3 May. Bistritz.
I left Munich at 8:35 P.M. on May 1st. I arrived in Vienna early the next morning. My train was one hour late. I saw the city of Buda-Pesth from the train. It looked like a wonderful place. I did not walk far from the station because we arrived late.
I felt like I was leaving the West and entering the East. We crossed a very large bridge over the Danube river. This river is very wide and deep. Here, I saw many things from the old days of Turkish rule.
We left the city and arrived in Klausenburgh at night. I stayed at the Hotel Royale. For dinner, I ate chicken with red pepper. It was very good but it made me thirsty. I must get the recipe for Mina.
The waiter said the dish is called paprika hendl (a national meal of chicken with a spicy red powder). He said I can find it anywhere in the mountains. I spoke a little German to the waiter. This was very useful. I do not know how to travel without it.
Before I left London, I visited the British Museum. I looked at books and maps of Transylvania. I wanted to know about the country before I met the nobleman (a person from a high social class with a title) who lives there.
Count Dracula lives in the far east of the country. His home is in the Carpathian mountains. This is one of the wildest places in Europe. I did not find a map of Castle Dracula. There are no good maps of this country yet. But I found the town of Bistritz. Count Dracula told me to go there.
Many different groups of people live in Transylvania. I am going to the East to meet the Szekelys. These people say they come from Attila and the Huns. This might be true.
I read that many people in these mountains believe in superstitions (old beliefs about magic or luck). People say that all the magic in the world is in these mountains. My visit will be very interesting. I must ask the Count about these stories.
I did not sleep well. My bed was comfortable, but I had strange dreams. A dog barked under my window all night. Maybe the spicy food made me have bad dreams. I drank all the water in my room and I was still thirsty.
In the morning, I had a big breakfast. I ate mamaliga (a type of porridge made from corn). I also ate impletata (egg-plant filled with meat). It was very good. I had to hurry to the station. The train was more than an hour late. It seems that trains in the East are always late.
The country was very beautiful all day. I saw small towns and castles on the tops of hills. I saw many rivers. Sometimes we saw groups of people at the stations. Some people wore simple clothes like the peasants in France.
But other people looked very strange. The women wore white clothes with big belts. The Slovaks (people from a specific group in that region) looked very wild. They wore big hats and very wide leather belts with brass nails. They had long black hair and heavy moustaches. They looked like brigands (thieves or outlaws) but people say they are very kind.
I arrived in Bistritz in the evening. It is a very old and interesting place. It is near the border. The town has a difficult history. Many people died there in old wars and fires.
Count Dracula told me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel. It was a very old-fashioned hotel. An old woman in peasant clothes met me. She asked if I was "The Herr Englishman." I told her my name is Jonathan Harker. She smiled and gave me a letter from the Count.
The letter said: "My Friend. Welcome to the mountains. I am waiting for you. Sleep well tonight. Tomorrow at three o'clock, a diligence (a large carriage pulled by horses for passengers) will take you to the Borgo Pass. My own carriage will wait for you there. I hope you enjoy my beautiful land. Your friend, DRACULA."
4 May.
The hotel owner got a letter from the Count too. The Count paid for my place on the coach. But the hotel owner did not want to talk to me. He pretended he did not understand my German.
He and his wife looked very afraid. I asked him about Count Dracula. He and his wife made the sign of the cross. They said they knew nothing. I felt very nervous.
Just before I left, the old woman came to my room. She was very upset. She asked if I must go. She told me it was the eve of St. George’s Day. She said that at midnight, all the evil things in the world have power.
She asked me if I knew where I was going. She went down on her knees and asked me not to go. I told her I had important business. I had to go.
She took a crucifix (a cross with a figure of Jesus on it) from her neck. She gave it to me. I am an English Churchman, so I do not use these things. But she was so worried. I took the cross. I am writing this in my diary now. I feel afraid. The coach is here!
5 May. The Castle.
The sun is high now. I am not sleepy, so I will write. I ate a dinner called "robber steak." This is meat, onions, and bacon on a stick. It is cooked over a fire. I also drank some wine.
When I got on the coach, the driver talked to the landlady. They looked at me. Other people came to listen. They looked at me with pity.
I used my polyglot dictionary (a book that explains words in many languages). I looked for the words they said. The words were "Satan," "Hell," "Witch," and "vampire" (a monster that drinks the blood of people). I was very uncomfortable.
When we started, the crowd made the sign of the cross. They pointed two fingers at me to protect me from the evil eye (a look that some people believe causes bad luck). Then the driver cracked his whip and the horses ran.
Soon, I forgot my fear because the land was so beautiful. There were many forests and fruit trees. The road was rough, but we moved very fast. The driver wanted to reach the Borgo Pass quickly.
The mountains were very big. The sun was going down. The snow on the mountain tops looked pink. We passed many peasants in traditional clothes. Many of them had goitre (a large swelling on the neck).
By the road, I saw many crosses. My companions made the sign of the cross every time. It grew very cold as the sun went down. The trees looked dark and strange in the twilight.
The hills were very steep. I wanted to walk, but the driver said no. "The dogs are too fierce here," he said. He looked at me and smiled in a dark way. He said I might see many dogs before I went to sleep.
When it grew dark, the passengers became very excited. They told the driver to go faster. He hit the horses with his whip. The coach shook and moved like a boat on the sea. We entered the Borgo Pass.
The passengers gave me gifts. They gave them with kind words and blessings. They were still afraid. We saw the end of the Pass, but it was very dark. I looked for the carriage from the Count. I saw nothing.
The driver looked at his watch. He told the other passengers we were early. Then he spoke to me. "There is no carriage here," he said. "The Count does not expect you. You should come with us to Bukovina."
Suddenly, a calèche (a small carriage with four black horses) arrived. The driver was a tall man with a brown beard and a big hat. He had very bright eyes. The light from our lamps made his eyes look red.
He smiled at us. I saw his mouth was hard. He had very red lips and sharp, white teeth. One passenger whispered a line from a poem: "The dead travel fast."
The new driver heard this and smiled. The passenger turned away and made the sign of the cross. The driver took my bags and put them in his carriage. He helped me down from the coach. His hand felt like steel. He was very strong. He did not say a word. He started the horses and we went into the darkness.
I felt a strange chill. I felt very lonely. But the driver gave me a rug for my knees. He spoke excellent German. He said the Count wanted him to take care of me.
The carriage went very fast. It seemed like we went over the same road many times. I looked at my watch. It was almost midnight. I felt sick with fear.
Then a dog began to howl far away. Other dogs started to howl too. The horses began to jump and shake. Then I heard a louder sound from the mountains. It was the sound of wolves (wild animals that look like large dogs).
The horses were terrified. The driver got out and petted the horses. He whispered to them. They became quiet, but they still shook. The driver started the carriage again. He turned onto a very narrow road.
It was very cold and it began to snow. The wind made a loud noise in the trees. The wolves sounded very near. I was very afraid. The driver did not care. He looked left and right.
Suddenly, I saw a small blue flame on the left. The driver saw it too. He stopped the horses and jumped to the ground. He disappeared into the dark. I did not know what to do.
The driver came back and we moved again. I saw more blue flames. One time, the flame was near the road. The driver went to it. He put some stones around it.
I saw a very strange thing. When the driver stood in front of the flame, I could see the flame through him! It was like he was a ghost. I thought my eyes were tired.
Suddenly, I saw a ring of wolves around the carriage. They had white teeth and red tongues. They were very quiet. This was more terrible than their howling. I could not move because I was so afraid.
The horses jumped and looked around with fear. The wolves were everywhere. I shouted and hit the side of the carriage. I wanted to scare them away.
Then I heard the driver’s voice. He spoke with a loud command. He stood in the road and moved his long arms. The wolves moved back. A cloud covered the moon and it was dark.
When the moon came back, the driver was in the carriage. The wolves were gone. I was too afraid to speak. We kept going up the mountain.
Finally, the driver stopped the horses. We were in the yard of a very large, ruined castle. The windows were black. The walls were broken. The castle looked very dark against the moonlit sky.