Our children are closeted lovers of hiking. They loudly protest the mere mention of going on a hike, but once they’re out and moving, they enjoy the freedom of running ahead on a trail, splashing through rivers and finding sticks to commission for sword fights. The real key for them is having a goal to reach on a hike. We weren’t sure what the Seven Ladders were, but they were enough of a mystery to motivate them.

We took advantage of our only sunny morning to set out on the trail, where we watched shepherds guiding huge flocks across the impossibly sloping sides of mountains. The meadows were speckled with mounds of mud, signs of wild boars that had been rooting around for food. We were careful to avoid run-ins with protective sheepdogs and piles of bear poop that were just about everywhere.

The Seven Ladders were just that: long, steep ladders propped alongside raging waterfalls that sprayed cold water all over the freezing steel rungs, making them difficult to hang onto. The children loved the thrill of the climb and we scurried up the circuit, and then did it again before our hands cramped.

For dinner we drove our mud-splattered car into Brasov, where we wandered the old town square before settling on a Mexican-Romanian restaurant, because it sounded weird. We were escorted into the basement, again, for a dinner of mediocre guacamole and pork-based soup in a soggy bread bowl. But it was toasty warm in the candlelit cavelike room, and the ambience made the food taste better.

The next day we set out through the rain to Bran Castle, of Dracula lore. The actual tie to Dracula is a bit elusive. Vlad the Impaler, sometimes considered the inspiration for the Dracula character, is thought to have been briefly imprisoned in the castle. The structure itself fits the description of Dracula’s Castle in Bram Stoker’s writings: high above a valley atop a rock with a flowing river below.

We hadn’t wanted to freak out the children by inundating them with vampire tales. When reading them the story of the castle as we prepared for our trip, I had even censored the part about the belief in the existence of evil spirits called steregoi in the villages near Bran. Even so, the kids were a little nervous about setting foot in Dracula’s castle.

It turns out the castle isn’t that scary, and it’s not that much of a castle. It looked like a fancy old mansion. The interior was a little beat up but not in a creepy way. Signs posted throughout offered reminders that vampires were imaginary and cautioned of the building’s weak official ties to the Dracula story — until the top floor, which was papered with giant posters that lend credence to the story of Dracula and vampire legends. It left us all a bit confused.