It’s official: vampires are sexy again. The Twilight phenomenon has given the sensual edge back to their sharp, blood-sucking teeth. As interest in the occult, un-dead and sun-shy hunks blossoms, everyone’s agreed that Drac is the new black.
If you’re bats for all things vampire, you might fancy heading to where it all began: in South East Europe and the Balkans, folklore surrounding the vicious undead have existed for almost three hundred years. But be sure to pack a bit of garlic and ask for some gold coins when you get your travel money; who knows what you’ll have to ward off when you get there.
Following, the top 3 vampire countries hotspots in Europe:
1. Serbia
The small village of Kisiljevo in Northern Serbia is where one of the first well-documented cases of Vampirism took place. In the 18th century, peasant Peter Plogojowitz died after a short illness; his corpse stuck around to throttle and suck the blood of his neighbours (and – oddly enough – ask his wife for his favourite pair of shoes).
There’s little of interest in the place today but Serbic superstition has preserved plenty of places of vampiric interest – head to Jagodi?a vodenica, a watermill near Valjevo and the former hang-out of Serbia’s most famous vampire, Sava Savanovi?.
In the last few years, there’ve been reports of vampire activity in some of Serbia’s more remote villages – so get comprehensive travel insurance and a stake then head to Niš or Gornje Stopanje to do some real life vampire hunting.
2. Romania
The home nation of Vlad III the Impaler: partial inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula and famous for his gruesome torture of prisoners, political enemies and people who simply ticked him off. His reputation is more positive in Romania than in the rest of the world; locals see him as someone who went to extreme lengths to defend his country, the Catholic faith and the working classes of his time.
That doesn’t stop them capitalising on his image as the ultimate bad boy, though. Go to Bran Castle and get shown around its lush, rich interior, then to Snagov Monastery where his headless body is said to be buried. The nearby Poenari Castle was one of Vlad’s fortresses in the 15th century – climb 1,480 steps to see the now-ruined walls from which Vlad’s first wife is rumoured to have flung herself.
3. Italy
Though more famous for its food and wine than its undead, Italy’s Volterra is the hometown of the vampiric Volturi coven in the Twilight series. Italian scenes from the film version were actually filmed in Montepunciano, a Tuscan town also renowned for, you’ve guessed it, food and wine – so go hunting for locations while you enjoy its dramatic views, beautiful old buildings and renaissance architecture. You could even pretend its locally-produced pork delicacies are the flesh of a young virgin.
If you’re desperate for something a bit more gruesome, head to Palermo for a tour of the Capuchin crypts and catacombs. The bodies of about eight thousand men, women and children are preserved within – some posed, some in partially opened coffins, all displayed for the public’s icky pleasure.
