10 hours ago
I stayed in the VERY affordable Eastern European town King Charles is obsessed with – it cost just £60 a night
One particular village, Viscri, has had an extraordinary turnaround thanks to Charles' presence... and we also reveal where the King prefers to stay these days
HOL YEAH I stayed in the VERY affordable Eastern European town King Charles is obsessed with – it cost just £60 a night
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IT'S not the Count that counts in Transylvania. The King's the thing. Our king.
I first heard of Transylvania, as many do, via Count Dracula. The place is so mythical that it hovers above the map, somewhere between fact and fiction, but it does really exist - in modern day Romania.
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Andrew posing next to a post box in the HRH house in Viscri, a traditional village in Transylvania, Romania
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Inside a typical Saxon house
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A tasty breakfast at the King's Retreat in Zalanpatak
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The stunning King's guesthouse at Zalanpatak
This (entirely vampire-free) land is a mosaic of sleepy traditional villages wreathed in mountains and forest.
It's a storybook place of haymaking with scythes, of horse-and-cart transport, of bears in the woods, and of homemade plum brandy strong enough to blow your socks off.
While the rest of Europe is struggling with more concrete and more speed, Transylvania is still cloaked in a meditative serenity. It is not a place for motorways or spa hotels, so the inner peace is deafening.
For King Charles, highly attuned to everything organic, this harmonious balance between man and nature is a spa for the soul.
He first came here in 1998, and was so entranced that he invested in property and agreed to become the patron of the Mihai Eminescu Trust (MET), which was formed to try to preserve its village houses.
Since then he has returned over 20 times, and Transylvania was his first overseas trip after becoming king. His interest has made Romanians themselves start to treasure their rural areas.
His presence has transformed one village in particular, and I was there last week. It's a settlement called Viscri, originally of mostly Saxon (German-speaking) people who first arrived here way back in the 12th century.
Many of Viscri's pastel-painted houses carry the MET motif, and I booked one of them, via the MET's rental business, Experience Transylvania.
Number 129 turned out to be a simple property that sleeps four, with bare wooden floors, decoratively painted furniture, handwoven blankets, and wood burning stoves, for £58 a night.
Out back is an orchard with cattleshed and haybarn, enough for the original family to be self-sufficient.
King Charles owns a property in Transylvania and you can stay there
Just down the road, my neighbour HRH's house is at number 163. It's the same layout as mine (and all the others in the village) but immaculately renovated.
When he first bought it, the then Prince would overnight here, but Viscri has simply become too busy these days.
That's partly because of the Unesco-designation of its magnificent fortified church, one of half a dozen in these Saxon villages, but mostly because of him.
So he opened the house up to the public instead, using it to explain his connection to Transylvania and showcasing its wonderfully diverse flora.
Meanwhile the village itself has had an extraordinary turnaround. The taxi driver who brought me here described it as 'the most famous village in Transylvania'. Because of him.
When I meet Caroline Fernolend, president of the MET, who lives in Viscri, she agrees that 'his contribution has been enormous. Romanians didn't appreciate this kind of rural tourism before him.'
Two very memorable guest experiences in an unexpected corner of Europe
At the end of the Communist era, country villages were depopulated and dilapidated.
Today, the young families are back in Viscri, there are no fewer than seven restaurants, and Charles has even funded its (highly ecological) sewage system. 'When he visits, he always asks, 'what can I do to help?'' says Caroline.
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Andrew standing in the doorway of the King's house in Viscri
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A typical Saxon village in Transylvania
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A horse and cart transport in Viscri
Credit: Andrew Eames
Tourists like me are here in increasing numbers, too, but there are still horses and carts, the family cows still bring themselves back from the meadows in the evening.
There are storks' nests on chimneystacks, the main street is unpaved and there's a magnificent view from the church tower across the rooftops to the bear-rich woodlands.
Viscri doesn't feel overrun, but these days Charles prefers to stay in his other property, in a Hungarian origin village called Zalanpatak, about 50 miles east.
'Old school hospitality'
This village is not nearly as handsome as Viscri, and it doesn't have any magnificent churches, but it is hidden up a secluded green valley so I can see why he likes it.
His property here has been converted from a traditional farmstead, and when Charles isn't in residence, its seven bedrooms operate as an upmarket guest house, with handpainted and antique Transylvanian furniture.
There's a lofty dining room where everyone sits down together over a set dinner of uncompromisingly traditional food.
It's sociable and companiable, and the day I was there, most of the other guests were well-educated city-dwelling Romanians, motivated partly by curiosity.
And if you're lucky, as I was, Charles' friend and fixer in Romania, Count Tibor Kalnoky, will be there too, as host. In the absence of HRH himself, the Count brings a touch of gracious, old school hospitality to the table.
So there you have it. Two very memorable guest experiences in an unexpected corner of Europe.
And in an era where holiday homes are increasingly accused of destroying local communities, it's a pleasure to discover that one particular holiday home owner has had quite the opposite effect.
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The main house at Zalanpatak
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A breathtaking fortified church, Viscri
Credit: Andrew Eames
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A stunning view from the fortified church, Viscri
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Andrew in the garden of Number 129 in Viscri
