Peles Castle

Peles Castle, an astonishing castle that is nestled at the foot of the spectacular Bucegi Mountains in the scenic Romanian town of Sinaia, is one of the most beautiful castles in the entirety of Europe. It was in my Romanian itinerary for quite a while and when I had explored enough of Brasov, I took off one fine morning to Sinaia.

Once you get out of Sinaia station, there are steps leading to the castle. It is better to walk and take the scenic route through the park.

The first stop was the Sinaia monastery, which is named after the monastery on Mount Sinai, Egypt. It was built in 1695 and designed to serve as a monastery as well as a fortified stronghold on the route from Brasov to Bucharest. It gave its name to the town of Sinaia, which until 1850 consisted only of the monastery and a group of huts.

After spending some time here, I continued my journey through the woods. As you near the castle, there are numerous souvenir stores and shops which attract your attention.

My first view of the Peles castle -

Peles Castle was built in 1873-1883 and its initial purpose was to serve as the summer residence for the Romanian royal family. The King soon fell in love with the spectacular mountainous scenery and bought the entire land around the castle. It became the Royal Estate of Sinaia and it remained that way till 1947. Peles Castle was the first castle in Europe to be fully powered by locally produced energy - fascinating how they did that in the late 19th century.

Taking the ticket was just the first step. The ground floor tour costs 30 lei (€6) and if you combine it with the first floor tour, it costs 60 lei (€12). I had to wait in line for almost an hour to get a guided tour in English (among other languages). After covering your shoes with a polythene cover, the tour started. The guide was good and I was glad to have as much information as possible about the castle.

It took many years to build the castle, mainly due to the Romanian War of Independence against the Ottomans. Its architectural splendor is mind-bogglingly beautiful. The interiors, the wood work, the stained glasses and pretty much everything is stunning. There are so many wonderful historic things to see and discover at the Castle.

There are different rooms open to the public, including the Music Room (a common feature in Romanian castles), which houses original furniture that is carved of teak, all of which was a gift from the Maharaja of Kapurthala in India. I didn't even know that the Indian maharajas were close to the Romanian royal family.

There are also some gorgeous paintings in the Theatre Hall. In addition, there are over 4,000 Oriental & European artifacts on display. The Royal Library is pretty cool as is the entry through a famous secret door.

Other wonderful rooms to explore are the Hall of Honour and the Imperial Suite.

The material for a lot of this stuff has come from different countries and it is really beautiful -

The first theater in Romania -

Probably my favourite was the the Great Armory Room, hosting a wonderful collection of arms and armor, with over 4,000 pieces of weaponry that were collected or received as a gift, mainly from Western and Eastern Europe.

After the tour of the interiors, it was time to explore the outdoors. The garden has pretty nice statues -

It also gives you an opportunity to sit down and relax while you admire the beauty of the castle from close quarters. The castle was seized by the Communist regime in 1947 and it was converted into a tourist attraction for some time. Eventually, in 1997, the castle was returned to the royal family.

The younger brother of Peles Castle and part of the same complex is Pelisor castle (100 metres apart).

There were a couple of performers who held my attention for a long time. The first one was an old man singing local folk songs & it was fascinating to hear. The second one was a squirrel laying its hands on some nuts from a street side vendor and it was beautiful to see. In fact, it was so captivating that the vendor did not try to shoo away the squirrel and accepted it as "incidental expenses".

There was a sign warning tourists about the presence of bears in the forests. I had not even thought about it till then !

I left Peles totally in awe of this castle and its surroundings. Next up on my agenda was to try and reach the top of Bucegi mountains and as I looked longingly at the castle, little did I know that the best part of my day was about to begin.