Map Monday #20

Hello and welcome to ‘Map Monday’. This was inspired by the current pandemic and lockdowns and the inability to travel. I will share one book each week with you that is set somewhere different to where I live. I’ll chat a bit about the book and throw some interesting facts out there about the place. I hope you enjoy travelling through books with me…

This week I’ve picked Dracula by Bram Stoker which is set in Romania.

Book Synopsis:

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula’s attempt to move from Transylvania to England so he may find new blood and spread undead curse, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing. 

Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. The novel touches on themes such as the role of women in Victorian culture, sexual conventions, immigration, colonialism, and post-colonialism. 

Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, he defined its modern form, and the novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film and television interpretations.

Interesting Facts about Romania:

• Romania is home to the worlds heaviest building; Bucharest’s vast Palace of the Parliament.
• It is the fifth most boozy country in the world behind Belarus, Russia, Moldova and Lithuania.
• They have Europe’s largest population of brown bears
• One of the prettiest library’s is in Romania and it has over 10,000 books
• They hold the record for making the longest sausage; 39 miles if you’re interested
• The Scarisoara cave glacier is the second largest underground glacier in Europe
• Romania has seven Unesco World Heritage Sites, including the eight churches of northern Moldavia
• They have 22,298km of railways!
• In the Carpathian Mountains, you can find the largest virgin forests in Europe. They are also home to over 400 unique mammal species, including the black goat.
• Their language is 1,700 years old (Romanian)
• The country’s capital has a Triumphal Arch like the one in Paris
• Romania has the only museum in Europe dedicated to gold; the museum exhibits over 2,000 pieces from all over the world.