![Where to Find Dracula’s Real Castle in Romania](https://i0.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2BA16DF3-B11F-4DD3-8443-74FFFBF14360.jpg?resize=780%2C480)
“There are vampires. They are real, they are of our time, and they are here, close by, stalking us as we sleep…”- Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897. The forest stirred to the sound of banging metal. Whomp. Whomp. Whomp....
![Breaking Through the Iron Curtain](https://i1.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/DSC_5602.jpeg?resize=780%2C480)
YABLANITSA, Bulgaria— Three decades ago, no westerner could see this view. The Balkan Mountains lay before me. The sun, still lingering in the early summer air, cast a marigold glow as cool mists rose up from the valley below....
![Alhambra or Bust](https://i2.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/sevillewaterfrontjoesills-e1558299235627.jpg?resize=780%2C480)
In 1828 Washington Irving arrived in the foothills of a forgotten Spanish city to an unimaginable sight. There, towering over the white washed, stucco houses of Granada, he laid eyes on the great, red walls of the Alhambra:...
![Stockholm: The City of Silver and Stone](https://i2.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG_6729.jpg?resize=780%2C480)
“You’ve learned a lot in the past week. Now, we think it’s time you put that knowledge to use with one final test.” Rico, our guide, raised a glass. “You’re going to be making your own cosmo. None...
![Exorcising the Ghosts of ‘Copenhagen’](https://i1.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/freetownchristianiajoesills-e1555271735872.jpg?resize=780%2C480)
The bottle spun through the air headed straight for my head. I ducked just in time to see it shatter into a thousand brown pieces on the sidewalk behind me. Then the truck sped away. I left the...
![Dinner with the Countess](https://i1.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/DSC_3383.jpeg?resize=780%2C480)
The sun broke over the Baltic Sea in a soft, orange glow. Inside a beachside hotel room, I woke in a groggy blur. “What just happened?” An hour before sunset, the bus rolled to a stop at the...
![Johnny Utah and the Fat Man’s Parachute](https://i0.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/walesharlechcastle2.jpg?resize=780%2C480)
I could hear the wave roaring towards be through the pool “Johnny Utah. Be Johnny Utah,” I told myself. After almost an hour of beatings, I’d taken enough punishment from the waves. Time after time, I’d paddled hopefully...
![These Walls Can Talk](https://i1.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fouliscastle.jpg?resize=780%2C480)
“This used to be a boys school. The headmaster was murdered here. That’s the legend anyways.” – Lynda, The Portcullis Hotel, Stirling Scotland. “Do you want to have a look?” The bar under Stirling Castle had been our...
![The Nocturnal Knights of Good](https://i1.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/churchofrock.jpg?resize=780%2C480)
A rusty rapier, a red guitar, and record collection lay strew about the chapel in various states of honor. A turntable sat on the pulpit, backed by an aging Led Zeppelin poster and belting the sounds of Pink...
![What Do My Eyes Deceive?](https://i2.wp.com/souledoutblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IMG_2605.jpg?resize=780%2C480)
I gasped as the car skirted the edge of Loch Ness. Leni looked over and cracked a joke, “Did you see the monster?” I wasn’t sure. For a second, I’d seen something through the trees. I know what...