ROMANIA // Bran Castle in Transylvania has every feature a vampire's black heart could desire. It's perched above misty forests, crowned by a fang-sharp tower, and its chambers are peopled by unsettling suits of armour. What it doesn't have is a credible link to either the fictional Dracula - given eternal life by Bram Stoker's Gothic novel - or the historical figure who inspired him, Vlad Tepes ('the Impaler*). The castle was first documented in the 14th century but Tepes, a national hero for his repulsion of Ottoman forces, probably never stayed within its walls. Even if dubbing it 'Dracula's Castle' was primarily a canny marketing move, Bran Castle's forbidding silhouette and dramatic clifftop setting continue to cast a spell on visitors.