Welcome to Sinaia in County Prahova,
home to Romania's Royalty and the best national park in Romania in the Bucegi Mountain.
With great skiing and hiking year-round, Sinaia and neighbouring Buşteni are where the jet set
meets the mountains.
Offering a wide array of hotels pensiunes guest houses and accommodation, Sinaia has
just the level of lodging for your family or a romantic weekend away in the Carpathian mountains.
The new
Rest
Romania Gallery
has photos from our contributors showing the best of Romania!
The Royal buzz is hard to miss in this winter ski resort and summer
wonderland, full of jetsetters from Germany and the UK, flocking to
the the Royal Domain with it's castles and chateaux.
Whilst not as popular as Buşteni with Romania's own burgeoning middle
class, Sinaia is the closest full-service mountain resort to Bucharest.
Just two hours away by car or train with frequent services in all classes.
Read more in the Sinaia Transportation section
below
Reserves and Preserves
Sinaia’s reason for being is
surely the stunning surrounds as gateway to the Prahova valley.
As home to Romania’s Royal residence for over a
century, Sinaia has always had strict laws to maintain it’s beauty,
with the felling of trees or even picking the tempting flowers, from
peonies, and Edelweiss to the golden gentian, are long forbidden.
In addition to tracts of dense fir and spruce
forest, Sinaia is blessed with the spectacular BucegiNaturalPark, which surrounds the
valley on the western side, covering a total area of
GoldenPeak (Vârful cu
Dor), the Ant (Furnica), and Burnt Rock (Piatra Arsă) all feature prominently
on the mountain skyline. Read about the
Bucegi National Park here
Between Two Worlds
Sinaia is situated in the Prahova river valley which climbs up into
the Carpathians which form the border between Wallachia and Transilvania.
Just past the Wallachian foothills and well into the Bucegi mountains,
Sinaia has long been on the main trade route coming out of Braşov down
to Bucharest and the rich alluvial plains below.
Romania's
Royal Family
He is one of only two of Europe's monarchs on the throne during
WWII and today. HM King Michael I returned to Romania after
the Revolution in 1989, and lives primarily at Pelişor castle in
Sinaia.
Sinia has been home to Romanian royalty for over a century, the
serene beauty of the location having captured the heart of Romania's
first King.
Daughter HRH The Princess Margarita of Romania has been named as
heir to the throne, thanks to recent liberalisation of the laws of
succession. She and husband HRH Radu, Prince of Romania
represent the fifth generation of Romanian royalty.
Map: The cable car ride from Sinaia is beautiful, going up
to 2000m on the Bucegi Plateau
Use the scrollbars to see the full area
around Sinaia, and click on any
Feature to see more info!
The Royal Train Station
Dignitaries and now common people alike have
been received at these stately monuments, built in 1913 and
1939.
The Sinaia Park Statues
Arriving in Sinaia
Sinaia’s unique attractions are conveniently arranged in a gentle
line wending it’s way up from the valley floor where the river, road
and rail lines run.
If you have sensibly hired a nice Romanian guy to drive you for
your Romanian tour, you can have him park at the train station, or if
you are equally sensibly using the train to get around Romania, you’ll
be delivered to the right spot.
Even if you’re only in Sinaia for a matter of an hour or two on
your way to Braşov or Bucharest, the park and buildings near the train
station hold enough interest to make your stop worthwhile.
Sinaia’s train station was built in 1913, and whilst similar to
the one in Buşteni, is a bit more delicate.
Due to Sinaia’s Royal connections, both the Simplon Orient Express
and the Arlberg Orient Express from Calais and Paris stopped here on
their way to Bucharest (then known as “Little Paris”). The original
station was built in 1913, with an additional Neo-Romanian style Royal
station added in 1939, adjoining just 10 metres away.
Both of the buildings were where Europe’s royalty and dignitaries
were hosted by 20th-century Romanian Kings (Ferdinand I, Carol II and
Mihai I), and where U.S. President Ford was received by Ceauşescu in
1975.
Don’t miss the mural of the mistress of the hunt in the main station
salon, depicting a life-size scene with Prince Basarab from the 14th
century.
After WWII, service continued in various forms until 1992, with
the Orient Express today terminating in Vienna. See more
on our
Romanian Rail Services page now.
There is still a great square opposite the station which once hosted
the arrival and departure ceremonies befitting great heads of state,
sadly also used by the Nazis during WWII for their little marches and
rallies.
The Dimitrie Ghica Park
Just up from the train stations is the Dimitre Ghica park, with
all the expected park amenities from fountains and benches, and also
a unique collection of statues commemorating historical figures important
to Sinaia and Romania.
The park is home of the Prahova Natural Sciences museum. Surrounded
by parklands created in 1881, the county museum is housed in a fabulous
Brâncoveanu style building. You will have seen examples of these
around Bucharest, but this one is truly iconic.
The Brâncoveanu Effect
Brâncoveanu was a Wallachian prince who oversaw a rich period of
cultural growth in the late 1600s in Wallachia, including this signature
architecture which is a successful and distinctive mix of Renaissance
and Byzantine influences, known today as the Brâcoveanu style of architecture.
Featuring columns and arches along walkways, balconies, loggias,
and verandas, the look is charming on large and small scales, and remains
one of Romania’s most pleasing contributions to the world of architecture.
The Bucegi Reserve Collection The museum is
open 9am – 7pm Tues – Sun
In addition to photos of the building itself, inside you’ll find
a section on the Bucegi Reserve, with collections of flora and fauna
of the Bucegi mountains. The museum plays a very important role
in preserving and cataloguing many of the endangered and critical species
from the nearby mountains, where new strictly controlled reservations
preserve areas of significance. There is also a temporary
display room for touring exhibits.
The Casino at Sinaia
Thankfully still in use today, the younger set can find
some games here to spend time while the oldies investigate the
Sinaia Monastery museum up the hill!
At the entrance to the cemetery, the great Romanian Eagle
spreads it's wings to protect the war dead, with a dedication
to 1916-18 heroes who fell during the invasion by Austrian and
German forces down through the Prahova valley, seizing 80% of
Romania.
Just up from the museum is another of the crown jewels of Sinaia
architecture, the Royal Casino, designed and building supervised by
the architect Petre Antonescu under decree by Romania’s King Carol I.
The casino was indeed well managed, with the main shareholding
being the same Baronet de Marcay who was also with the Casino of Monte
Carlo. It opened along with the train station in 1913, and is
another prime photo opportunity, set so calmly in it’s surrounding parkland.
The Casino today is home to conferences and international events,
and houses exhibits from time to time for modern arts, photography and
crafts, so check in to see if there is an exhibit on. The
younger crowd can also find billiards tables and games here to while
away their time whilst parents enjoy a museum or two!
You never know when those Americans will show up unexpectedly, and
south of Sinaia, the Yanks rained down bombs from the skies in their
attempt to thwart the Nazi occupation and oil production during WWII.
Ironically, the Romania's military was larger than America's before
the USA entered the war in 1941.
The memorial in the military cemetery up from the Casino is dedicated
to “Operation Tidalwave”, the ambitious August 1943 bombing campaign
by the U.S. Army Air Force. B-24 Liberator crewmembers flew
from Benghazi in north Africa in the first large-scale, low-altitude
attack. It was also then the longest distance air crews had ever
travelled to reach a strike zone.
The bombers managed to swoop in at low altitude runs to drop over
250 tonnes of ordinance in their bid to rob the Germans of their single
largest source of oil (by 1941) which came out of the oil refineries
at the industrial centre of Ploieşti, about an hour from Sinaia.
Peleş Castle, American Infirmary
Peleş castle was home to many recuperating American airmen recovered
after Operation Tidal Wave, with young King Mihai thanking the Americans
for not bombing the civilian population (the low level bombing at Ploiesti
was tightly targeted on pipelines, cracking towers and means of production
only).
Americans also helped Romania in July 1944, with P51 Mustangs and
P38 Lightnings swooping in to strafe the Nazi airfields northeast of
Ploieşti at Bacău and Zilistea. Bacău remains a major airport
to this day, despite the efforts of the cousins across the pond.
Whilst you may think you’ve had your fill of monasteries in Romania,
it’s undeniable that each on has it’s own particular charms.
The Sinaia monastery is indeed the “pearl of the Carpathians”, being
the first structure built in this part of the Prahova Valley, and today
is indeed the cathedral of the majestic Bucegi mountains.
Mural with King Carol I
Commemorating the ascension to the throne of Romania's first
monarch on the walls of the Big Church at the Sinaia Monastery
In addition to it’s thoroughly charming yet authentic Brâncoveanu
style, built in 1690, the Sinaia monastery has two Last Testament friezes,
one originally built in the older part, and a newer one from the mid
1800s (arguably a bit more photogenic at least). Originally
built to serve just 12 monks (the number of the apostles of Jesus),
it expanded steadily as the importance of the town and trade route grew.
The Little Church
The Little Church at the monastery was founded at the behest of
Mihai Cantacuzino in 1695, giving the church and the community it’s
present-day name of Sinaia, after the Sinai mountains he’d seen on his
pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Nazareth. According to an inscription
in Slavonic (the old church language) over a doorway, the church is
dedicated to Saint Sava of Palestine. The tableaux inside
were painted by the famous painter Parvu Mutu.
Occupied in the late 1700s by the Austro-Hungarian empire (who did
not share the Orthodox faith), the monastery became a military camp
for 400 soldiers who tried unsuccessfully to defend the position from
the Ottoman Turks, who slaughtered the soldiers and took the monastery
as an administrative headquarters.
The Big Church
The Big Church was build under the abbots Ioasaf (Joseph) and Paisie
for three years until 1846 under the local lord Bibescu Voda, and was
the first church to use electric lighting in Romania.
As with the museum down the hill, the Brâncoveanu style is in full
flourish here, with the columns sculpted and adorned with floral and
vegetal motifs, with the same type of ornamentation found along the
window frames and door lentils.
Open Daily, 1E entry donation
The monks here are usually dressed in traditional garb, and are
a bit of fun to talk with if you can find one confident with English
(many also speak German, a few French).
The Sinaia Monastery Museum
The Sinaia Monastery Museum was the first religious museum in the
country, constructed initially to temporarily house the royals as they
built their Royal Domain just up the hill from the monastery in 1895,
which also coincided with the bicentenary of the monastery.
The museum today comprises two halls with a great map of County
Prahova in the first one showing the influences of the Cantacuzo family,
along with a sketch of the Traian Column, engravings showing the monastery
through time, an epitaph in Archaic Romanian embroidered in gold and
silver thread on silk, vestments of the clergy from centuries past,
gold leaf illustrations in old books, Romania’s first printed bible,
as well as money and other artefacts used at the monastery over the
last 415 years.
The second hall has Romanian and Russian icons depicting
St. Nicholas and St. Sergei, gifts from Czar Nicholas II.
There are also four portaits of Pirvu Mutu (the painter), and various
books and other churchly objects.
Sinaia Belfry Tower
Adjacent, the Belfry Tower of Sinaia went up in 1892, with a bell
taken from the Coltea tower in Bucharest, which was cast in 1775, and
re-cast again in 1914, singing out today with 1700kg of ringing power.
Peleş Castle is the crowning glory of the Royal Peleş Domain
at Sinaia.
The Royal House of Romania has the smaller and decidedly
more habitable Peleşor castle as it's official residence, with
the Foişor hunting lodge hosting state events and as accommodation
for visiting dignitaries.
Following the wishes of His Majesty King Mihai I, most of
both Peleş and Peleşor will remain functioning museums through
2010.
Staying overnight at the Sinaia Monastery in 1866, Romania’s
future King Carol I fell in love with the peaceful valley, which
reminded him very much of his homeland (Carol was Prince Carol
of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen at the time).
He never forgot the site, and in 1872 bought
and commissioned a German architect, Wilhelm Doderer, to design
his future summer palace in the mountains.
Peleşor Today
All on the Royal Domain:
Barracks, mess and administrative offices for the Royal
Guards were built nearby as were the Royal Mews for the dozens
of horses needed for the estate.
A commissary store (“economat”) was stocked
to provision estate workers with dry goods and personal requisites.
The castle continued to grow and change between it’s first
official completion date in 1883, and it’s final form as today
which was largely realised by 1914, by then under the auspices
of the Czech architect Karel Liman.
The charming little “Spout House” (“Vila Şipot”) was also
designed and built by Karel Liman, the Czech architect, after
the main castle and outbuildings were completed. Once
the site of a forceful little natural spring found to proudly
spout out year-round, Spout House is today a hotel, offering
reasonable rates to travellers wanting a slice of history with
their stay in Sinaia.
Romania's Royal Domain
It looks like a castle from a book your grandmother would have read
you, and the fabulously ornate fairy-tale castle looks very much like
Disney designed it!
Frankly, on your first view as you come through the Royal Domain
(the estate and parklands), it’s impossible not to grin as you realise
that this castle is for-real, and you are here to witness this spectacle
which speaks far more to the Saxon ancestry of nearby Transilvania than
the more Romanian styles of the nearby monastery.
Nonetheless, Peleş is still a Romanian Royal castle, and features
wide Italian Renaissance-style terraces, studded with fountains, statues,
decorated columns, and more rococo features which hint at the far more
diverse styles used in the interior.
The Rooms of Queen Elizabeth
Romania’s first Queen, Elisabeta, wife of King Carol I was responsible
for the ornate and lavish décor across 160 rooms. Favouring
split walnut veneers, crystal, ivory and ebony, leathers, fine silks,
and a myriad of inlays and trim work, to say the interiors of her castle
Peleş are lush is an understatement.
Whilst largely under the umbrella of the German Renaissance movement,
the interiors borrow heavily here and there from English, Rococo and
Baroque styles, resulting in a deliriously fun and sometimes whimsical
effect, reflecting the diverse tastes of the Queen.
Your English-speaking guide will host your tour
through 16 of the best rooms in the palace.
If you think you can guess what is around the corner at Peleş, you’d
be sorely mistaken, for a left turn can mean stepping into an Alhambra-like
Moorish grand hall, and a right can mean falling into one of two rooms
dedicated to Venice, complete with fairly outlandish chandeliers and
furnishings.
Amongst the don’t-miss rooms include the Hall of Honour, with it’s
rich walnut panelling, complete with the requisite family coats of arms
and regalia. The Arms Galleries, Council Chamber, and Old
Music Room offer interesting insights into court life in the early 1900s.
Delight too in the Turkish Room, the Banqueting Hall, the Theatre, Concert
Hall, and the Stairway of Honour, amongst some great passageways, views
and endless antiques and furniture.
King Carol and Queen Elisabeta lived in Peleş and their heir, the
Prince Ferdinand and his English-born consort, the Princess Marie, lived
in Peleşor castle (“Little Peleş”), just up the hill in the Royal Domain.
Really, it’s not that little, and having been built a couple of
decades later (ground broke in 1899), it had a few more of the modern
conveniences and a more cohesive interior design scheme, with Tiffany
and Lalique dotting the largely art nouveau and arts and crafts interior,
despite the more staid German Renaissance exteriors (to better match
it’s bigger namesake down the hill presumably).
Peleşor is destined to remain open until 2010, although it is now
the Royal Residence of King Mihai I of Romania.
The Foişor Hunting Lodge
Indeed a bit more cosy than the castle, Foişor was first a hunting
lodge for the royals but quickly became a residence for relatives.
In 1914, because home to Queen Elisabeta and her children when her
son Ferdinand moved down to Peleş when he ascended the throne.
Queen Elena was already pregnant when she first decorated Foişor
in the 1920s as she and Ferdinand’s son Carol too moved into the little
chateau, where they remained until he ascended the throne in 1930.
Today’s gardens and parkland around Foişor are at least partly due to
Queen Elena’s fine efforts to redesign and remodel the grounds.
The current King of the Romanians, Mihai I was born at Foişor to
his mother the Crown Princess Elena (of Greece) and his father, Prince
Carol, at the time son of King Ferdinand I.
You can admire the lodge from the surrounding parklands on the Royal
Domain, which are open to the public Wednesdays to Sundays until 4pm.
The Royal Peleş Domain
The Royal Peleş Domain, comprised of the Peleş, Peleşor, and Foişor
castles, were returned to the Royal House in early March 2007, after
being "looked after" for 60 years by the Romanian government.
In fact, the entire Domain was appropriated by the then-Communist
government in 1947 when they forced His Majesty King Mihai I to leave
the country.
These old castles are monuments to Romania's regal history, testaments
to the 140 years since Carol I ascended the throne of Romania, proclaiming
a sovereign state on May 10, 1866; and 125 years since the declaration
of the Kingdom of Romania by King Carol I on May 10, 1881.
The Royal House of Romania has Peleşor castle as it's official residence.
The King formally offered return the main tourist draw, Peleş castle
to the state (the government had the right of first refusal anyways
according to their 2001 legislation). The older part of
Foişor remains a protocol residence (used by the Government for state
events and accommodation of visiting dignitaries).
Additional areas at Ceramica and Stavilari under the auspices of
the board of Sinaia European Culture Centre were also returned in early
2007. Following the wishes of His Majesty, most of both
Peleş and Peleşor will remain functioning museums through 2010.
The Royal House Today
The Royal House of Romania, through it's visits, agenda, and participation
in events domestically and throughout Europe, actively embodies and
symbolizes Romania's obligation to Europe as well as the nation's traditions,
stability and continuity.
Princess Margarita
First as Her Serene Highness Margarita, Princess of Hohenzollern,
and now Her Royal Highness The Princess Margarita of Romania, she is
the eldest daughter of The King and of the Queen Consort, Anne of Bourbon-Parma
(Ana). HRH The Princess Margarita is 82nd in line of succession for
the British throne and, by Royal House Law, heir to the leadership of
the Royal Family. With no children, her sister Princess Elena
of Romania is next in line for the throne.
However, since the royal constitution of 1923 only provided for
male heirs, the Romanian Parliament will eventually need to amend that
law to codify the King's decision for his eldest daughter to assume
the Romanian throne when the monarchy is formally restored by Parliament.
The Restoration
HRH Radu, Prince of Romania
HRH The Princess Margarita of Romania
The fifth generation of Romanian royalty continue to serve
all Romanians as special representatives.
The Enescu Memorial House
Home to Enescu and Yehudi Menuhin, one of his many famous
pupils at his Sinaia home.
As with so many of the royal houses of Europe, Romania's Royal House
had it's share of challenges through two world wars, occupation by both
Nazi and communist governments, as well as the instability of multi-party
coalition governments.
It should be noted that King Mihai is one of only two surviving
European monarchs still alive, who reigned during WWII. Whilst
the king was forced to leave Romania, there was never an official abdication,
as no heir and successor was ever crowned.
Romania's Royalty, Popular and Reserved
Whilst the monarchy in Romania is universally popular from a standpoint
of national pride -- the Royal House did after all manage to survive
in exile through the sad communist years -- the in-built mistrust of
any form of authority makes a full-fledged resumption of traditional
royal institutions and habits less appealing to the populace in general.
With ambivalence on many matters, the Royal House has taken a steady
and cautious approach to regaining stature, respect and even adoration
from the Romanian population, which likewise is recovering from decades
(some say centuries) of abuse by it's own rulers.
The current heir to throne (King Mihai's supposed abdication under
the communists was well outside the Romanian constitution; even if
Mihai had abdicated legally, a succession legally should have taken
place), HRH Radu,
Prince of Romania, was born in 1960 in Iasi, and is husband of HRH The
Princess Margarita of Romania.
Americans are surprised sometimes to learn their primo violinist,
Yehudi Menuhin
once had a rather famous Romanian tutor!
Menuhin studied in Sinaia, and refined much of his art under the
kind tutelage of Romania's
George Enescu, who conducted at the New York Philharmonic orchestra
in the late 1930s.
The Enescu Memorial House, the Villa "Luminis", is just north of
Sinaia, and well worth a look. The comfortable villa has great
views of the mountains, and is crammed full of fabulous furniture, his
piano and countless photos and artifacts from his great career.
The house itself was built in the 1920s and is a real gem of Romania
architecture of the period, with Turkish and Brâncovean influences.
You'll fall in love with the man and his music as you tour this
time capsule of culture! Enesecu was a keen friend of Romania's
Queen Marie, and he married a friend of hers, Maria Rosetti, who
had married into the Cantacuzino dynasty, gaining Enescu the use of
the city palace in Bucharest as well. Lucky guy!
The house itself is north from the train station about 5 minutes,
in the Campetu quarter, the only part of Sinaia which is on the eastern
side of the Prahova River.
The reason Americans refer to Sinaia as Romania’s Aspen is mostly
due to the celebrity factor here.
With it’s proximity to Bucharest (and hence, the international airport),
as well as it’s stunning beauty and royal residence, Sinaia is a natural
choice for the discerning fun-seeker.
A uniform layer of snow is deposited usually in November and it
melts from March to April, sometimes at the beginning of May. The thickness
of the snow layer varies between 20 centimeters and 3 meters in higher
elevations.
Apres-ski is it’s own little industry in Sinaia, which puts quality
before quantity in the overall experience.
Due to the annual winter influx of Germans, quite a few restaurants
offer reasonable German fare on top of the myriad of Romanian cuisine
restaurants. Romania actually does sport it’s own “whole” cuisine,
see our Food and Dining section for more information.
And of course, where you have Germans, you have beer, so there are
good German pubs catering to this crowd, along with bars, the Blue Angel
and Black Horse discos, as well as games places with billards, table
tennis, video games, internet cafes, and all the requisites a resort
town normally offers.
If you would like to play roulette, blackjack, stud poker, or feel
the need to have a go with a slot machine (or “pokie” as Australians
say), head to the Casino Maxim, which has table gaming rooms open evenings
(6pm – 3am, 5am Fri/Sat) for Euro players and local Lei players.
The Slopes of Sinaia
South from the train station and park, just up the hill from the
market and town hall is the Hotel Montana, behind which you can catch
the cable car up the mountain.
The view from the end of this line (which is about 2/3 of the way
up) is stupendous, and you can either continue on up, or take the very
scenic trail back down (about 2 hours).
The looming Furnica Peak to the west of town has most of the runs
and lifts on it, with 3 telecabinas (gondolas) going up to the
level first, and then continuing on up to
. With
total of pistes, and one
run, Sinaia is well-developed and every bit as good as most of the resorts
at Tahoe or Breckenridge, with an annual metre of snow on average.
With mostly intermediate runs, Sinaia does have 3 difficult runs,
“Carp”, “Papagal – Târle, and “1500” (using the Cota 1500 chair lift).
The Carp slope from Furnica Peak and Cota 1400 runs a cool
down a healthy
drop, great fun for experienced skiers.
For a bit of fun, Sinaia also offers bobsledding runs (over a
drop) complete with graded turns, running for
.
Even if you’re not up for a walk in the mountains, a stroll around
some of the back streets of Sinaia show off the villas of the aristocracy
from the early 1900s, and worth a few photos too.
Digimarc and the Digimarc logo are registered trademarks of Digimarc Corporation. The "Digimarc Digital Watermarking" Web Button is a trademark of Digimarc Corporation, used with permission.
All maps are informational only. No representation is made or warranty given as to map
contents. User assumes all risk of use. Rest Romania and its suppliers
assume no responsibility for any loss or delay resulting from such use.
Inclusion of links and examples of maps on other sites is for your
convenience only and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the
owner/sponsor of the map site or the content of that site.
Since the 1300s, the administrative capitals of Romania have migrated
from the mountains, to the foothills and slowly down to the great Wallachian
plain, where Bucharest is today.
Sinaia, nestled firmly on the southern edge of the mountains, perches
high enough to avoid the worst of the summer heat, and low down enough
to avoid the heaviest snowfalls in winter.
Whilst administratively
part of Wallachia, and the last northern outpost of Wallachian culture
and history, Sinaia cannot help but be influenced the equally rich Transilvanian
culture just up the valley.
Between Two Cultures
Roughly a third of the way up the Prahova
Valley, Sinaia was a natural crossroads between the Wallachian
and Transylvanian cultures.
Without the dramatic mountain passes further up the mountains, Sinaia
was not a heavily fortified town and never had a functional castle such
as Bran or Poienari controlling trade at this wider area of the Prahova
valley, although in the early Sinaia monastery church did serve to protect
the main trade route.
Getting to Sinaia is made easy by train, since it is on the main
line between Bucharest and Brasov. All trains that go to Hungary
pass Sinaia, as to those that service Oradea, Brasov and
Cluj-Napoca. There are also many trains to and from
Sighisoara, Timisoara, Iasi and Arad.
I walk through
Gara de Nord feeling older and wiser. The big
railway
station looks so different today – modern, revamped. Shiny kiosks bulge with
glossy mags, rows of chocolate and stacks of snacks. Men in suits chat on
mobile phones. Glamorous girls laugh and joke, swig Fanta. Ticket
collectors amble in smart uniforms, hats perched at a rakish angle.
I can hardly believe my eyes. It seems a so modern. The steel body
shines with immaculate paintwork; the windows are wide, slightly convex and
made of thick tinted glass. Rugged steps and chrome handrails gleam
invitingly in the early morning sun.
I board the train in Bucharest's main railway station. Inside, the
pale grey vinyl floor is surprisingly free of chewing gum. I choose a seat
by the window. It feels well-designed, covered in bright blue fabric, firm
but comfortable. I watch passengers walking along the platform outside.
Soon the carriage begins to fill up. A middle-aged woman sits down
opposite me, hair frosted like a cake, fingers dripping gold. I can almost
hear the wheels grinding at her head: he's not Romanian. It must be my
green rubbery skin, bulbous purple eye and furry antennae.
The train pulls out of the Gara de Nord, slowly picking up speed,
clickety-clack. I watch as dilapidated apartment blocks sail pass; a kid
leans perilously from a rusty balcony. A skinny woman in a headscarf pins
sagging sheets to a washing line.
It still looks like Romania out there, apart from the snarling yellow
diggers and new roads with sleek cars. But in here, I feel shot forward in
time. I fold my arms and marvel. It's a bit of a mystery, progress.
The climate is a characteristic of low-altitude mountain passes.
Annual average temperature: 8°C; Average temperature in June: 15°C;
Average temperature in January: -4°C.
Summers are bracing and very rainy in the beginning of the season.
Winters are relatively mild, with heavy snow. Average annual rainfall
is 900 mm. The maximum registered rainfall was in June (173 mm/m˛).
The minimum rainfall was recorded in September (55 mm/m˛) and February
(40mm/m˛).
A uniform layer of snow is deposited usually in November and it
melts from March to April, sometimes at the beginning of May. The thickness
of the snow layer varies between 20 centimeters and 3 meters in higher
elevations.
In recent years, Sinaia has felt the effects of global climate change
– change that has meant shorter summers, with temperatures frequently
over 30°C, a slight reduction in the length of spring and autumn, and
relatively longer winters (end of October – beginning of May), colder
winters with entire weeks dominated by frost ( -19°C to -25°C) and numerous
blizzards.
Know of a property or some information we missed?
Please Rest Romania is Romania's Biggest Tourism Website for Accommodation, Lodging and great Reviews and Guides!
Let us know about it now Thanks!
A lot of the hotels in Sinaia are ridiculously sumptuous for the
average Romanian, a clear signal that there is a lot of European and
even American traffic through this increasingly cosmopolitan and always
trendy little resort town.
There are also a fair few mid-line rooms in the town, although you
can get the same thing for a lot cheaper at Buşteni, which is more favoured
by Romania’s booming middle class. In addition to being top of
the line, many of the hotels are really quite huge, although most blend
fairly well thanks to being dwarfed by the mountains, or clad in the
period facades of the older sprawling hotels.
Listed below are some local hotels, B&Bs and other accommodation in the Sinaia area.
The placing in the centre of the Sinaia resort, the warm atmosphere and the highest-quality services makes the New Montana hotel the best destination spot for relaxation.
Placed in the gorgeaus landscape of Prahova Valley in the famous resort, also called "Carpathians' Pearl", Sinaia, Casa Galbena offers you accommodation in a modern ambiance.
This website is a
general tourist guide, designed to help English-speaking tourists
understand Romania, and as such, provides historical
information for the interest of our traveller readers. History
can be a contentious issue, and we welcome input where readers think
clarification or correction is advisable. Please
e-mail us here
if you have questions or comments about anything in this history
section.
Young King Mihai (R) was forced into cooperation with the
Nazi puppet regime, here in 1941 with de facto Romanian leader
General Antonescu.
Once only known as the Prahovan Fields, the area was once just meadows,
which stretched lazily from the Spring River,
up to Predeal.
Due to restrictions getting into the fields, the area was
uninhabited.
The St. Nicholas hermitage was the first permanent settlement of
any size in Sinaia, around Molomot just north of the Furnica quarter
today. It was mentioned by Prince Mihnea in 1581 and
the monastery workers built the first road by widening the existing
path to take oxcarts from Posada through the narrows and into the monastery
compound.
The road network through Sinaia was further improved by the Austrian
army from their Transilvanian province to the north.
The Austrians realised they needed a well maintained route to supply
and quickly transport their troops from Braşov to fight the Turks on
the wide Wallachian plains below. With the main route
established by the late 1690, the road was fully operationally by the
1736 campaigns.
The road quickly gained fame as being the shortest route between
Bucharest and Braşov, even though it was not as easy to traverse as
the more traditional route through the Rucăr pass to the north-west.
Just north of Sinaia, the Stony Porch Inn at Buşteni, and the Râşnov
Gap Inn at Predeal were open in the 1750s (see more in
Buşteni History here).
With increasingly more valley inhabitants, by the late 1800s, Sinaia
had it’s established it’s own wayside inns, from the Forest Clearing
Inn (Hanul de la Gura Padurii), the Iancu Valley Inn, and later on,
the Setu Inn, which is the Coldspring (Hanul la Izvorul Rece) Inn today.
The hamlet of Springville (Catunul Izvor) appeared in 1783 when
Mihai Sutu, the local lord, took some of the serfs and their families
from the Sinaia monastery settlement up into the foothills along the
Goldspring river valley (valea raului Izvorul Dorului).
Sinaia was included in the newly created township of eagu’s Bridge
(Podu Neagului) in 1852.
This new administrative commune unified the area from the Lespezi
hermitage at Comarnic, with the villages of Posada, Springville, Buşteni,
and up the Prahova Valley to Predeal.
If you’ve read our
section on the charming seaside village of Eforie Nord, you’ll know
the name comes from the Eforia Spitalelor Civile, a medical trust established
by two of Romania’s aristocratic families, the Cantacuzinos and the
Ghicas, in 1864.
Bringing affordable or free medical care to hundreds of thousands
of Romanians, the foundation, and in addition to their coastal spa properties
at Eforie Nord,
they also held the Furnica estate including today’s Sinaia Monastery.
However, it was not until 1874 that the estate and growing
community was giving the name Sinaia, presumably at the prompting of
Prince Carol, the future King of the Romanians.
As with their resort work down on the coast, the Eforia foundation
realised the potential for its Sinaia estate to become a deluxe resort
town, especially since Sinaia was already the summer residence of the
Royal House.
Eforia pushed ahead to provide 10 hotels, 55 large villas, 50 medium
sized villas and 60 peasant houses, 2 casinos, spa baths, a zoo, walking
trails, three equestrian centres including dressage schools, restaurants,
ale houses, coffee shops and seasonal stores, a park with promenade,
with the resort nicknamed “The Pearl of the Carpathians”.
The development or the Sinaia township as a tourist destination
boomed starting in the second half of the 19th century, timed with the
construction of the Sinaia to Braşov roadway in 1847, the railroad from
Bucharest in 1879, and moreover, the Peleş Castle , which transformed
Sinaia into a centre of political life with a privileged residential
neighbourhoods, each with their own distinct and diverse architectures
inside and out.
Sinaia was declared a town in 1880, making it one of the earliest
official urban zones anywhere in the new Romanian nation. Read
more on the
Sinaia
website (if you read Romanian).
Growing up in Sinaia
The favoured residence, Peleşor, where the young Prince
Mihai spent his early years.
Americans Bomb Romania
A thankful King Mihai I congratulated the Americans for
only targeting the Nazi controlled refineries and not the civilian
popluations. See the
American War Memorial in Sinaia below
Born in Sinaia, the young Prince Mihai was raised in the Prahova
Valley, living at Peleş castle and going to school in Sinaia.
His mother, the Princess Elena of Greece, and father King
Carol II did not get on well, and when his father left to live with
his mistress, young Mihai acceded the Romanian throne at the age of
six.
The Royal prerogative was formulated by a Regency, a troika of his
uncle, Prince Nicolae, the leader of the Romanian Orthodox church, and
the High Court president. Then the first Court president
on the Board of Regents died, Mihai's Grandmother, the Queen Marie (born
Marie of Edinburgh), vied for the position, only to be rather rudely
thwarted by the Peasant Party Prime Minister Iuliu Maniu.
The young king attended the Sinaia elementary school, and showed
an early aptitude for mechanical and electrical skills.
These would come in handy later during the war years and as a pilot
in the 1950s and 1960s.
Mihai had firm European royalty roots, being the great-great-grandson
of Queen Victoria. His reign was interrupted by the return of his father to the throne
in the 1930s, and resumed again a decade later.
Sinaia and the Nazis
Being just north of the industrial powerhouse and oil refineries
at Ploieşti, Sinaia had the further attraction of being the seat of
Romania's royalty.
This made the Prahova valley, itself a fairly easily defended region,
a magnate for the Nazis, who forever loved lore and any hint of Saxon
ancestry.
King Mihai I himself had strong Saxon roots, which made his retention
undoutedly more attractive in some ways to Hitler and his nutter cronies.
King Mihai was hardly alone in hosting wounded American airmen at
Castle Peleş.
Many in Romania's upper classes applied for visas for Spain, Turkey
and Switzerland as the peasants began to pour in from Bessarabia and
the Transilvanian plateau. But those who weren't able to get out,
or preferred to stay for the duration, huddled together in their villas
and estates in the Prahova valley.
The Americans Arrive from the Skies
The low-level precision bombing raids about an hour south on the
Nazi-run oil refineries at Ploieşti had meant very high numbers of American
planes going down from anti-aircraft ordinance.
The very low altitude bombing runs by the Americans also meant that
many of the aviators survived the crashes, and were transported up to
Sinaia for their medical care at the Sinaia Military Hospital.
This influx of Americans was indeed a novelty for Romania's high
society at Sinaia, and Americans were sought out to decorate dinner
parties with their tales of life in their bases in Africa and life in
America too. Many from the 93rd were also buried in Sinaia.
King Carol II had to make a quick exit under pressure from Antonescu,
who then installed his son, Mihai I in the top royal positon.
Mihai rightly distrusted Antonescu, and the two never had an honest
relationship, with Mihai barely able to contain his enduring hatred
for Antonescu. The young king perfromed the assigned duties of
his office perfunctorily, smiling in the face of the Nazi ugliness.
King Mihai finally couldn't take it any longer, and once Russian
troops arrived in numbers, the King promptly had the revoltingly
blithe Antonescu arrested,
removed the puppet government, and quickly sided with America and the
Allied Forces to rid Romanian soil of the Nazi scourge.
King Mihai was awarded the American Legion of Merit medal to show
America's deep appreciation of the king's efforts to oust the Nazis.
Not to be outdone, the main Allied force in the region, Soviet Russia,
awarded Mihai the Order of Victory. With Russia as their closest
ally and neighbour at the end of the war, it was no surprise that a
pro-Russian government was appointed in 1945, which began the long road
to communism.
The Puppet King
For two years, the puppet King has tried doggedly to curb the
Communists, but he is their virtual prisoner in his gilt & gingerbread
palace at Sinaia. Any contact between sovereign and subjects is
rigorously discouraged by the Communists. His own two aunts are
little better than Russian agents.
His Speech from the Throne last week, at the opening of Rumania's
Parliament, was plainly dictated by Communist Petru Groza, the King's
first minister and Rumania's real boss. "Friendship and cooperation
in all fields with the U.S.S.R.," read Michael, "remain the very
basis of Rumanian foreign policy. Rumania will seek sincere cooperation
with the nations respecting the independence, sovereignty and freedom
of peoples."
Newsmen reported that the King had been forced to delete a reference
to cooperation with the U.S. and Britain.
Michael's effective resistance seemed just about over.
King Mihai attended the wedding of his third cousin, the Princess
Elizabeth, soon to be Queen of England in 1947, and was thereafter forced
to leave his beloved Sinaia, Peleş Castle, and his Romanian people by
the incoming communist regime.
AAfter 42 long years in exile in London and Switzerland, Mihai has
once again returned to the Royal Peleş Domain, settling into the delightful
Little Peleş Lodge (Peleşor), taking up informal diplomatic duties and
once again serving his Romanian people.
™RestRomania.com,
Rest Romania, and Rest Romania SRL are trademarks of Rest Romania
SRL. All objects, including but not limited to images and graphics,
which are marked with the distinctive Rest Romania "diamond R"
are the property of Rest Romania
SRL, and their use
without our explicit consent is a violation of copyright.
Some content on this page is derived
from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopaedia.
It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see
full disclaimer). Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify
sections of this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
Sections which may be used under the GNU License may include sections marked
with the "ol" style class on paragraphs, table cells and tables.
Sections of this page which may NEVER
be used under the GNU license (other licenses and copyrights apply) include
the page header
and page footer
blocks common to Rest Romania websites; images bearing the Rest Romania distinctive
diamond-R as logo or background watermark; all paragraphs, table cells and
tables marked with a "cc" or "rr" style class showing distinctive coloured
right margin dots; Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts (as set forth in
the GNU license). A copy of the license is included
in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation
License".
S
Mervani Travel, B-dul Ferdinand Hotel Paltinis, cam.506 - 507 in Sinaia
See a Road Map of the Sinaia Area
See
an Area Map of County Prahova
Get your hotel or accommodation seen to the world with a premium accommodation listing with Rest Romania.
Search
for
on other websites!
Read more about in the Encyclopaedia!
RestRomânia.ro