Let me start with that: THE BEST CASTLE EVER!!!
So now that we have established that, let me explain why. Peles and Pelisor are two castles built next to each other. But the Peles is the one, that is the most splendid of all the castles I have ever been to.
Peles Castle
It was the most dream-like, princess-like castle I have ever visited. When you think about Disney castle, this is exactly what you will get. In fact it is a palace but for some reason everyone calls it a castle.
What is interesting is that this is pretty new castle. It was commissioned in 1873 by King Carol I (under his reign Romania gained independence) and was completed in 1883. It was really modern for its time as it had its own electricity, telephone line, central heating system and central vacuum cleaner. It even had its own theatre room! A local power plant was also built for the castle’s use, making Peles the world’s first castle fully powered by locally produced electricity. The cost of building it was approx. US$ 120 million in today’s money.
The exterior is impressive, but inside it is stunning. Above all, it is richly ornamented and luxurious. There are several different styles across the palace, but they all blend perfectly! Out of 170 rooms only couple of them are open for visitors but it is still worth the visit.
There are only guided tours so it might get a little crowded sometimes. But, thanks to that, you will hear many stories, while going around the castle. Like king being to lazy to use proper doors and going through hidden ones in a wardrobe 🙂
There are two options when deciding on a ticket: lower part or lower part with upper part. Even though the second option was a little bit more expensive, it is really worth it.
For more info about prices and opening hours, click on this link to official website.
Pelisor Castle
It is the castle that was built by King Carol I for his nephew, King Ferdinand, and his wife, Queen Marie, in 1899–1902. In contrast to Peles castle, this castle is pretty “cold”. There are no decorations and it just looks normal. Apparently it was the Queen that have decorated the castle and her decor for Pelisor Castle is one of the best Art Nouveau projects of the period. Or so Internets says 🙂 For me, the interior looked really boring. There is 99 rooms in the castle, but out of all of them I really liked one: The golden room. As a name might suggest, everything there was made out of gold and it looked cool.
