Eastern Europe and the Ae gean - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 115

The drawing room at Count
Kálnoky's Castle, Transylvania

to avoid them being cut down, while watermills
are being restored so they continue to mill flour.
When the Trust hears of delapidated buildings for
sale, they can buy them and renovate buildings
elsewhere using the original materials. Every
bedroom of the guesthouse is testament to this,
from the flagstone floors to the heavy wooden beds.
Most of the Count's guests spend their time
here walking or horse-riding in the surrounding
countryside, while dinners are served in the
candlelit cellar, surrounded by racks of dusty
wine bottles. After a few homely meals of
goulash, pike perch and carraway dumplings, you
may find yourself starting to become disarmingly
cosy in this remote Transylvanian retreat.

148 bE thE guEst oF a count in
transylvania

The roads from Brasov are unpaved and
potholed, passing through sleepy one-street
villages where horse-drawn carts are more
noticeable than cars. You're deep in Transylvania
and looking for a Count; if this didn't seem a bit
Bram Stoker before then it certainly does now.
When you eventually arrive at the Count's
residence, a restored sixteenth-century hunting
manor at Miklósva´ r, the fantasy continues. A
housekeeper ushers you in to a drawing room
filled with antique furniture and pours a glass
of local cherry brandy. The Count won't be long,
she says, and then disappears. You wait a little
nervously beside the crackling fire.
When Count Tibor Ka´ lnoky arrives, though,
he is amiable, talkative and not at all spooky.
Inviting you to sit with him under the vines and
share a lunch of local cheeses and meats, he tells
his story with a gentle aristocratic grace. An exile
in his early life, he returned to Romania after the
death of Ceau¸ escu and has since worked - via his
Ka´ lnoky Trust - to restore parts of the country
his family have called home since 1252.
The Trust, supported by tourist fees, works to
preserve the region's architecture and culture:
nature trails are being developed through forests

Need to know Staff can pick you up (for a fee) from
Brasov train station. For details on prices, availability,
tours and restoration projects see W www.
transylvaniancastle.com; T [phone].

149 takE to thE watErs at
aquacity, slovakia

At minus 120˚C, the cryotherapy centre at
Aquacity in northern Slovakia is colder than any
natural place on Earth. As you prepare to go in
for the first time, wearing nothing but a pair of
woollen shorts, mittens, socks, a headband to