlad Tepes III. (Wikipedia points out that Bran Castle's ties to Vlad are weak and disputed.) The local town council has been offered first refusal; they have 30 days to review the offer and then the property will be put on the market."
Ok, I'll bite...
£40 million GLORIOUS bats. HA HA HA.
Damn, do I spend my recently acquired $70 million inheritance to buy Sealand, or this castle?
I once shot a man in Reno 'cause they cancelled Firefly.
Real Estate salesman: Wow, we don't see many vampires around here.
Vampire: Yeah well, at these prices you won't see many more.
What?
I hope the new owner knows how to tell which amulet is which.
Who wants to go in on a castle?
Ideal roommates should be able to appreciate trap doors, suits of armor used used for conversation pieces, abandoned rooms with misc furniture covered in white sheets, pictures of aristocrats with the eyes cut out (for spying), rotating bookshelfs, and indie rock.
No dogs.
No smokers.
Weed is ok.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Surely there are no vampires there, as I recently spent a night just in the proximity of the castle and I wake up much more revigorated than usual. Anyway, nice surroundings for a castle.
All I can say is if I had 77 million lying around I would love to pick this castle up. I could get so many more chicks: "come back to my castle... of love"
What chick wouldn't want to go back to a castle? Of love?
Hey, there is only one Return and it's not of the King, it's of the Jedi.
Putting in heating, ventilating, and air conditioning will be a tough job. I know someone who converted an old stone barn, and that was a major project, even with substantial spending.
The reality tends to be a lot less exciting.
Sure you can buy Dracula's castle, but there's one catch. You have to spend the night there.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Ironically, it would probably be more lucrative to buy property in something like Second Life than a castle like this. The castle is cool as hell, but the location is not very convenient.
.: Max Romantschuk
If I become the Lord of this castle, will Simon Belmont come and whack me with that nasty whip thingie he is carrying around?
Dvorak on Doomtech
Certainly nobody will buy this castle for making a profit. Do the math: 40 million pounds have to be spent. People pay 2.40 per entry. Thus you need 16.7 million entries to cover the acquisition costs (assuming the 450,000 visitors a year are all adults, a bit optimistic). Using this figure, it takes 37 years to pay off the initial investment - ignoring costs for running the castle, such as ongoing repairs, staff, etc.
Still, it would be cool to have that castle and enjoy eternal night life...
I only have one question. If I buy it can I get fully cooked meat out of the walls by destroying certain blocks?
Well, the castle has little to do with Vlad Tepes, actually. As for Bram Stocker, there's an idea he mostly drew his inspiration from the actions of Elizabeth Bathory. :) You should look more into the subject of this castle. It is beautiful, indeed, but you would really have the wrong expectations of it. Here's the story for those interested in this topic :b reaking-dracula-myth.html
http://wordsofabrokenmirror.blogspot.com/2006/09/
... to suck your dollars.
... and then they built the supercollider.
This should reduce the price of the castle by a few mil :
Bran Castle is often referred to as "Dracula's Castle." This designation is a bit of a misnomer, for there is apparently no evidence that it was ever owned, lived in or visited by Vlad Tepes (although he may have stayed there on occasion in his travels between Tirgoviste and Brasov). The castle is definitely linked to Vlad, however, in that his grandfather, Mircea the Great, was one of its first owners. The castle also certainly represents a significant architectural and historical landmark.
sources :
http://www.donlinke.com/drakula/vlad/photos.htm
The Ruins at Poenari (Vlad's real castle)
http://www.draculascastle.com/html/poenari.html
just the 22 million people of this country ...
Bram Stoker gained his inspiration from Slain's castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
From Wiki: "Stoker's inspiration for the story was a visit to Slains Castle near Aberdeen. The bleak spot provided an excellent backdrop for his creation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker
so there...
I guess most of them were'nt asked I they'd like to be born there...
Romania is a nice place to live and now it's in the EU and will no doubt have a lot more money pumped into it I imagine it will become even nicer.
Its certainly a lot closer than Brazil as well, a £40 plane journey I believe.
I've been to a few, and they were all advertised as being "the real one". The joke among Romanians is apparently that every castle over there belonged to some Vlad this or that, and because that Bram Stoker has never been to Romania, there is no problem in claiming that it is Dracula's castle
Expected to increase in value more than tenfold over the next 10-15 years. They've just joined the EU you see.
So, even accounting for some inflation by the current owners, anyone who can afford to buy this place is almost certain to make a bundle.
Deleted
The Castle in Bran *looks* the part. If Disney were to make a real castle, it would look like this. It is well located for access by train from all over the country. I'm not sure it would be a good investment as their door policy isn't exactly difficult to skip around.
Anyway, the castle at Poenari is the real deal, though it is difficult to get there. You have to climb up a very steep mountain side to actually get to the castle, sometimes you are watched by armed guards protecting a nearby Hydro plant or something. The guys had guns, I didn't ask. This castle really was the home of Vlad the Impaler and the slope you climb to reach it once had the decapetated heads of his victims strewn across it on spikes.
The castle itself is actually very small and nobody is ever going to make moey selling tours there (hence Bran is where the tours are sent). It is spooky and very, very cool. It is perched on a teeny tiny outcropping from the mountain and is a really fantastic experience , as I recounted here many years ago http://www.apj.co.uk/tales/vlad.htm#vlad.
Quote from Hotnews.ro, a Romanian news site:
The local authorities of the Brasov county will buy the world-famous Bran Castle for 60 million euro and will get the money by leasing with a 10-year loan from an Austrian bank. The move comes eight months after the rightful owner of the castle, now known as "Dracula's castle", Dominic Habsburg, got it back in a retrocession process.
Wikipedia points out that Bran Castle's ties to Vlad are weak and disputed
In other news, Bran Castle folks point out that most of Wikipedia's information is weak and disputed. Jimbo was also invited to take the midnight tour and have a bite with the Count later.
I think it is equally a waste of your money to buy this castle or $70 million worth of property in Second Life. However, if you were looking less for lucre and more for a sadomasochistic vampire to have all manner of unholy relations with you, then I'd heartily recommend Second Life. And if the translyvanian atmosphere isn't quite complete without a werewolf, well, they've got all manner of furry creatures ready to meet you.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
It's Slains Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slains_Castle
This is the castle that inspired the castle in Bram Stoker's Dracula
This is just some casle in Romania that looks like it might have been Dracula's
Never rub another man's rhubarb
Are you saying the Royal Family's a fly-by-night operation?
Just kidding. I don't view the castle as a moneymaker, but as a world-famous landmark. It doesn't matter if it's really associated with Vlad; it's Bran Castle.
For $77 Mil you can get a much nicer place with a much better location. Sure it is a pretty sweet place. Torture rooms and all that fun history, but in terms of size and functionality it isn't really a great deal. The "master bedroom" is about the same size as a normal master bedroom. The plumbing situation is NOT good. Another reason not to purchase it as a main/vacation home is that the locals play off the tourism thing a LOT. Those gypsy women can be nasty if you take away from of their income.
If you do visit, go in the fall as the foliage is absolutely wonderful. There is another castle somewhat close by that is worth visiting. One of the most expensive castles ever built (adjusting for inflation) I believe it was built in the late 19th century. Probably Peles Castle on this list http://www.romaniatourism.com/castles.html. I don't remember that castle as much since it was 9 years since my visit to Romania.
...a week ago.
It is really beautiful, and the surrounding village of Bran is extremely nice. The caste is quite small, but very nice, with small corridors, winding stairs, inner terraces and balconies, even a secret passage from Queen's room to King's room. All asymmetric, you can easily get lost in there. The entire thing is in mint condition, but heating in the winter must be a bitch.
As can traffic. A few hours after we left, the whole village got snowed in, and thousands of tourists couldn't leave as the roads were buried in half a metre of snow.
... thousands of them ... MILLIONS of them!
At least that's what the estate agent, RM Renfield, had to say when I rang him about this the other day.
They also have a delightful property called Carfax Abbey over in Purfleet.
Not sure if that makes it worth $70 million. But it's certainly got some value outside of its Vlad connection.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
The castle was donated to an old Romanian queen by the local city. Comunists came and took it, now the royal family got it back as a donation.
This is beyond stupid.
The castle was 'donated' to the Queen... is that what they call it?
We might as well return to the british monarch all the things we took about 200 years ago when we decided we werent british anymore.
Royal parasites dont own anything, and if they do, lets see the bills.
as Brancusi was French.
Is this the next location of the multi-million dollar secured server farm? What better location then the rustic country side protected by people with pitchforks and torches?
... But i bet it would be a blast to have a look around it.
God Be Gone
The "actual" Dracula's castle is the Poienari stronghold (see http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number =64563 and http://www.webshots.com/search?query=Poienari). Obviously, the later has less real estate value than the Bran castle...
Sure, I agree with your analysis whole-heartedly. It is not always profitable to take something in its current state and make it work for you. However, a person with some guile could turn the castle into a profit. Just imagine the possibilities: Transylvania could well be the new Disneyland (hopefully not another Euro Disney). Or they could make Romania into anther New Zealand: a haven for cinematographers. Or even just a Bagel shop.
.. this could work.
A vampire version of Mickey Mouse
supreme authority over Romania?? I just wanna tell those bastards to stop joining my IRC channel and harassing me.. its a freakin invasion
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
Slashdotters, your're losing your edge. I cannot believe there have been no bloodsucking lawyer jokes yet.
About as weak and disputed as saying that the Pope's Turkish, based on the fact that he visited there once. :)
Just looking through a translated romanian somewhat scholarly book on Vlad Tepes beside me here, there's lots of mention of travel through Brasov, and communication with folks, but nothing about hanging around for parties and whatnot. So if we take weak to equal pretty much non-existent except for people who are trying to either pull something, watch too much TV or read unresearched books on vampires, sure. I'm cool with that.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2013.808365
This way all the castlevania fans can visit it and whip candles to their hearts content.
Flip this castle
Right. That's why I keep watching news reports about how Romanians can't wait to flock to Western Europe to look for jobs. Or beg on the streets.
I thought Bran Castle was just the grown up version of Count Chocula cereal!
Funny. I keep seeing reports saying exactly the opposite... That those who wanted to leave, have done so already. Well, the economic situation there is not always so good. But I can't think of many places I've loved more than Transilvania. You've clearly never been there, or know the first thing about the place or the people.
Basically, fuck Dracula. Bran Castle is nice enough but it's just a tourist trap. I dunno, I guess it works for superficial Americans and the like.
What's good about Transilvania, it's hard to say in words... It's Hungary and Romania. It's beautiful, friendly, tasty, community... Well, I won't try to big it up too much, I don't want it to be full of idiots next time I visit.
Oh but keep thinking that Romanians are all workshy or beggars. It's always great when you underestimate people, because I love the shock on your face when their hard work takes *your* job away. "Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness!"
If owning that castle improves my chances of landing ECW's Ariel, I'm in... where do I sign?