That Ghent castle looks great! Does it have a medieval festival there too?
Vlad Tepes has a lot more legends about him. Of course,
The One about not being very tolerant about muslims and liars is the most known one.
It was even said that in the middle of the town capital there was a fountain and it had a gold cup from which anybody could drink from. All during his
Reign that cup remained there, nobody stole it.
By the way, we are not Slavs, but Latins ! (since Dacians were conquered by romans and Romanian language derives from Latin).
So Tepes was not a Slavic voivod.
Although Slavic tribes did pass like in the rest of the Balkanic Peninsula, but we also have a lot of Macedonian Greek in the south east, Hungarians that want autonomy and Germans in Transylvania (mainly
Saxon and Schwabs - you can see their influence in the architecture there), a few Polish, Austrians and Jews here and there, as well as Roma people/gypsies from Pakistan/@ India that still haven't adapted much to social norms.
As for castles preserved like jewels, we say that about Greeks and Western Europe!
Of course, the big important ones are decently preserved, but there are many centuries' old
Ruins and old palaces left without any care.
Speaking of castles, here are my favorite ones:
Bran Castle - which is promoted as the 'dracula castle', although I'm not too sure if it has much to do with Vlad the Impaler. But it is on top of a cliff, has secret passages and a hidden corridor, as well as a cave and a metal festival
Poenari fortress - one long climb in the mountains to get to this one, but the view once you get on top is amazing.
Fagaras castle - it's cool because it has a
Moat Banffy castle - which is a ruin now, having been destroyed in WW2. Also is a
Tad bit haunted, not recommended going at night, people have a bit of trouble restoring it because of that
Peles Castle - it is the newest one, built by Carol I of Romania - that's why it's more fairy tale like. Was considered one of the most modern buildings at the time. Photos are from my trip this year.
Pelisor is near Peles, a smaller version of it that belonged to the queen.
Ok, done promoting Romania tourism for now.
I'll post some metal festivals in citadels sometime.
When in Danger or in doubt,
Run in circles, Scream and shout.