A leisurely start. 1.7km walk, after bidding farewell to our trusty apartment, to Gara de Nord. Coffee. Then the 10:25 train to Brasov. It left 15 seconds late. Very smart new carriages with vast luggage racks. Zoom through the countryside to disembark at Sinaia, from where we start a trek tomorrow.
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Walk up a hill to Hotel Sinaia, leave our bags there. Pop into local supermarket for tasty lunch ingredients then find a sheltered spot near a bandstand to consume them. It's hot again.
Walk further uphill to Peles Castle - that's a misnomer, it's really a palace built by Romania's iconic King Carol 1 in 1883. Laze in the gardens before joining an English language tour. The building has 160 rooms and was well used by the monarchy for political, cultural and symbolic functions. It was an interesting tour.
Returned down the hill past lots of nicknack stalls. I had bought sunglasses from one of these (R20 ~ £3.50) as mine got left at home. It clouded over. Claps of thunder in the distance. Views down the valley.
Back at the hotel we collected an envelope from Collett's containing maps. It's not 'Race across the World' as we have not had our 'phones confiscated! But it seems a bit like that.
What was advertised as a guided trip has now become self guided as there were no other takers. That shouldn't be a problem, it'll just be a mini adventure.
Dinner in a restaurant downstairs, a look at tomorrow's map, and an early night in a splendid hotel room.
We enjoyed the traditional local dessert-Papanaşi, a doughnut made with fresh cheese, cream and cherry jam.
After yogurt and banana for breakfast, and packing, we left the apartment at 9.15 for the half hour walk to Gara de Nord. Coffeelab provided two flat whites as we had half an hour to spare before the 10.25 train to Brasov.
The train was cool and very smart, stopping four times before our arrival in Sinaia at midday.
It was hot but quite a bit cooler than Bucharest as we walked the 6 mins (uphill) from the Royal station to Hotel Sinaia, to drop luggage.
Mega Image supermarket, just along the road, provided pastries, fruit and drink for a picnic lunch in the park, just below the bandstand, on a shady stone bench.
We meandered uphill, past the casino, up steps past the remains of the monastery, the first place to be built here, and then along a wide cobbled path beneath trees. This was lined with wooden huts and people selling clothes and souvenirs. It opened out after crossing the river and we got views of Peleş Castle, where we had 2.30pm tickets.
King Carol (1866-1914) built the palace as his summer residence and it belongs to the Romanian royal family. It was full of ornately carved wood, including African ironwood, marble, a glass ceiling that slides open, mirrors made of crystal and chandeliers and mirrors of Merano glass. Different styles were used in the 160 rooms, 30 of which were bathrooms. Carol was a popular king, whose only daughter died when she was 4. His nephew inherited the throne on his death. He was originally from Germany and there are paintings and stained glass of family and other Germans.
The tour in English took around an hour.
Had a quick look at Pelisor Castle (the smaller of the two) before taking the same route back, rather quicker as there was thunder and dark clouds. It didn’t rain though.
Our room 302 is lovely and we soon spread out the maps on the bed to work out where we go tomorrow.
I used the pool, steam room, jacuzzi and sauna for half an hour before we went downstairs to Crama Rina, one of the hotel’s three restaurants, for dinner.
The sarmale (beef and pork mince wrapped in cabbage) with soured cream, a whole green chilli, and polenta was lovely. We shared traditional papanasi for pudding - a warm doughnut made with fresh cheese, with cream and fruit jam. It was delicious.
