The Varmas on Monday became the first overnight guests for some 70 years to stay at the medieval Bran fortress, the model for the “Dracula’s castle” of Bram Stoker’s Victorian-era novel.
After World War II, Romania’s communist regime expelled the owners, the Habsburg royal family. The castle was returned to Habsburg descendants in 2006.
The Varmas won a contest run by vacation-rental marketplace Airbnb, which listed Bran Castle for Halloween and received 88,000 entries in 10 languages.