I slept a solid 8 hours! Got up and went down for my free breakfast, not expecting much. Wrong!! I was served a 2 or 3 egg omelette that was FULL of huge ham chunks and cheese. And it was really good! Plus hot tea and a basket of more bread than I could eat in a week (that was really good as well). Awesome, solid breakfast! I had 3 adventures scheduled for today, so after I ate I headed off on foot for the first one- the Princely Court of Targoviste.
It was about half a mile away. It opened at 9, and I got there 5 minutes before and waited. At 9, the other people waiting (a lot of school kids) started walking in and I followed. I didn’t see a place to buy a ticket. Was it free to go in? I saw a sign for a souvenir shop and went there. The lady spoke a little English. She said the ticket lady wasn’t there, and that I could walk around and pay when I left. Cool. So I headed out. There wasn’t much information about this place, other than the fact that Vlad the Impaler had lived here so I knew I wanted to film for class. I was pleasantly surprised at how extensive the grounds are! And, there was a decent amount of information in English! So here’s the “quick history”. This area became a princely court and capital of Romania back in the late 1300s, when a Romanian prince built a house, the walls, and a church here. Around 1440, Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Impaler’s dad) built the first proper palace here. Vlad the Impaler came along a few years later and built the tower. After Vlad, in the 1500s, the capital was moved to Bucharest, but Targoviste remained a royal residence. Various princes throughout the centuries restored and remodeled the buildings, with the last major royal renovations occurring in the early 1700s. Romania began a program of restoring the ruins of the princely court in the 1900s.
The tower was just amazing. I did a lot of filming for class. There was one central wooden spiral staircase that went up and up and UP to the top of the tower- 88 feet to the top. Not my favorite thing to do, but I did it for the children!!!!! The view from the top was spectacular! The tower was originally built by Vlad the Impaler as a guard tower. But it was also a clock tower of sorts, with the guards watching for sunset, which would signal for the gates to be closed for the night. In fact, it’s name is Chindia Tower, which means sunset tower.
View from the top!
Next, I explored the ruins of the old palace. Then, the Princely Church. It was built in 1585, the inside repainted a hundred years later, and that’s basically it. Amazing. The paintings are very reminiscent of the style I saw in the Snagov Monastery yesterday.
Then, things got interesting… I went into a building that was a museum of sorts. The lady wanted my ticket. I tried to explain that the ticket person wasn’t there when I came in, and I was supposed to pay on my way out. This woman was having NO part of it. She was pretty harsh with me, even though the guy that was in the museum with her understood what I was saying and was translating it. She didn’t care. She sent me out. And honestly, she made me feel like I was some damn criminal trying to sneak in without paying or something. Frankly, I wasn’t pleased. I walked out, with no plans to go back in, and started walking toward the next building. But she followed me, yelling someone’s name across the whole damn complex. She finally got this woman’s attention, and then pointed and harshly told me something that I understood as “go there”. So I did. Jesus. The ticket lady was there now, so I paid my 15 lei CASH ONLY (about $4) for the entrance fee and camera fee. I reluctantly walked back to the museum. On the way, I passed an old man on a bench who spoke to me in French. This was like the 3rd person who had spoken to me in French since I’ve been here! I don’t speak French, but understand enough to kind of get by (sort of, maybe, barely….). He was asking me where I was from. I said the United States. He asked me if I spoke French. I told him no, only English. He smiled and I continued on my way to the museum where Attila the lady was. I showed her my ticket. Apparently it was a magical ticket, because it transformed her into a smiling, nodding human. What the hell, Romania? I’m finding that the normal people on the street are really, really nice, but customer service types are super harsh, especially if they sense any weakness. Christ.
Well, I’m glad I went back. It ended up being a museum about the printing press. Nothing was in English, but it was sort of easy to follow along. They had books from the 1500s on display!! I geeked out over that. Plus exhibits showing how the printing press was used. It was mainly in Romanian, but easy to figure out.
Next, St. Friday Church, which is the oldest unaltered building in the region! From the 1400s! Some people were doing an archaeological dig outside the church in the…um…graveyard. Not the place I’d want to do a dig!! But it was interesting to watch them. I really wished I could have talked to them about the work they were doing. ☹
As I walked out, the little old man was still sitting on the bench. I said “Au revoir!”, smiled, and gave him a wave. He smiled and laughed. Now THOSE are the Romanian interactions I want! And that was it for my Targoviste tour! Time to jump in the car and head out toward the next stop- Peles Castle. The fields of sunflowers and corn quickly turned into rolling hills, with huge mountains in the background. THE CARPATHIANS!! It was gorgeous! For a while, it was town after town after town. Then, nothing but lush green forests, gorgeous jade green/blue streams running through pebble beds, and hair pin turns as I climbed the mountains and watched the temperature gauge drop from 27C to 18C (80F to 64F). There were SO many places I wanted to stop and get a picture, but no turnouts! Dear Romania, I need more scenic viewpoints- stat! Thanks, Mary.
Soon I arrived in Sinaia, the town where Peles Castle is. And oh my god. This town was so cute! I could seriously have spent an entire day exploring here! I drove to the castle and parked (15 lei CASH ONLY). Walked down the road toward the castle, and when it appeared, I stopped in my tracks and said, “WOW!” out loud. I’ve been in a lot of defensive castles. This one was a fairy tale castle!! A fairy tale castle that cost 65 lei CASH ONLY to get in to (30 for entry, 35 for a camera!)- basically $17.
It was built from 1873-1914 by German architects, which is why I immediately recognized a “Bavarian” style to it. The castle was the summer residence of King Carol I and Queen Elisabeth. Inside, this castle is just wow, wow, WOW!!! The detail, the wood work…holy crap. The lighting is really dim and not conducive for pictures. Which is a damn shame, because the pics just don’t do this place justice. Here are some of the better ones.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bust. I thought, “Man, that kinda looks like my Sun King (Louis XIV of France).” But there was no reason for him to be here. I kept going around the circle, then made my way back to the room where the bust was. IT WAS LOUIS!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it when my kings pop up in unexpected locations! And then, at the end of the tour, there was a little theater room that just looked so…French. Well, lo and behold, it was decorated in the Louis XIV style. My Sun King…he’s an original, that’s for sure!! 😊
I left and wandered the grounds a bit. And there was a woman in a wedding dress. I swear to god, now that I’m engaged, wedding dresses are EVERYWHERE!!! Arghhhh!!! (Honestly, both of them look pretty over the whole damn thing! I chuckled when I saw the shot I got!). I then walked over to the other castle, Pelișor Castle. I didn’t go in, but it’s really pretty from the outside.
Back in the car for the short drive to Busteni for my final adventure for the day- the cable car up the mountain to see the “Sphinx”. I parked- 15 lei CASH ONLY. All of this cash only stuff is frustrating as hell!! I hate carrying cash, and thank goodness I got 400 lei out in Bucharest or I’d be fucked. Dear Romania, The rest of the world is accepting credit cards. Please check into a merchant account. You’re welcome, Mary.
I rounded a corner and um……saw the cable car. Do you see it??
Here’s the close up. Look at the top of the mountain in the previous picture for that tiny little tower on the flat part of the mountain almost over the middle of the hotel. Um, yeah… This thing went STRAIGHT. UP. And that’s how I’d need my 3 glasses of vodka if I was going to get on that thing… I went up to the building. The line wrapped around it. I stood there for like 15 minutes before I saw the car come down. Oh HELL no. People were packed in there like sardines. And based on the line, I’d be here for about 2 hours before I got to the front. Hmmmm….straight up on a shaky wire, in a car packed with people, and wait 2 hours for the privilege? Um, that’ll be a pass.
I extracted myself from the line and walked back down the road to go explore some hiking trails I saw on the way up. Much better idea! It was so beautiful. And then….creepy bridge!!! Seriously, world?? Why are there sketch ass bridges EVERYWHERE I GO???? Indiana Jones has his snakes…I have my bridges. Sigh. This one had busted out boards in it. I was pretty sure it wasn’t up to code. I practically did the splits I took such a huge step to get over the damn fucked up boards- plummeting 10 feet to my watery death in the 1 foot deep raging river below wasn’t on my spreadsheet….
Hiked around a bit, then used my mad wilderness survival skills to triangulate my position with the north star and the top of the mountain to figure my way back to the car. Or…there was a trail to the left, I knew the car was to the left, and I got lucky that it was the right trail that led to the car. You choose. 😊 Was so damn proud of myself when I rounded a corner and saw my car (it’s the silver one on the right side of the pic). Almost puked when I saw the bridge. Romania….where they will put up a serious barrier so you don’t fall over the side, but you’re on your own when it comes to falling THROUGH!
My airbnb for the night was just a couple of miles away. The guy who rents it out wasn’t there, his mother was (I’m 2 for 2 on that!), and she doesn’t speak English (2 for 2 on that as well!). So get a load of this…we communicated in…FRENCH!! I seriously have to research and see what this French connection is here in Romania. I’m shocked by how many people speak it. Settled in for the night to prepare for a long day of driving and adventuring tomorrow!
French because Bucharest at the beginning of the twentieth century was called the small Paris and we all learned french in schools as a foreign language, even during the comunism time. But in the area you were normaly the people speak also german or hungarian.
Fascinating! I wonder why French was chosen. Seems like a strange choice…