The breathtaking Peles Castle

Our last day in Transylvania started out in the pouring rain. There was little point taking any of the gondolas up to the peaks, whether in Brasov, Busteni or Sinaia, given that all we would have seen were the inside of the clouds.

Instead we headed to the Peles Castle in Sinaia where King Carol and his wife Elizabeth would spend the summers. I have seen quite the share of castles in my travels, everything from Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany to the Alhambra in Spain and many in between. However, everything paled in comparison to what we saw in Peles.

Some credit has to be given to the fact that Peles is a relatively recent castle, having been constructed in 1886 with additional construction continuing on into around 1911. However, aside for the absolutely stunning architecture, the use of what must have been at least a dozen groves of cherry, oak, walnut and ash to provide enough wood for the interior decoration, the intricate carvings that adorned nearly every single space of the wall, the Italian marble, the Venetian glass, the Spanish leather, the palace also had an internal vacuuming system, an elevator, telephone and telegraph exchange and a functioning movie theater a mere 10 years after its invention.

I was not joking when I said that at least a dozen groves of trees must have been used to decorate the castle. I have not seen so much intricately carved wood adorning everything from floor, wall to ceiling. Every room was finished with excuisite detail. We had a chance to see only the bottom floor of this stunning three floor castle and amongst the most impressive rooms were: the hall of honor with an electrically movable stain glass ceiling that would let more light into the castle and allow it to be aired out in the summer; a library (one of three) that contained close to 10,000 books in German, Romanian, Russian, Italian, French, English, Latin etc as well as a secret passage way; a dining room that could seat 40 guests complete with the original china and silverware; the armory with a collection of weapons from all parts of Europe and the Orient; the oriental smoking room; the Moorish reception hall; King Carol’s office; and the 60 seat theater/cinema.

Unfortunately photographs inside were not permitted so you will have to look the castle up on the internet to get an impression of what the insides were like.

From Peles we continued back into the Romanian plains on our way to Bucharest. We made one little stop in at Sagova Lake where Vlad Tepes is supposed to have been buried. However, having 6 LEI left to our name and less than half an hour before needing to return the car, the stop was more of a relaxing lunch break at the waterfront.