Tour to Peles and Bran Castles

What a difference 4 years makes. The last time I did this tour with the same guide we had today, we just drove to the castles and walked in. Today the crowds were huge and, unfortunately,  with lots of school children,  especially at Bran. Vlad, our tour guide, told us the number of tourists in Romania has doubled in the last couple of years. The Chinese are coming in droves now. He asked a Chinese tour guide why and he said they will no longer go to Western Europe because of terrorist attacks. Now they are touring Eastern European countries, sometimes 4 or 5 on the same trip. We have seen many tour buses in Brasov, especially in the mountains yesterday.

It rained all day which made both driving and touring miserable. However, it's the only really rainy day we've had.  Peles castle, built between 1873 and 1914 is in a beautiful setting. It is said to be priceless because it could never be replicated today.  The materials and decorations were all imported.

Front of Peles Castle

Peles in accidental black and white

Fountain in front of Peles

Queen Mary--I don't know why she isn't happy

Luckily, Romanian tour guides have priority in lines and the Romanians don't even glare. Otherwise, we would never have toured Bran since there was a line of a few hundred school children.  It was awful--very crowded and the children ran around screeching and shoving. Lola and I both had an incident where we either yelled or shoved a kid.  It was ok, though, because they don't speak English.  The Romanians don't call Bran Castle the Dracula Castle like everyone else does. When Vlad rents the castle for a midnight party and everyone dresses up like Dracula, they usually are tourists. The castle truly is an architectural masterpiece for its time but I can no longer recommend a visit.  According to Vlad, it is packed from opening until closing. I'm guessing, though, an hour before closing might be best.

The lack of internet here in Brasov has been bothersome but we're off to Sibiu so we might do better.

Bran Cast;e Courtyard