Romania’s Best Castle

Mixed in among the customary snow globes and magnet of the souvenir shops was a selection of more unusual items. Carpets, sauce pots, and a weirdly wide array of knives caught my eye. Until I realized what they meant. This is not the usual tourist loop, so vendors were more like general salespeople than hawkers of tourist kitsch. This was extra remarkable given that I’d come to see the sister of one of Europe’s most famous sites.

Castle Peleş (pronounced “Pelesh”) is an epitome of neo-Baroque architecture, with clear kinship to its more photographed German cousin: Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. Both were built by kings at the end of the age of monarchies, harkening back to a former golden age, even as they created their own. Two palace-castles, alike in nature and culture, entirely distinct in experience.

If I have taken you to Neuschwanstein, I picked up our tickets at least 60 minutes before our strictly scheduled entry, which was booked months in advance. Show up only 59 minutes early, you don’t get in. You had precisely five minutes to scan your ticket, pass the turnstile, and collect your audio handset before a crisp 24 minute tour of the castle began, following a prescribed and closely monitored path. Photos were strictly forbidden, and you exited through not one but two gift shops while the guide was already repeating the script with the next group. Clockwork. And necessary if you need to funnel 60 gajjilion people through the same hallways.

At Peleş, I perused the playful souvenir gauntlet and considered the snacks sold by Roma women. Corn was shucked and roasted below, walnuts were shelled and sold by the cup above, and wizened grandmothers offered woven baskets of raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries.

Near the top, a pair of boisterous restaurants served good food at fair prices, and families gamboled among the statuary in the ornate castle garden. The line to get in took maybe 10 minutes.

The ticket-taker at the door was asking where people came from, and we had an unexpected conversation about Huntington Beach as she let me in. I felt like I’d just made a new friend, a distinct experience from the exhausted and irritated staff of more crowded destinations. That thought was wiped away when I walked inside, because Peleş Castle…is gorgeous.

Ornate hand-carved woodwork, exquisite furnishings, and extravagant rooms of a million perfect details kept my eyes wide and camera snapping. I accidentally murmured “wow” more times than I care to admit. My ticket included the upper floor, which had less visitors and a more intimate feel, albeit in a royal regal way.

Neuschwanstein deserves its fame, but Peleş felt like a real place, where people lives. Because they did. Authenticity is a capricious concept, but this was it. Neuschwanstein is a museum, this was a summer home for unusual people. The two castles are clearly kin, with inaugurations just three years apart, and both are well worth the visit, each in their own was. As I departed Peleş, I realized that seeing each had deepened my appreciation for the other. What a beautiful thing that travel experiences can grow and augment each other, the wider you spread your inner map. With that thought in mind, I headed back to my hotel and packed my bag, ready to head off to the next unknown Romanian site tomorrow.