Today I went for a train ride back toward Bucharest to a town called Sinaia. I planned to stop there yesterday, but bad weather and tiredness got the better of me and I stayed on the train to Brasov. I’ve now come to the conclusion all Romanians are really nice people except for Romanian taxi drivers. As soon as I left the train station a friendly taxi driver offered to take me to the castle for 10 lei. I declined as I knew while being an uphill walk it wasn’t going to kill me. I did think the fare was rather cheap and wondered what the catch was…
As I walked up the hill, past the monastry, the castle remained hidden. The forest ensured that, which is probably why i couldn’t see it from the train. I walked past a few feeble souvenir sellers, many of which didn’t even try to sell me anything. By world standards Romanian hawkers for fine souvenirs are pretty tame. Now when i did catch a glimpse of Peles Castle the wow factor definitely was there. It was simply stunning. However this castle is fairly modern completed just over 100 years ago and actually had electricity, ducted heating and even centralised vacuuming.
Inside which would have cost me over double to take photos, the castle was full of timber and in the armoury, lots of armour. The castle was built by King Carol I, who died only months after its completion. As a result of this visit, I now want a timber walled library in my next home, with a secret door as well.
Peles Castle
Next to Peles castle is a kind of grannt flat, except this one is known as Pelisor Palace. Its where the heir to the throne lived with his wife, who disliked the decor of the castle. I have to admit the rich have some average tastes in decor at times.
That brings me to the pompousness that I encounterd on my tour of the castle. In front of me is what looked to be an episode of antiques roadshow. All these old chaps dressed in suits and ladies with their hat on. I reckon if I watched the royal wedding this would have been close to formal wedding attire. My guide was a nice romanian lady and we always caught up to this larger group in front. Anyway at one stage one of the chaps decided to tell our guide to be quiet because he couldn’t hear his guide. Turns out that the group were from england and were all your standard lords and ladies etc. I despise people who think they are more important than others just because they had a silver spoon in their mouth from birth.
Anyway this castle was far too modern to be one of Vlad Tepes haunts. That castle will come in tomorrows bus trip to Bran.
Peles Castle
Peles Castle