Sue's Travels: Danube Trip - 9 September 2011 (Sinaia, Romania)

After breakfast, we checked out of the Hotel Ora Palace and headed for Sinaia. There is a monastery there that we did not visit, but that is why the King named the area Sinai after the monastery in the Sinai Peninsula. On the way, we stopped at a roadside bazaar. I had not intended to buy anything, but I saw this cute dress, which I bought for my little Muffin. I hope it fits her. It was not typically Romanian, but could have come from anywhere in the Balkans.

We arrived at the Peles Castle around 10:30 and wandered around the groups for a while, where I took some pictures. The exterior was impressive, but the interior more so. It was built by King Carol I between 1875 and 1914. It is magnificent. It reflects the two prime interests of the king; wood carving and weapons. It was built with central heating and electricity. It even has an elevator, which was the first in Europe. The fire places hid the radiators. There are vacuum cleaner outlets in all the rooms. There is also a movie theatre.

Some of the 1,372 weapons date back 500 years. European weapons are in one room and Oriental weapons are in another. There is a music room with a harp, piano, violin and harpsichord that I saw. There is a royal library where one of the book cases is actually a hidden door.

King Carol I ruled for 48 years and died of a heart attack in his own bed.

I had never heard of this castle before and was impressed out of my mind with its elegance and magnificence.

We left the castle and drove into Bucharest to the Novotel Hotel. After Bette and I settled in and rested, we went out for a short walk and stopped at the Café Atthenee which is located in the Hilton Hotel. We split a chocolate mousse with a coffee latté. We headed back to the hotel where I changed. At 7:00pm, we were picked up by our guide’s boss, whose name is le-ve-you (trying for phonetic). We were taken to a restaurant which is located in the largest park in Bucharest. The restaurant did not look particularly large on the outside, but was large on the inside. The food was good, but I really enjoyed the entertainment, which consisted of traditional music and folk dancing.

After the show was over, we were driven back to the hotel. I set the wake-up call for 3:30am and went up to bed. Before I left, I had laid out clothes for the morning. I stuff the clothes that I was wearing into my suitcase and promptly fell asleep. In fact I was asleep before Bette finished her shower and turned off the lights.