It is important to notice that Romania’s most exquisite castle lies in the “Pearl of the Carpathians”. The magnificent royal palace, with its fairy tale turrets and pointy towers rising above acres of green meadows sprinkled with haystacks, was built as a summer residence by Romania’s longest serving monarch, King Carol I. It was the first castle in Europe to have central heating  and electricity. During Ceausescu’s era, its 160 rooms were used as a private retreat for leading communists and statesmen from around the globe. US president Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi and PLO leader Yasser Arafat were all entertained by the Romanian dictator in Peles’  rooms, each furnished to reflect a different European country. Construction started on the 3500 sq. meters edifice, built in a predominantly German Renaissance style in 1875. The first part – where Carol lived- was completed eight years later. More than 400 craftsmen labored on the palace which was finally completed 39 years later, just months before the king died 1914. Rembrandt reproductions line the walls of the king’s office while rows of books in the library conceals a secret passage leading to the 2nd. floor of the castle. There is a gallery of mirrors and the dining room has a leather clad ceiling. Scenes from age old Romanian fairy tales adorn the stained glass windows in the poetry room. In the Florence hall, Michelangelo’s reproductions hang below a ceiling carved from glide linden wood. If you ever plan a trip to Romania, the Peles Palace in Sinaia is a definite “must see”.

Inside the monastery we can find the largest assembly of medieval frescoes from Wallachia, dating from the XVIth Century.
Vlad the Impaler is supposed to be buried here, after being killed in the nearby forest. In the middle of the church a tomb has been discovered, with bones of a man in precious clothes. As the priest explained to me five years ago, his tomb is placed right in front of the altar, so that he may obtain forgiveness when the priest goes to the altar passing by his tomb. It is said that under the monastery there is a vast gallery with tunnels, but which is currently flooded. Flooded by the last Communist President of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu, in order not to be used by spies!