Unfortunately, this is another post where it is difficult to distinguishing fact from fiction. But first a word about Hunedoara Castle, one of the biggest of its kind in Romania and in Europe. Prepare to be blown away by this Gothic-Renaissance castle; not only because of its size, but also because of its number of bastions and towers!
When you enter the castle, the first place you can visit are the torture chambers. The vivid illustrations and explanations make clear that torture was serious business here. And yes, impaling was popular here as well…
On the ground level, you can explore the remnants of a.o. the kitchen and gaze at numerous utensils and weapons.
Make sure to have a look in the artefact chamber, where you can see the results of recent excavations.
Roam around in the bedrooms on the first floor…
In the documentary of Ghost Adventures, one of the guards claimed that paranormal activity was going on in the chapel, because he had allowed satanists to come there and perform some of their rituals. Interesting story, but when we were there nothing sinister happened. Or maybe the ghosts prefer to stay quiet during daytime…
So what is the link between this castle and Vlad Tepes? Hunedoara Castle belonged at one point to John Hunyadi, an important Hungarian political and military leader, who held Vlad prisoner for 7 years, after Vlad Tepes had been deposed in 1462. Some people believe that Hunyadi imprisoned Vlad in this castle. Again, when you look at the documentary of Ghost Adventures, some of the guides confirm this, but the official website of the castle does not mention Vlad at all. We will come back to this in our next post.
Anyway, there is another legend attached to Hunedoara Castle:
In the castle yard, near the 15th-century chapel, there is a well 30 meters deep. According to the legend, this fountain was dug by twelve Turkish prisoners to whom liberty was promised if they reached water. After 15 years they completed the well, but their captors did not keep their promise. It is said that the inscription on a wall of the well means “you have water, but not soul”. Specialists, however, have translated the inscription as “he who wrote this inscription is Hasan, who lives as slave of the giaours, in the fortress near the church”. (Source: Wikipedia)
Next time, we’ll take you to a destination that is completely off the beaten track!
