Sunday 22nd August Sinaia to Bran

Peles Castle grounds

Peles castle

Our first stop of the day was Peles castle we walked here early from our free camp stop to try and beat the hoards of visitors. Peles castle was built in the early 19th C by King Carol 1st ( a German king) he aimed to invoke jealousy in those who visited and each of the 161 rooms are decorated elaborately with a very eclectic style to each. The castle is full of antiques and throughout there are secret doors some were masked as a wardrobe or a bookcase and it was only when the guide pointed them out that we noticed. We initially purchased a ticket for the first floor only (tour groups see this level only and another of Lonely Planets recommendations) however after seeing the magnificent rooms on level one we wanted to see more and purchased a further ticket for the remaining levels. The remaining two levels were again fantastic and we were surprised to be the only two touring this part of the castle. You could easily spend a day marvelling at the décor, we would have visited the castle again if we had remained in Sinai. Later that day we arrived in Bran and were glad to have missed the traffic which was at a standstill and tailed back 15 km’s in the opposite direction, which is a daily occurrence in summer due to Sinaia, Bran and Busteni having pedestrian crossings rather than pedestrian over/underpasses on the highways through the towns, in Romania pedestrians don’t have to wait for lights to cross they just walk over the road and traffic has to stop and given the amount of tourists traffic has to stop every few cars causing a 10-15km tailback.