The final instalment in the Twilight saga is set to hit the big screen on November 16, and we can hardly wait!
Just as the world of on- and off-screen lovers Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson has been rocked by revelations of the former’s affair, the lives of their fictional alter egos are also set to be thoroughly shaken up by an altogether more threatening force.
In a fierce battle that is bound to get viewers’ blood curdling, fans of all things “vampire” will no doubt be glued to their screens.
With just over two months to go until our next Twilight fix, teenagers and grown-ups alike will no doubt be wishing the hours away.
But staying at home just isn’t in-keeping with the spirit of adventure that is so brilliantly depicted by the host of vampire novels adorning shelves across the globe.
If fortune favours the bold, then a trip to the setting of these popular vampire epics will give vampire buffs a taste of something out of the ordinary.
Twilight: Forks, Washington
Although the Cullen family chose Forks for its perpetually overcast skies, helping to ensure that their glistening skin would rarely have a chance to be revealed under the sun’s rays, there is so much more to this Washington town than the amount of rainfall it clocks up in a single year.
Much of the action in Twilight takes place in dense, lush, green forests, from the Cullen’s turbo version of baseball to the scene where the Cullens and the Werewolves fight off Bella’s flame-haired vampire nemesis, Victoria.
The Hoh Rainforest is the perfect place to relive some of your favourite scenes, with the moss-draped maples on the 3/4 mile Hall of Mosses Trail definitely bearing all the hallmarks of the kind of expanses of forest we have come to know and love in the Twilight saga.
For Twilight fans who simply want to cut to the chase and relive the Twilight trail in all its glory they can get a snap of themselves leaning against Bella’s red truck outside the Forks Visitor Centre.
There’s also the Cullen House, located near Forks Police Department, not to mention Bella’s pad on 775 K St.
True Blood: Bon Temps, Louisiana
Although the town of Bon Temps is entirely fictional, thankfully the US State of Louisiana is the real deal.
Although you’re unlikely to find a hunky vampire knocking back a warm bottle of True Blood while he props up the bar in the Southern State, you can let your imagination run wild on a trip to the US state.
The pilot episode for the highly-charged TV hit was filmed in the city of Mansfield, in the north-east of the state, so a trip here is a great place to start.
Round off your visit with a trip to an old plantation house that carries more than a passing resemblance to the home of former Mississippi vampire king Russell Edgington, at the Madewood plantation house in Napoleonville.
Dracula: Transylvania, Romania
The original vampire epic, Bram Stoker’s Dracula sent spines chilling long before the wave of 21st century vampire novels.
Written in 1897, the story tells the tale of Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer who travels to Castle Dracula in Transylvania to conclude a real estate transaction with a nobleman named Count Dracula.
Although Harker is warned against the visit by peasants who attempt to arm him with crosses, he falls under Dracula’s spell, and ultimately sees fiancée Mina Murray turned into a vampire.
To get a feel for the origins of vampire folklore, start your whistle-stop tour of Transylvania at Bran Castle, near Brasov.
This gothic fairy-tale structure was built in 1377, and said to be the inspiration for Dracula. A visit to Dracula’s birthplace of Sighisoara is also a must.
The city of Sighisoara is a stunning World Heritage Site, packed with cobbled streets, burgher houses and ornate churches.
(Images: rakh1, Kgrr, MsMcCarthy Photography, rakh1, sincretic)
