Sinaia Things to Do

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The Peles castle is situated near Sinaia and it was built between 1873 and 1914 in Neo-Renaissance style. The cost of the project to build this castle is about 120 000 million US dollars. Between three and four hundred men worked constinently on the construction of the castle. After King Mihael´s abdication in 1947 the Communist Party seized all Royal property and in 1953 it was declared to be a museum. Between 1975 to 1990 Nicolae Ceausescu closed this area for normal people. After the revolution 1989 many things changed it became a Royal castle again. In 2006 it became a museum again . The castle has over 170 rooms and more then 30 toilettes. Many of therooms are built in different styles like Florentine, Turkish, Moorish, French and Imperial. The collection of arms in the castle includes more then 4000 pieces.

In the entrance you have a statue of King Carol I by Raffaello Romanelli.

Pele castle also have one of the finess and most important painting collections in Europe, almost 2000 pieces in this collection.

Each year in November the castle is closed to the public for the whole month, during which time is used by the owners.

When you get inside here, you have to pay extra for your camera and video camera, if you want to take pictures. But it can be worth it. Many beauitful things to take pictures at.

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Peles Castle is one of Romania's most important museums in the country since it was the final resting place for several Romanian monarchs including King Carol I, who died here in 1914.
The building of the castle began in 1873 under the direct order of the Viennese architect Wilhem Doderer and was continued in 1876 by his assistant, Johann Schultz de Lemberg. During 1877-1879 because of the war they abandoned work. That's why the castle was inaugurated only on October 7, 1883. To the initial castle the Czech architect, Karel Liman added, during 1896-1914, Pelisor, a small castle with 70 rooms.
The castle was built in wood, stone, bricks and marble and comprises more than 160 rooms. The representative style used is German Renaissance, but one can easily discover elements belonging to the Italian Renaissance, Gothic, German Baroque and French Rococo style.
Peles is surrounded by seven terraces decorated with statues (sculptured by the Italian, Romanelli), stone-made-wells, ornamental vases and Carara marble. The architects used an abundance of wooden decoration, both for the exterior and for the interior of the castle, which confers a very special quality to the building.
Quite outstanding are the Big Armoury Room, the small Armoury Room, the Florentine Room, the Reception Room (where paintings and wooden sculptures depicting 16 castles of the Hohenzollerns are exhibited), the Moresque Room, The French Room, the Turkish Room, the Council Room, the Concert Room as well as the Imperial Suite.
It is also worth mentioning other exquisite attractions such as the statues, the ceramics, the gold and silver plates, the Meissen and Sevres porcelain, as well as the extensive weapon collections.
Near Peles castle there is Foisorul, a kings' residence with 42 rooms designed in the Swiss style.
For taking photo inside the castle there is a fee of RON 50/30 (flash/no flash) which is higher than the admission ticket itself, so you might consider buying a guide about Peles.

If you take the cable car to the top of the mountain from either Sinaia or Busteni, you can visit the natural sphinx. I was originally told that the nose was damaged a few years back (making the connection to the Egyptian more of a coincidence), but it has been confirmed that the Sinaia Sphinx actually never had a nose.

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Sinaia is all about the mountains, skiing or hiking, so even if you only come here on a day trip, you should take a gondola lift up the mountain side. For the journey you have two choices of destination: Cota 1400 and 2000. These both refer to the height above sea level.

At 1400 you will find great views, if occasionally blighted by communist legacy architecture. You'll also find lots of cars, people, cafes, and smaller ropeways that will take you up to different skiing locations and hiking routes. Cota 2000, which I didn't go to, is much more isolated.

It's worth a trip just for the shaky gondola cabin, and the views at Cota 1400 alone. But if you want to go hiking or skiing, it's a must do trip.

It's difficult to figure out the timetable. It just seemed to go whenever it filled up.

Tucked back from the main central street is the Primaria Sinaia, or Sinaia Town Hall. While it's one of the more impressive buildings in town, you'd easily overlook it due to it not commanding a very dominant spot at all. The only reason I noticed it was that I wondered why all the police cars and flags were out front.

Despite the few sights, they are quite spread out, and it's easy to overlook the rest of the town when rushing about. But the back streets have some wonderful old buildings, many still untouched by modern renovation, with rusty tin roof intact.

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Humbled by its more extravagent neighbour, Pelisor is more of an impressive house than a castle. It's actually part of the same Peles castle complex, although separated from it. The house was built by the then King of Romania for his nephew and heir. The Romanian government gave the complex back to the former Romanian royality after the end of communism, with the idea that they sell it back to the Romanian people and let it become part of a historical legacy for all.

After selling back Peles, the royal family had second thoughts, and despite the generous offer have so far refused to sell back Pelisor.

The castle is a strange creation, looking like a cross between a Tudor mansion crossed with Art-Nouveau Gothic, especially the tower, which looks like it was modeled on a real defensive tower from the fifteenth century Hunyad Castle on the other side of Transylvania.

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The monastery is how the town got its name. In the 17th century Prince Mihai Cantacuzino went on a pilgramage to Mount Sinaia, and when he returned he started building the monastery in what was to become the town of Sinaia.

It's a small complex, but most people crowd around the main monastery building itself. You can slip through side doors into the quite courtyard and find a wonderful crumbling old church inside. This was built a couple of centuries later, but has some wonderful neo-byzantine murals.

The monastery is free to visit. Getting inside the main building is a bit confusing, but seems to be free as well. I certainly didn't pay. Lots of people were queuing up to buy incense, postcards and other tourist nicknacks.