Two Romanian Castles. Dracula's Castle And Peles Castle

After visiting Budapest we headed for Romania to visit two of the most famous Romanian castles: Bran Castle, known as Dracula's Castle and Peles Castle.

At first we traveled a few hours through the Hungarian Pannonian Fields where I was all enthusiastic to see lots of rabbits, pheasants and deers running free; than we crossed the border into Romania and as the train carried us deeper and deeper into Romanian territory the view changed quite a lot, the panorama becoming pretty mountainous. The train slowed down due to speed restrictions which made the journey quite long, but I have to say it didn't bother me at all. As the train cut through the Carpathian mountains the scenery was breathtaking.

Dracula's Castle, inner courtyard

Once arrived at Brasov we took the city bus till the main Bus Station where we changed for a less crowded bus to Dracula's Castle, probably the most famous Romanian castle of them all. Apparently not everybody in Romania is interested in seeing the cradle of vampirism. Romanians are deeply spiritual people. When they pass by a church, be it ortodox or catholic, they make the sign of the cross. So they are not really inclined to nurture a  vampire cult.

Dracula's Castle is situated on the border between the legendary region of Transylvania and Wallachia, two of the three historical parts of Romania. It was a gloomy day, just perfect to give us the feeling that we were getting into something spooky. The castle is situated on a hill, like any other respectable medieval fortress and I bet they didn't built it there for the views, though they would have had all the reasons in the world to do so.

Just before entering the castle a storm started and lasted exactly as long as we wandered around Dracula's estate. The place doesn't have much furniture and the walls are all painted in white but what really impressed me were the old and narrow wooden doors and windows nicely decorated and the fireplaces covered in blue tiles. There isn't much evidence of Dracula's presence here, in fact history has it that Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) used the castle during his raids into Transylvania only a few times. Bran Castle was never the residence of the Dark Prince as Bram Stoker imagined it to be. However, the narrow squeaky wooden stairs and the spooky secret passage we explored screamed "Fangs!". I prefer to give credit to the legends. It's more charming this way. Though we are still human, don't worry, Dracula was on strike that day.

Inside Dracula's Castle

That night we took the train for Sinaia, where we were about to see Peles Castle, the most beautiful castle in whole Romania, and perhaps even Europe. Believe me, I've seen almost all the important European castles and the only real competition Peles Castle has are Neuschwanstein Castle and Warwick Castle.

In Sinaia, a very popular tourist resort with the local population, one can find double rooms with private bathroom for as low as 15euro. Romania still is one of the cheapest Eastern European destinations; nevertheless, it doesn't get many foreign visitors, though it has lots of potential.

In the morning we headed towards the King Carol I's Castle. We had to climb lots of stairs but our patience was fully rewarded when we got up to the castle. Magnificent Neo-Renaissance structure!

Peles Castle

Inaugurated in 1883, the Peles Castle cost approximately $US 120 million at today's currency rate and it was a royal hunting preserve and summer retreat for the monarch. When the communists took the power Ceauşescu did not like the castle very much and visited rarely. According to some, that is due to the wicked resident museographers, who, counting on the Ceausescu couple's paranoid health phobias, declared the building to be infested with a dangerous fungus, which in 1980s was true to a certain extent but was only affecting the timber.

Peles Castle, inner courtyard

Peles Castle has about 160 rooms and today most of them are open to the public. You can choose from three different rates, depending if you want to see more or less rooms. The entry fee is a bit pricey I have to say, but you get huge student discounts (about a quarter of the full price) if you have a student card to show the lady at the ticket office. However if it is to compare the fee with the ones they have for other European castles you actually get very good value. Except the last floor where the guests rooms are located the whole castle in covered in wood.

There is so much sculpted wood here that I believe they needed a whole forest to decorate the place. I've never seen anything so richly decorated in my entire life. Not to talk about the furniture, the stained windows depicting German fairy tales, the massive doors, the carpets, the paintings, etc. Peles Castle was the first in Europe to have central heating and electricity. The full tour lasts about 2 hours. And believe me, your senses grow tired of so much beauty and so many details after a while. It's more than the human eyes can take. So much beauty can not be put into words. I'd just wish I had a summer retreat like this one for my eyes to have time to adjust...

Peles Castle, the dinning room

We had Romanian stuffed eggs and sarmale (cabbage rolls stuffed with  minced pork and rice), the traditional Romanian meal. Really good! And we indulged in local pastry, a pretty cheap way to fill your belly at any time of the day. The strangest pie I had was the cabbage pie. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. But the best was the cherry strudel, similar to the Viennese apple strudel, but with a bit of Romanian twist.

So, are the Romanian castles worth a shot? Definitely! Why? Because the Romanian castles are beautiful and intriguing and legendary, in spite of being under-advertised. By visiting these castles you'd be doing both your pocket and your eyes a favor.