Peleș and Pelișor Castles, Sinaia Romania

PELEȘ CASTLE

We took a day trip from Brașov to the castles in Sinaia, a mountain town about an hour from Brașov. It's an easy train ride and then a quick cab ride up to the castles. They are set in the Royal Estate of Sinaia, a green high-valley above Sinaia that King Carol I, the first king of Romania, bought in 1872.

Peleș was built first, along with the guards' chambers, the Economat Building, the Foișor hunting lodge, the royal stables, and a power plant starting in 1873. Interestingly, Peleș became the world's first castle fully powered by locally produced electricity.

Its architectural style is a romantically inspired blend Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival similar to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. A Saxon influence can be observed in the interior courtyard facades, which have allegorical hand-painted murals and ornate fachwerk similar to that seen in northern European alpine architecture. Interior decoration is mostly Baroque influenced, with heavy carved woods and exquisite fabrics.
-Wikipedia

It is quite a sight to behold. The interiors are breath-takingly beautiful. The central stairway is especially amazing with its carved wood and glass ceiling that actually opens.

And the ornamentation is stunning. The inlaid wood and stained glass are especially well-crafted.

The Sala Mare de Arme (The Grand Armory or The Arsenal) includes 1,600 of the 4,000 pieces of weaponry and armor from between 14th and 19th century. It is one of Europe's largest collection of hunting and war implements There is a uniquely complete Maximilian armour for horse and rider and a 15th-century German "nobles only" executioner's sword.

PELIȘOR CASTLE

Pelișor Castle was built in 1899–1902 by King Carol I, as the residence for his nephew and heir, the future King Ferdinand and Queen Marie. It's a more "humble" castle that looks more like a hunting lodge.

It is in a style combining Art-Nouveau elements with Byzantine and Celtic elements. It's really a pretty eclectic collection of styles as you tour through it.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the castles is their extreme level of maintenance, everything was absolutely perfectly preserved and spotless. This is especially amazing given that it was nationalized by the Socialist government, who made it a museum in 1953, and later closed completely by Nicolae Ceaușescu between 1975 and 1990, during the last years of the Communist regime. The only persons permitted on the property were maintenance and military personnel for 15 years. It was returned to the Royal family in 2007. It was crowded but they do limit the number of people that enter at any one time and it was manageable. Pelișor is not as popular and we bought our tickets on-site for it but you do need to reserve your train and Peleș entry tickets well in advance.

It was a great day and beautifully cool up in the mountains. Sinaia has many restaurants along its main King Carol I Boulevard where we stopped for lunch before our trip back.