Romania: A Step Back in Time, Part I

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Overview

Sinaia Monastery Photo - Sinaia Monestary (Mănăstirea), Sinaia, Romania

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Dubbed "Pearl of the Carpathians", the small, but spread out town of Sinaia is nestled in the narrow Prahova Valley and hosts some of Romania’s best skiing and one of the country’s best palaces, Peleş Castle. It lies at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains at an elevation of 767-860m and is certainly not your typical touristy ski area.If you don’t come for the skiing, there are plenty of other things to keep you busy in this town. There is the Sinaia Casino modeled after the grand Monte Carlo casino in Monaco. Peles Caslte, Pelişor Castle, and the Foisorul Hunting Lodge are all located within walking distance from each other and will fulfill your need to view how the rich lived in Romania. The...Read More

Dubbed "Pearl of the Carpathians", the small, but spread out town of Sinaia is nestled in the narrow Prahova Valley and hosts some of Romania’s best skiing and one of the country’s best palaces, Peleş Castle. It lies at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains at an elevation of 767-860m and is certainly not your typical touristy ski area.

If you don’t come for the skiing, there are plenty of other things to keep you busy in this town. There is the Sinaia Casino modeled after the grand Monte Carlo casino in Monaco. Peles Caslte, Pelişor Castle, and the Foisorul Hunting Lodge are all located within walking distance from each other and will fulfill your need to view how the rich lived in Romania. There is a busy little tourist market that lines the road/walking path to the castles as well as a larger market on B-dul Ferdinand heading out of Sinaia.

Quick Tips:

Restaurants seem to be readily available. After we ate lunch at Casa Noastra we started looking for the Monastery, etc. and found Hotel and Restaurant Furnica and another restaurant called Ferdinand right across the street which looked really nice, if a bit out of the way.

Accommodation in Sinaia looks plentiful with several places right on the main street. Besides several hotels you will also find an abundance of Pensions (Pensiunea) if you are looking for cheaper accommodation. If you want to stay closer to the skiing action there are a few options up near the Cota 1400 cable car station: Hotel Cota 1400, Cabana Brădet, and Cabana Valea cu Brazi. There are also a couple of choices once you reach the top cable car station, Cota 2000.

Best Way To Get Around:

Getting here by car is easy enough and by train it is on the main line between Bucureşti and Braşov. The closest airport is Otopeni-Bucharest.

Train outside of Sinaia:

Getting around in the town seemed pretty straightforward, walking is your best bet for most things, but to maximize the things you will see, a car will save a lot of time and effort as this place is built on a bit of a hill.

Our rental from Sixt near the Otopeni Airport:

Our rental car--Opel Astra from Sixt rentals

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Hotel Confort

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Hotel

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Our flight arrived into Bucharest’s Otopeni Airport after midnight so the hotel didn’t matter that much. Hotel Confort’s location and airport shuttle service meant more than other comforts we might have otherwise chosen. Bookings.org offered this hotel for 54€, less than the hotel’s price. Breakfast cost an additional 6€, definitely worth it considering we had no idea where to start looking for breakfast elsewhere.I emailed the hotel a week before our trip to confirm there would be someone to meet us that evening. I didn’t want to be stuck at the airport at midnight without a car or any idea of where I was going. Turns out there were taxis everywhere, but thankfully we didn’t have to ...Read More

Our flight arrived into Bucharest’s Otopeni Airport after midnight so the hotel didn’t matter that much. Hotel Confort’s location and airport shuttle service meant more than other comforts we might have otherwise chosen. Bookings.org offered this hotel for 54€, less than the hotel’s price. Breakfast cost an additional 6€, definitely worth it considering we had no idea where to start looking for breakfast elsewhere.

I emailed the hotel a week before our trip to confirm there would be someone to meet us that evening. I didn’t want to be stuck at the airport at midnight without a car or any idea of where I was going. Turns out there were taxis everywhere, but thankfully we didn’t have to take one. We eventually found someone waiting for us among the chaos in the small terminal. The shuttle ride to the hotel was our first taste of Romanian driving, completely living up to my expectations. I may have been a bit shocked with the speed, randomness and complete disregard for anything and everything I have been taught. More on this later.

Stepping into Hotel Confort to the smell of stale cigarette smoke and humid air wasn’t a pleasant start. The lobby was sparsely furnished and barely lit. Reception wasn’t exactly friendly, simply taking a copy of our passports and handing over a key. No friendly chit-chat here. (For the record, English was well spoken)

Tom and I took the lift up one floor and found our room with ease. The same stale smoke smell greeted us at the door, as did the sparsely furnished and dim lighting theme. Two single beds, a small desk, a small wardrobe and two chairs with a small table completed the ensemble. The 1970’s décor of the room was definitely in need of an update!

The small bathroom turned out to be adequate, but the shower created an unwanted puddle of water on the floor and the small shelf above the sink didn’t allow for much room besides toothbrushes and toothpaste. At least it was clean!

Arriving at the hotel just before 1am didn’t allow for much sleep that night. The beds were not comfortable and one tiny pillow each just didn’t cut it. The room was warm when we came in so we turned on the AC unit which took a while to work (at least we had one!) Romania is GMT+2 so it felt like 5am to us when the 7am alarm went off. With sore backs and a chill from the AC we dragged ourselves out of bed and showered.

Surprisingly the breakfast was very "Western" with bacon and eggs, sausage, cereal, toast, juice, coffee. It was adequate at 6 Euros and we checked out with full stomachs.

Another shuttle ride to the airport to pick up the rental car left me catatonic as I watched my life flash before my eyes. I hoped it wouldn’t be like this everywhere.

I would not recommend this hotel except for the location and free shuttle service. Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on June 13, 2006

Hotel Confort
255 A Calea Bucurestilor
Sinaia, Romania
+40 213504110

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Sinaia Monestary (Mănăstirea)

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Attraction | "Mănăstirea Sinaia"

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Mănăstirea Sinaia is named after the Biblical Mount Sinai. It was founded in 1695 by Prince Mihai Cantacuzino and is currently inhabited by 20 Christian Orthodox monks. Two beautiful churches grace the monastery, Biserica Veche (the Old Church) and Biserica Mare (the Great Church). The former being built in 1695 and the latter in 1846—both built in the Byzantine style....Read More

Mănăstirea Sinaia is named after the Biblical Mount Sinai. It was founded in 1695 by Prince Mihai Cantacuzino and is currently inhabited by 20 Christian Orthodox monks. Two beautiful churches grace the monastery, Biserica Veche (the Old Church) and Biserica Mare (the Great Church). The former being built in 1695 and the latter in 1846—both built in the Byzantine style.

Carving detail at the Great Church, Sinaia Monastery

There is a small parking area outside of the monastery. As you walk towards the entrance you can’t help but to be completely taken in by the beautiful Biserica Mare in the centre of the courtyard. This is an Orthodox Church with two towers at the front and a larger tower situated at the back capped with copper domes and crosses. The exterior design is similar to many Orthodox churches in Romania. The red and white bricks are striped horizontally with colourful arches over colourful paintings depicting Biblical figures. The entrance to the church has large columns with intricate carvings. The interior dripped with colourful decoration and gold accents.

There didn’t seem to be much direction here and we wondered if we were free to wander. Many of the doors stated "acces interzis" which is similar to the French "access interdit". I took the assumption that the other open doors meant we could wander. We passed through the U-shaped white building and found the other church, Biserica Veche undergoing renovations. You can definitely tell this one is much older and much smaller than the larger Orthodox church in the main area. This one was covered in colourful frescoes on the outside with an intricately carved door and archway. Looking up whilst in the entryway revealed an incredible fresco lining the entire ceiling of the entryway. The door to this church was locked so we couldn’t go in and explore. We saw a few monks wandering around going about their daily business paying no attention to the tourists lurking around.

The monks also have a small museum that houses treasures of the monastery including the first translation of the Bible into Romanian (back when they used the Cyrillic alphabet) that dates from 1668.

I highly recommend a stop at the Sinaia Monastery. It is open daily from 8am to 5pm and costs nothing unless you would like to leave a donation. To find the Monastery follow the main street, B-dul Carol I, down to Str. Mănăstirii and turn left. You can either take the road if you have a car or take the steps if you are on foot. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on June 13, 2006

Sinaia Monestary (Mănăstirea)
Str. Mănăstirii, 2
Sinaia, Romania

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Reaching New Heights in Sinaia

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Story/Tip

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After lunch, the first thing on the agenda was Peleş Castle. After accidentally driving by it the first time, we continued on the winding roads towards the cable car station Cota 1400. You can take the cable car from Sinaia town just behind Hotel New Montana on the main street, B-dul Carol I, or drive up to the next stage, Cota 1400, and take it from there. At first we planned on just taking a look around since we needed to save time for the Castle. Tom, being sometimes overly safety-conscious, wasn’t all that keen on taking a Romanian cable car anyways. It seems in Romania that whenever you see a parking space that appears to be free an "attendant" appears out of nowhere quoting park...Read More

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Castelul Peleş

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Story/Tip

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After our quick ride on the cable car we rushed back down to Sinaia to see Peleş Castle and the Sinaia Monastery. Our guide book noted that the castle was open until 5pm and it was only around 3:30 when we parked in the small parking area near the monastery. After a brief visit to the monastery, we found the road/path with a rickety sign pointing towards Muzeul Peleş which we assumed was the castle. In fact, it was the only sign I saw for the Castle anywhere in Sinaia.This road, looking badly decayed (or never finished?) at the start, leads from a small parking area down a leafy wooded path towards the castle. After a couple of minutes you reach a "market" area with stalls selling chea...Read More

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Casa Noastra Restaurant

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Story/Tip

Tom eating lunch Photo - Sinaia, Romania

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Sinaia was the first town of any size we passed through to this point. Our stomachs indicated the need for food, so this was as good a place as any to stop and find our first meal. The main street, B-dul Carol I, is lined with restaurants and shopping and you will be sure to find something in this area.It is very difficult to choose a place to eat when you have no decent recommendations and you don’t speak the language. So, we did the next best thing and chose a place that looked pretty from the outside. Casa Noastra, part of Pensiunea Casa Noastra, is a pretty three-level, open-air wooden structure located right on the main street through town. A small car park situated off to the si...Read More

Sinaia was the first town of any size we passed through to this point. Our stomachs indicated the need for food, so this was as good a place as any to stop and find our first meal. The main street, B-dul Carol I, is lined with restaurants and shopping and you will be sure to find something in this area.

It is very difficult to choose a place to eat when you have no decent recommendations and you don’t speak the language. So, we did the next best thing and chose a place that looked pretty from the outside. Casa Noastra, part of Pensiunea Casa Noastra, is a pretty three-level, open-air wooden structure located right on the main street through town. A small car park situated off to the side had parking for 10 to 15 cars and we happened to get the last space.

We walked to the front of the building and went inside where nobody took notice of us at first. Tom walked over to a waitress and motioned while asking "sit anywhere?" and she said,"yes, sit anywhere." OK, English is now established. Whew. She brought us menus, thankfully in Romanian AND English. To be honest, we didn’t know much about the food and didn’t really know what to order. Tom ordered pork with mushrooms and peppers and I ordered beef with the same. The two meals looked identical when they arrived except one had a dollop of sour cream on the top. Both of us ordered "fried potatoes" to go with our meals, which turned out to be fries or British chips and really greasy ones, too. Neither of the meals had much meat at all underneath the tomato-based mushroom and pepper sauce on top. Not a hearty or particularly great meal, but cheap and a good experience for the restaurant experience.

Both of us had a diet Coke to go with our meal. The diet Coke came in a .5 litre bottle with a glass. In fact, while we were waiting for our bill, they were getting a delivery of Coke products which involved about 5 people (waitresses, a little boy, and whoever else) lugging large packages of soda from the front of the building all the way through to the back. It was actually quite humorous to watch. I felt like going out to help them. More than one package broke open to have bottles go rolling around on the floor.

We waited some time for our bill and nobody seemed to take notice that we were waiting. Of course, we didn’t really know the procedure for getting the bill. Do you wait for them to bring it out? Request it? Go up to pay when you are done without getting a bill? Finally, after both of us going out to use the toilet and then chatting a bit Tom decided just to go up to the counter and request to pay. I still don’t know the protocol in Romania because it seemed that each place did it differently.

This part was interesting. Our first money transaction. Romania is currently going through a devaluation of their currency so they have old notes and new notes and they are both being used right now. We found out they don’t like to use change, either. Most things seem to just be rounded. In the end the waitress sorted it out for us and we ended up with old and new notes. Once we got out to the car we sorted through all of the notes to try to figure out the system. Not difficult once you look at the notes, just confusing the first few times you do a transaction.

Overall, I would recommend the place for cheap eats and the convenient location, but our food wasn’t all that filling or gourmet if that is what you are seeking. Read Less

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