Castles?! Right?!

I doubt that the first thing that comes to mind about Romania has anything to do with castles.  Before this trip, I didn't associate Romania with castles either. I was busy thinking about the roads and crazy drivers, big cities and rural stretches, and the post-communist, post-industrial wasteland that was left after the deaths of Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena on Christmas Day 1989. Silly me.

Romania has some great castles. Well or at least two great castles. I saw Bran Castle one day and the next we went to Castle Peles. Turns out, Romanians are pretty serious about their castles. Who knew, who knew?!

Peles was built between 1875 and 1914. It's a large castle built in the Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival style.  Some compare it to to Schloss Neuschwanstein in Germany. I've never been to Neuschwanstein but I should probably go.

Peles when it was build was apparently the first castle in Europe to have central heat, elevators and a central vacuuming system. Um, that's pretty cool.

These days, you have to pay for a guided tour if you want to see in the castle. Photos inside the castle cost even more so I stuck to the tour and passed on taking photos. There are a number of tour options and we picked one that would allow us to see all of the main floor and a second smaller residence.

I was really happy with this option. It gave me a sense of the place without being mired down in history or stuck on a bad tour for a long time because really, that's the worst.

I loved everything about Peles. The countryside is dramatic. The castle is breathtaking. The walk up the hill helps build anticipation and the inside of the castle has been well maintained. I felt very luck to have seen the castle in early spring before hoards of tourists descended on the castle.

It did make me wonder for like 1o seconds