When is a castle more like a palace? When it's called Peles Castle of course (strictly speaking pronounced more like "Pel-esh", but that's just semantics). The owner of the apartment we are AirBnB'ing has set us up with a friend of his to be our private driver for a couple of half day outings which is great. We had considered doing it all in one day - but given that it took us all morning to have breakfast, shower, get dressed, pack lunch and get ourselves ready for midday pickup... probably lucky we didn't push for that option. Today's big outing was decided on the flip of a coin. We figured Peles would involve less walking in the snow, as it was absolutely chucking it down. (Another reason we decided to treat ourselves to a door to door driver instead of fighting our way through the maze of public transport - it was freezing and snowy and icy underfoot. It was a public health initiative more so than just frittering euros away for nothing!) The drive to Sinaia (named after Mount Sinai) was hair raising enough - thankfully our driver is of the slow-but-steady school (he drives for a living) - unlike the car we saw that had run off the road and ploughed into a power pole in a huge bank of snow. We reached Peles and even parked as far up as we could in the 2nd carpark - and it was still at least 20 minutes slog in the snow to get to the palace itself and buy our tour tickets. One thing we really like here is accessibility. Be it 5 euro tickets to an opera or as was the case here... it's possible to get up to the palace and roam around looking at the fairytale exterior without paying a fee - it's only when you enter for a tour that things start to cost. We figured, we're only in Peles once, so went for the tour of the ground and first floors (vs. just the basic ground floor tour). Wow! So glad we did. This palace is considered to be the most modern in Europe. When it was built in the 1800s it was fitted with electricity. It has a lift. All the fireplaces are gorgeous and always purely ornamental as it has central heating and is soooo cosy. And the piece de resistance of modernity? The automated vacuum cleaning system that was fitted in 1901. This allowed hoses to be fitted to outlets on each floor and vacuuming occurred from a central engine. The art and furnishings were 'to die for' but one of the highlights for us were the massive Murano chandeliers and Venetian mirrors throughout - and the Cordoba leather 'wallpaper'. We spilled out at the end of 90 minutes and found the walk down hill much, much easier (and the snow had let up). Our driver took us down to the Royal Sibiu railway station from where it is possible to walk up steps all the way to the castle. Apparently. Thank heavens we didn't need to try it. We was tuckered out more than enough by the time we got home and went for a stroll about town and a look in the shops. In particular a bakery that has become our favourite for a little dinner/dessert treat - little cakes for only 2.5 lei which is less than A$1 - and we can share one. Bargain! Quiet night in absorbing our amazing day's outing and preparing for Bran Castle tomorrow.
 
(PS - This is one of the many sites in Romania where there is an extra charge if you want to take interior photos... like paying an equivalent entry fee for your camera to come in. We found this out just before our tour started, which is why all the interior photos have been sourced from the internet. You'd think they'd be all over it when you buy your tickets but a) they don't tell you, b) as it's written on the price list (apparently) and c) there is almost certain to be someone impatiently tapping their feet behind you in the queue so you don't take the time to read said price list in detail and d) we meant it, whether it's driving or queuing at the deli, it's like morris dancing sometimes there's that much impatience stewing.