On the day we finished the four days of hiking in the Transylvanian Alps, as we made our way back to our base, Braşov, we took a slight detour to visit two of Romania’s castles in Transylvania in the Sinaia area: the Peleş Castle and its sidekick, the Pelişor Castle.
While these two castles are not as old or as “famous” as Bran Castle (of Dracula notoriety), they are beautiful and quite evocative of a time long gone now. Romania never ceases to amaze me with its diverse and rich history and architecture!
Brief history of Peleş Castle
Peleş Castle began being built around 1873-5. It was ordered built by King Charles I (Carol I) of Romania, who was born in modern day Germany and was picked to be the ruler of the Romanian state after the prior leader of the Romanian territories was deposed.
Charles was not Romanian but his selection as the new king of Romania partly was guided by the need to have a foreign prince of an established royal family. Crazy chess game, methinks…
King Charles later proclaimed Romania’s independence from the Ottoman Empire of which Romania had been a vassal state under a different ruler so he is likely seen as a great hero. The castle became an official summer royal residence around 1883. The castle remained so until after World War II when it was confiscated by the communist government (as communists are wont to do).
In 2007 the castle was returned to the ex-royal family, though its contents were not returned. The ex-royal family rents it back to the government to serve as a museum though I have also read that the family sold it back to the government (this could be more recent news).
Regardless, a good thing for those of us who love to explore history and architecture in our travels. (By the way these are the same ex-royals who still parade themselves at weddings and funerals of other European royal families still using royal titles – I think some folks need to get a grip… But I digress…)
A lot of the objects currently in the castle originated in Austria or Germany, which may be much as the original contents based on what Charles likely was used to. Its main tower reminded me a little bit of the tower of Palace of Culture, in Iaşi.
And now to Pelişor Castle‘s Story…
Pelişor Castle, which sits a short walk away from Peleş, was also ordered built by Charles I but for his heir (and nephew), Ferdinand, to live in. It was built around the turn of the 20th century from 1899-1903. Since then, it shares the same history (or fate, if you prefer) as Peleş.
Indoors and outdoors at Peleş Castle
I was about to say (er, write) that my favorite part of this castle was the courtyard and the front yard. Then I remembered the chandeliers I saw and some of the incredible rooms (especially the “oriental” room – how cool!). The castle is worth the detour and worth paying the photo fee to take pictures.
Indoors and Outdoors at Pelişor Castle
While Peleş felt more “grown-up”, Pelişor felt more like a regular home. Not only because it was smaller, more manageable than Peleş but also because it had rooms for little kids on exhibit – it truly felt like a family’s home. You could be forgiven for thinking that at any moment, kids were about to run in.
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So while Bran Castle is much better known (or, perhaps, the only known) castle in Romania to folks far from that country, it is a shame if a visitor to Romania makes it to Bran to see its castle and does not take the short detour to see these two gems of castles nestled in the lands around Sinaia. It is well worth the effort!
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Straight from a fairytale, amazed by the amount of detail that has gone into these, so ornate and whimsical, surprised that they are not as famous as Bran
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Fiona, that’s a good way to put it: they are like from a fairy tale indeed.
Beautiful castles and just as worthy as Bran Castle although not quite the history. Hey not every castle can have a bloodthirsty maniac who once lived in it to draw curious morbid travelers.
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Had no idea this part of the world was so rich in terms of architecture and buildings. Thank you!
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Ana, to be frank, I didn’t either! It was part of what was planned in the hiking itinerary (though we drove to these 2 places) so I got lucky!
Ridiculously beautiful!! And that majestic dining room, wow.
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Pola, the dining room was quite something – I wonder what they typically ate…
I’d always tell people about these other places because they were plenty of fun. There’s even a castle right by Bran, right on the way from the town everyone stays at when they want to visit Bran, called Rasnov, that was virtually empty when I was there. The Dracula lure is simply too much for everyone, apparently. Not that it wasn’t cool too, though…
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OCDemon, I agree that Bran’s castle was very interesting. I liked all the information they provided throughout the rooms but also that they tackled the Dracula angle straight on instead of completely ignoring it (or worse, ONLY making it about Dracula!). Lots of rich and complex history in the area! Thanks for sharing about Rasnov. I missed that one.
There are more than 100 castles around Romania, some of them fabulous like Peles, other just ruins. To these add the fortified churches, I like to call them castle-churches. There are hundreds, some of them located in frozen-in-time villages.
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