Castles of Transylvania

After spending a few days in Bucharest, we hired a guide to take us to Brasov, stopping at three castles en route.

The first stop was Peles Castle, a summer home for the royal family. Since the royal family was German, the style of the palaces tends to reflect this. We opted for the short tour, the castle was crowded and it includes the most impressive rooms. The ornate wood sculptures and decorations were worth the visit!

We stopped briefly at an orthodox monastery on the way out of Sinaia, with beautiful buildings where our guide explained the layout and meaning of the decorations and paintings in the church.

Then we were off to Bran castle, which is advertised as being linked to Dracula but was really more of a tax collection point on a trade route and another summer home for the royal family. Still, it’s a pretty castle in a scenic spot and we had a delicious lunch with views of it.

The final stop was the peasant fortress of Rasnov. This was built as a fortress where the peasants could retreat to if an invasion was underway.  It wasn’t as elaborate or palace like as the other castles, but it was very interesting! We visited late in the day and caught the funicular to the fortress. I’d recommend visiting earlier in the day, as the fortress is filled with shops that you can visit and they were mostly closed by the time we got there.

All in all, if you like castles or palaces, Romania doesn’t disappoint!

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