The Caraiman Hotel in Sinaia. It functioned as a hospital in both World Wars and anchors the beautiful Central Park.

It’s not far from Brasov, but trains move pretty slow in Romania. The bluebird skies became laced with increasingly dense cloud as we crawled a bit higher up the Bucegi mountains. The day would turn such that we walked in some bits of rain as we strolled through the town.

From the train station it is a hike uphill on windy streets to get to Peles Castle. Tour buses swooped around us and we passed few locals on our ascent, but did spot several men dressed in robes as they made their way into the Monastery we passed. That stop, we would make later.

Ancient mossy walls line the walk to the castle.

Peles was, in fact, only built to be a summer home.

King Carol I fell in love with the mountain scenery during his early reign and began construction in 1875, touching on many classic European styles by design. And it was a true cross-continental effort. From the journal of his Queen Elisabeth:

“Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, the Gypsies were coolies. Albanians and Greeks worked in stone, Germans and Hungarians were carpenters. Turks were burning brick. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech. The Frenchmen were drawing, the Englishmen were measuring, and so was then when you could see hundreds of national costumes and fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled in all dialects and tones, a joyful mix of men, horses, cart oxen and domestic buffaloes.”

The result: a dreamy courtyard best imagined being enjoyed in full regal wear under the fragrance of wildflowers and chill of morning dew. The interior is dense with rich and intricately carved wood, complete with hidden passages, foreign thematic rooms, and a captivating ancient weapons collection from around the globe.

(The latter of which we can’t share with you as the interior is under strict copyright. Trust us when we say that seeing the inside is definitely worth the tour, if you can manage to tear yourself away from the gardens and stately courtyard.)

Growling stomachs finally drove us from lingering in the finely manicured gardens and back towards town. More tour buses whizzed past us on there way back to Bucharest or Brasov or the next castle in the next town, as we paused for a stop at the Monastery which gave the town of Sinaia its name.

Locals and tourists alike made their way in and out of the gates. Founded in 1695, this Christian Orthodox Monastery is still in use and houses a dozen monks.

Before we returned on the next slow train, we dawdled in a cafe, discovered the quaint but gorgeous Central Park, and lamented that the weather deterred us from exploring the many hiking trails around us. We came to understand why this is a popular resort town for locals, but curiously only a quick stop for most foreign tourists.

I can’t say we made the exact right choice for our day trip in the face of the others without seeing them personally – trips to Bran and Rasnov may be equally or more worthy of a visit – but we know we made a good choice.