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When meeting a Count in Transylvania, I decide, there's one subject worth avoiding. But after polite greetings and Plum Brandy, Count Tibor Kalnoky is proudly showing me his chickens, and "vampire" is the only word I can think of.
These birds have compact bodies, covered in glossy black feathers, winking green in the bright sunshine, but it's as if they've been split open. Vivid red featherless necks grow out of the void and small bald red heads house beady eyes which follow our every move.
"They're rare", says the Count, "black Transylvanian bare-necked chickens. I'm very proud of these beautiful birds."
I am still trying hard not to mention Dracula, but the Count is oblivious. In his late 40s at a guess, and as tall and aristocratic as a Count should be, he returned to Transylvania in the 1990s. The family has been here 800 years, but went into exile after the World War II. He's the only one to return to what was once the family estate. He's bought some of it back. He's restoring the 17th century hunting lodge, and runs a riding holiday business as well as guesthouses in local villages. I meet him in Zalanpatak, at the guesthouse owned by the Prince of Wales, which the Count oversees. It's a relatively modest traditional wooden house with a grassy courtyard in front. The Prince is expected later, and Romanian TV crews and photographers wait outside the heavy wooden gate, apparently thinking I might be the Duchess of Cornwall. | 
发表于 2016-8-15 20:40:14