Dawn Berkoski

I left Targoviste, where Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, once held reign, and headed back to Bucharest. My search for vampires in Transylvania was coming to an end, and my heart was heavy. After following countless leads across the Carpathian Mountains, I had no concrete evidence that vampires were real. Still, I wasn’t giving up. I had a few more places to explore in the city, like Curtea Veche, the Old Princely Court, Vlad’s summer residence in the 1400s. So, I asked directions to the palace.

Spoiler: I wound up someplace else.

I probably should have clarified what palace I was searching for. Instead of Dracula’s court, I wound up at the Palace of Parliament, one of the largest administrative buildings in the world at over 360, 000 square meters, a building so massive, it spans several blocks. The amount of marble and crystal chandeliers is staggering. I wandered the halls, surrounded by luxury, and wishing the tour extended to the underground bunkers eight floors below. If any vampires were hiding, they’d surely be there, someplace deep and dark like the fortune teller in Cluj Napoca said.

I did learn about the building’s dark past, like the deaths that occurred during its years of construction. Commissioned by the dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, as a symbol of power, the building wasn’t completed until after his passing. Perhaps he still haunts the halls and minds of those who suffered under the communist regime.

Either way, The People’s House is now a grande symbol of the breathtaking country of Romania, and it left me spellbound. But I was in search of a different palace, not of the living, but of the undead, and so my quest continued into the heart of Bucharest.

Dawn B~