Itinerary
Mon Oct 12 -13 Toronto - Paris - Vienna
Oct 13 - Vienna
Oct 14 - Vienna
Oct 15 - Vienna
Oct 16 - Vienna to Budapest by train
Oct 17 - Budapest
Oct 18 - Budapest to Zagreb Croatia
Oct 19 - Zagreb
Oct 20 - Zagreb - Belgrade Serbia
Oct 21 - Belgrade
Oct 22 - Belgrade
Oct 23 - Belgrade - Bucharest Romania
Oct 24 - Bucharest
Oct 25 - Bucharest
Monday, October 26
We kicked in our last minute revised plan after breakfast, grabbing a Bolt to Bucharest North Railway Station (Gara de Nord), Romania's largest and busiest railway hub, located at Piața Gării de Nord in central Bucharest.
Gogoși (standard yeasted doughnuts), so good with coffee.
Getting Bolt.
Bucharest Gara de Nord is currently undergoing a massive €100 million (500 million RON) modernization project, making a mess, so the driver said we should just hop out and go in the side door.
I left the navigation completely in John's hands, hard for me as a control freak!
John located our 2nd class car #10. seating is in a pod, two facing two.
The views out the window as we approached the Carpathians were spectacular, and the bustling energy made us feel like we were getting a genuine slice of local Romanian life.
The sheer volume of people completely caught us off guard. We knew Sinaia’s crown jewel, Peleș Castle, is traditionally closed on Mondays (and Tuesdays) for cleaning and maintenance. We kept asking ourselves: Where on earth is everyone going if the castle isn’t even open? To the castle!
Choosing to take a taxi ride up to the top was the ultimate time-saver, sparing us from a grueling, steep uphill climb from the station. Instead of arriving exhausted and out of breath from the trek, we pulled up to the estate in just a few minutes, completely energized and ready to explore.
Restaurant as we exited the taxi, this is as far as cars can go.
Located just a short walk up the path on the same estate, Pelișor Castle was built between 1899 and 1902. King Carol I ordered its construction as a residence for his heir, Ferdinand, and his wife, Princess Marie. In contrast to the grand scale of Peleș, Pelișor was designed as an intimate home in the Art Nouveau style. Princess Marie personally directed the interior design, blending Celtic, Byzantine, and Romanian elements, culminating in the famous Golden Room decorated with gilded oak walls.
The smaller palace was shut down for its own annual deep cleaning and preventive conservation,
The crisp, lovely autumn afternoon drew a massive crowd to the estate grounds. The vibrant red, orange, and golden leaves of the surrounding forest looked absolutely spectacular against the castle's dark wood framing, turning the entire estate into a major photography hotspot.
.
Commissioned by King Carol I in 1873, Peleș Castle was built as a palatial summer retreat rather than a defensive fortress. It stands as an architectural triumph of the Neo-Renaissance style, seamlessly blending German Fachwerk timber-framing on the outside with lavish Italian Renaissance, French Baroque, and Moorish influences throughout its 170 themed rooms.
Peleș was remarkably ahead of its time, becoming the first fully electrified castle in Europe thanks to its own dedicated on-site power plant. It also boasted modern 19th-century luxuries like central heating, a built-in vacuum system, a grand theater, and even an elevator. The castle's exterior is instantly recognizable by its striking 66-meter central clock tower, elaborate hand-painted murals, and manicured Italian-style stone terraces adorned with marble statues and fountains.
Because the castle is closed on Mondays, the crowds completely converged on the outside pathways instead.
Bronze statue of Queen Elisabeth of Romania (known by her literary pseudonym Carmen Sylva) seated in an armchair and knitting.
It turned out that a beautiful fall day and stunning foliage were more than enough reason for crowds to flock to Sinaia, even on a Monday!
The walls of the inner courtyard are decorated with elaborate hand-painted murals and trompe-l'œil frescoes.
We decided we would walk down.
Do people really live up here?
Sinaia Monastery is a historic and active Romanian Orthodox monastery located in the picturesque Carpathian mountain resort town of Sinaia. Founded in 1695 by Prince Mihail Cantacuzino following his transformative pilgrimage to Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai, this sacred landmark actually gave the town of Sinaia its name. Serving as the spiritual and cultural cradle of the region, the complex beautifully bridges centuries of Romanian history, art, and royal heritage.
There is supposed to be an entrance fee but we never saw anywhere to pay.
We finally came upon an open restaurant for a beer! It was across from a hotel (later) and so cute.
Inside.
I came out from the washroom and John had moved into an igloo!
We had to check the hotel out.
Hotel Palace in Sinaia is a masterpiece of early 20th-century French classicism. Built during the "Belle Époque" era, it was designed to accommodate the influx of European high society when Sinaia served as the booming summer capital of the Romanian Kingdom.
In 1911, a devastating fire destroyed the pre-existing Sinaia Hotel and Casino. Recognizing the urgent need to maintain the town's elite resort status, the Eforia Spitalelor Civile (a major philanthropic organization of the era) moved rapidly to replace it.
They commissioned the renowned Romanian architect Petre Antonescu. He designed a magnificent structure that harmoniously connected the hotel to the surrounding Dimitrie Ghica Park and the grand new Sinaia Casino. To everyone's astonishment, the massive, "royal standard" luxury hotel was completed in just under eight months. Laborers worked straight through the winter behind giant walls of heated canvas to ensure the hotel could welcome guests by July 15, 1911.
The hotel's fortunes shifted dramatically with the onset of geopolitical conflicts:
• World War II: Between 1942 and 1944, the German military requisitioned the property and converted it into a military hospital. During this time, the grand ballroom was stripped to store ammunition, precious historical furniture was broken up for firewood, and the hotel's legendary wine cellar—containing over 15,000 bottles—was entirely looted.
• The Communist Era: Following the forced abdication of the Romanian monarchy in 1947, the new communist regime nationalized the property. Its name was changed to "Hotel Sinaia," and it was strictly utilized as a protocol hotel for state elites and elite foreign tourists carrying foreign currency.
• Modern Restoration: Following the fall of communism, the hotel reclaimed its original identity. Extensive restoration works successfully brought back its original Belle Époque architectural luster, and it operates today under its historical name, Hotel Palace, as a protected monument of Romanian national heritage.
Hotel Caraiman is the oldest standing grand hotel in Sinaia and an official monument of Romanian National Patrimony. Nestled right against the lush Dimitrie Ghica Park, it served as the original anchor for the town’s booming late-19th-century tourism, preceding the neighboring Hotel Palace by three decades.
In 1881, the same year Romania was officially declared a Kingdom and Carol I was crowned King, the Eforia Spitalelor Civile realized that the recently opened Bucharest–Sinaia railway was bringing an unprecedented flood of visitors to the mountains. To capture this new wave of high society, they built Hotel Caraiman—naming it after the towering Caraiman Peak in the surrounding Bucegi Mountains.
Every single room was uniquely designed to face the central park, and a massive water fountain was erected right outside its doors to welcome guests arriving from the new train station.
Hotel Caraiman was at the forefront of Romania's modernization. In the late 19th century, Sinaia became the very first city in Romania to feature electric lighting. On the historic evening of July 21, 1890, the town did away with its old oil lamps. The very first electric lightbulbs in the resort were illuminated along the main boulevard, inside the central park, and prominently throughout the grand halls of Hotel Caraiman.
Following World War II and the rise of the communist regime, the hotel was nationalized. Local legend holds that because of its strategic views over the park and town center, the hotel and its ground-floor restaurant were tightly monitored and heavily utilized by the state security apparatus (Securitate) to keep tabs on foreign visitors.
Following the revolution, the property was saved from ruin. Recent restoration projects deliberately preserved its historic atmosphere, highlighting the high Victorian ceilings, crystal chandeliers, and polished marble floors. Today, it operates as a charming, vintage 3-star property, giving travelers the unique experience of staying inside a living museum.
Now that we had located the train station for our return trip, it was time to find food.
We expected a quiet, museum-like alpine retreat, but discovering Sinaia felt like stumbling into a living, breathing mountain community completely unfazed by the elements.
As John said, it felt very Bavarian, and I said Tyrolian.
Walking down the main avenues, the sleepy postcard imagery evaporated into rows of bustling restaurants, glowing windows, and terraces humming with locals taking refuge against the cold.
We even had a weather forecast of a wintery mix!
Sister bakery to Carmello.
John had roast lamb which he declared the second best meal of the trip. I had goulash. But the winner was the focaccia with garlic and cheese!
We need coffee and dessert!
Waiting for our train, you get about two minutes to board and gawd forbid they tell you where your car is! We ran and boarded our quiet first class carriage. Back in Bucharest we took a Bolt back to the hotel.
