Romania - More Than Dracula's Homeland The Beyond Series

As a supernatural fantasy author who loves all things vampiric I just had to make a pilgrimage to Romania. In particular Transylvania. As my books would eventually take the reader to Poiana Brasov high in the Carpathian Mountains and then onto Rasnov citadel, I thought it only fair to do the research for the settings. After all, every place I take you to in my Beyond Series, I have actually visited.

Poiana Brasov is a ski resort that wouldn’t look out of place in a Heidi movie in Switzerland.

The Hotel looked like one huge log cabin, although the interior did look like something from the 70’s in décor. The Swimming pool did remind me of a Russian physical education info-mercial. It was incredibly dated – we’re talking 1940’s, or earlier, décor style for a swimming pool and changing areas. The Club Lavka I described in the first chapter of Vampire Sorceress was a disco my friend and I went to a few times whilst we stayed in Poiana Brasov and again the blue velour décor reminded me of roller disco rinks of the 70’s and 80’s. 

Rasnov is a beautiful fortified Citadel with a grisly past and was the perfect location for Amethyst and Michael Romanov to meet their distant relatives Ursula and Abraham who seem to be much more informed on their families illustrious gypsy past than themselves. They also seemed far too knowledgeable of Elemental Demons living in Egypt!

I did sit out on my hotel room balcony too as the mist crept in over the pine tree tops and I did hear dogs howling at night. Whether they were wolves or not, I don’t know, but it was very atmospheric and although cliché, it was the perfect location for my Romanov Witches travel to for answers about their history and for the great Galleano Vampire and his sidekick Lucas to follow them there to spy on them.






Bran Castle was part of a sightseeing tour we went on and as it was the castle Bram Stoker claimed to use for his Dracula tale I did leave it out of Vampire Sorceress, but I may go back to it in my writing at some point as it was a beautiful fairy tale style castle, rather than the dark and mysterious picture painted in modern day films. 

Bucharest was less impressive and it took a very long taxi drive to Nicholae Ceausescu’s palace, which was ridiculously large, floor to ceiling white Italian marble and a ballroom the size of a football pitch. It cost so much money the Romanian people are taxed extra to pay for it! Unbelievable.



The taxi driver took us around a gypsy ghetto as they were forced off the roads and into houses in the 80’s by Ceausescu. My fascination with the gypsy life and history began at an early age. Firstly because they lived in caravans and I used to holiday with my family for one week a year in a caravan and I thought it would be cool to live in one all year round.






I took a trip through the countryside to a typical Carpathian village and was fed by the locals with their famous goulash and polenta dumplings, which I recommend everyone must try if you visit Romania.

My father then moved us to a little village in Cambridgeshire countryside when I was 10. The village was surrounded by apple and gooseberry orchards, which during the summer attracted the travellers for fruit picking work. Forget 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding', not all gypsies are that rich. 

Anyway, the gypsy children would briefly attend our village school and I would make friends with them – mainly because the other children bullied me and the gypsy kids for being different, so it felt quite natural for me to hang around with them. And that’s how it all began.

But I digress. Back to Transylvania and I then went to Sighisoara and other old citadel where they claim Vlad the Impaler was born. This reminded me of the city in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where the child catcher skips through the streets with lollipops.

There was also a stately home, Peles Palace in Sainai which was incredibly beautiful and we had to wear special slippers to walk through the palace to preserve the delicate flooring. Although the palace was very beautiful, it was actually the ski resort and hotel I stayed in that inspired me to write my third book Vampire Sorceress

The hotel was incredibly dated in style, but added to a great atmosphere for the beginning of the book. Judging by the interior photos here, I'd say they've finally given The Alpin a bit of a facelift, but still very Eastern European Ski Lodge feel to the place.

All this inspired me to write just three chapters of a book. I didn’t want to overkill the ambience I created for the place, but I think I did it justice. And hopefully I can use the Bucharest and other experiences for some other series or trilogy I intend to write in the future.

Didikai Witch The Beyond Series Book 1