Peleş Castle and a Dealul Mare Winery
Where are we Going?
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| Romania |
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| Braşov to Bucharest via Peleş Castle and Ceptura |
Some Necessary History
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| Prahova County |
In the second half of the 19th century the once mighty Ottoman Empire started to decay. New countries popped up all over eastern
Europe and the Great Powers – Great Britain, France, Russia and the Austro-Hungarian
Empire – watched carefully, ever ready to step in when matters did not develop
to their liking. They apparently believed that what new countries needed were
kings, someone the Powers thought reliable and whom the locals (they hoped) would
look up to. As German unification approached completion in 1871 there were abundant
spare German princelings eager to be matched up with appropriate realms.
The first proto-Romania was formed in 1856 by the unification of Wallachia and Moldavia. Transylvania, despite having a majority
Romanian speaking population remained part of Austro-Hungary until that empire
followed the Ottomans into history in 1918. Political instabilities in 1866 brought
the Great Powers Regal Tinder App into play and matched them up with Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who duly became Prince Carol
of Romania.
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| The shape of Romania 1856-1918 copyright Anonimu, reproduced under CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Unsurprisingly parachuting in kings had a high failure rate, but Prince Karol, who became Karol I when Romania gained full
independence in 1878, was a great success.
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| King Carol I on his horse in Bucharest |
Peleş Castle
The Carpathians are a serious mountain range, but our route south had passed through nothing more dramatic than pleasant wooded hills
which eventually gave way even gentler foothills. King Carol and Queen Elisabeth visited
these foothills in 1866, liked the area and in 1872 bought a plot of land and
built a hunting lodge and a summer retreat.
The Building
Every king needs a castle, and a new king needs a new castle, and here, King Carol decided, was the place to build it. The first plans
submitted were rejected as being unoriginal. More to his taste was a design by
German architect Johannes Schultz for a palatial alpine castle incorporating Italian
elegance and German aesthetics.
The building, as completed in 1914, was much influenced by two other architects, the Silesian-born Carol Benesch and the Czech Karel
Liman.
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| Peleş Castle |
Perhaps that is why my photographs of the façade from two different angles appears to show two different buildings.
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| Also Peleş Castle |
It does acquire some unity, with a touch of fairy tale, when photographed from greater distance, particularly in the snow - though we never found the right spot and July snow is vanishingly rare.
Maybe I am being picky, but the claim that Peleș Castle was the first ever castle built with electricity, central heating, running water and telephones is shaky. In the 19th century there was a fashion in the UK for rich men to build themselves a country house, stick crenellations on the top and call it a castle, the biggest and most egregious being Castle Drogo in Devon. The OED says that a castle is a fortified building,…. built for defence, so these are not castles and nor is Castelul Peleș, to give Peleș Castle its Romanian name. It could, though, be reasonably called a palace,
The Interior
The castle has 170 rooms, so a complete description is beyond the scope of this blog. However, I hope the selection of photos below
catches the tone and style.
The main theme is dark wood and heavy furniture. I like light and I find Peleș at worst threatening...
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| Entrance Hall, Peleş Castle |
…and at best gloomy, even when at its most grandiose.
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| The three storey Hall of Honour, Peleş Castle |
Some rooms are for display, and the Grand Armoury wobbles on the border between collecting and hoarding.
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| Grand Armoury, Peleş Castle |
Other rooms evoke distant places, and they worked hard to differentiate the Moorish room….
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| The Moorish room, Peleş Castle |
...from the Turkish hall.
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| Turkish Hall, Peleş Castle |
The Florentine room has some good pictures. The one below is clearly not of Florence and, like almost all the paintings, ‘school of…’
rather than by a named painter, but it is pleasing
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| The Florentine Room, Peleş Castle |
There are also functional rooms. The dining room is very formal…
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| The Dining Room, Peleş Castle |
…and although I am unsure what this one for, it clearly is not designed for comfort.
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| Room in Peleş Castle |
Elsewhere Carol and Elisabeth oversee the heavy, dark furniture.
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| Carol and Elisabeth oversee the heavy, dark furniture, Peleş Castle |
Carol has been described as a disciplined, rigid, and duty-focused, and the palace would seem to reflect that. Elizabeth had a lighter touch and the painting of her with her daughter Maria in the Working Cabinet is a rare moment of joy.
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| Elizabeth and Maria in the Working Cabinet, Peleş Castle |
The story ends sadly, though, with Maria
dying, aged 3. Their marriage thereafter has been described as one of mutual
respect but emotional distance.
Leaving the castle for the bright light outside was a relief. We strolled up to the crowded café where we procured a light lunch,
before rejoining Vlad for the penultimate stage of our journey.
Ceptura and the Rotenburg Winery
Continuing our southward journey we left the main road before the city of Ploiești and drove east towards Ceptura.
Dealul Mare
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| Ceptura |
‘Is this a designated wine area?’ I asked Vlad. ‘Yes.’ He replied. I waited for more information but none came. ‘We don’t see much
Romanian wine at home,’ I continued ‘and the only regional name I have encountered
is Dealul Mare, though I am not sure where it is.’
‘It’s there’ said Vald, pointing through the windscreen, ‘Dealul Mare, The Big Hill.’ A little learning is a dangerous thing, my Latin O
level (1965) and smattering of French had led me to imagine that Mare referred
to the sea. I had forgotten our 2018 Moldova trip when we heard much of the
national hero King Ştefan cel Mare şi Sfint (Stefan the Great and the Saint)
(see Chişinău,
a Modest Capital City). So I had been reminded that 'mare' means 'great' or 'big', I knew the -ul suffix was the definite article, and had learned that 'deal' means ‘hill.’
The vines were easy to find, but Ceptura was more elusive. It is a ‘commune’ of 6 villages with combined population 4,000
covering an area of 50 km², so there was little to find. Fortunately, Vlad knew
where were going and swung confidently up the gravel driveway of the Rotenburg Winery. It consisted of storage and wine making facilities on either
side of the drive and a reception area at the end.
We were greeted by the woman in charge; indeed she may have been the only person there, in some months nothing
much happens in a winery.
She showed us the recent vintages, maturing peacefully in their Romanian oak barrels…
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| Romanian oak barrels, Rotenberg winery |
…and bottled wines slumbering quietly.
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| Bottled wines in the Rotenberg winery |
Mihail Rotenburg made his pile in the tech industry. Then he quit and now divides his time between his mango garden in Tel Aviv and his
winery in Ceptura.
He bought the winery in 2007 with its 23ha of vineyards mostly planted to Merlot. By hand picking the grapes and using
painstaking traditional production methods his aim has been to produce the best
Merlot in Romania. They now are usually listed among the top four or five.
Inside we tasted four wines. Tastings usually start with whites, and this was my very first white Merlot. It was also the whitest –
most nearly colourless – wine I have ever seen. 15% alcohol and bone dry, it
was assertively clean and a little floral.
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| Very white Merlot, Rotenberg Winery |
Mihail Rotenburg is also interested in old musical instruments, one of which can seen on the label above – and 'in the flesh' below.
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| Stroh violin, Rotenberg Winery |
A little googling tells me this is a Stroh violin, invented by Johannes Stroh in London in 1899. The horn amplified the sound and directed it for use in phonographic recordings.
Their Merlot rosé was a big 13.9%. Sweetish
Californian Merlot Blush may have contributed to Merlot becoming unfashionable
in the US in the early noughties. This was totally different, rich, dry and tasting
of summer.
They also do a Cabernet Franc called, Frank. Fruity, complex and tannic, we liked it very much….
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| Frank, the Cabernet Franc at Rotenberg winery |
…. in fact, more so than the regular Merlot (it was not their very top cuvée). This, we were assured was fruitier and more complex. We disagreed quietly, thinking the Merlot a tad dull. We
decided to purchase a bottle of the white Merlot, as a curiosity, and one of the Cab
Franc, a decision that was looked on as mildly
perverse.
We would have bought more, the prices were keen for quality wines, but everything had to fit into our hold luggage, so we had no choice.
On to Bucharest
Leaving Ceptura we continued south. Monocultures are generally a bad thing, but I like the sight of a hillside covered with vines, and it is difficult not to be cheered by a field of sunflowers
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| Sunflowers, nearing Bucharest |
Back in Bucharest
Stavropoleos Church
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| Bucharest |
A little later we ventured out into the warm early-evening sunshine to select a restaurant from the dozens lining the nearby pedestrian streets. Chance led us to the church of Stavropoleos instead.
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| Stavropoleos Church, Bucharest |
In 1724, a Greek monk called Ioannikios Stratonikeas founded a religious community and built a church in Brâncovenesc (or Wallachian
Renaissance) stytle – like Cozia Monastery which we visited on Monday. Stratonikeas became Bishop of Stavropolis
and the church was named after his see. They thrived until the monastery was demolished
and the community disbanded in the 20th century. They are now flourishing again,
are guardians of a library of rare books and nurture an expertise in early Byzantine music.
Dinner
Bumping down from the sublime to the ridiculous, we had found on previous visit that a lot of restaurants does not necessarily
mean a lot of choice. There had been no improvement in our absence, so we picked
a random establishment, selected a pleasing bottle of plonk…
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| All we need now is... |
…and ordered sausage and chips. Again. To be fair Romania offers a variety of sausages, some short and fat..;
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| Short, fat sausages, Bucharest |
….others long and thin. They may be made of pork, lamb or wild boar, some are spicey, some nor, but they are all indubitably sausages.
The food may have been modest, but it is pleasure to sit outside as the
sun sets (at about 9.15) leaving you in the embrace of a warm night.
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| Long, thin sausages, Bucharest |
We ate some good meals in Romania; my ‘Peasant’s Platter’ in Sibiu,
and Tripe Ciorbă here in Bucharest
and Lynne’s Bean Soup in Bread in Sighișoara were worthy efforts but generally the food had been disappointing. Perhaps
surprisingly, in 2018 we found the much less affluent Moldovans, who speak Romanian and regard themselves as country cousins, have better
produce and more ideas about how to cook it.
02-July-2023
We had an uneventful journey home.
Romania: An Introduction
Part 1 Bucharest
Part 2 Cozia Monastery and Sibiu
Part 3 Hunedoara and Alba Iulia
Part 4 Biertan and Sighișoara
Part 5 Rupea and Brașov
Part 6 Bears and Dracula's Castle(?)
Part 7 From Brașov back to Bucharest
As always, interesting facts delivered in great style. Like yourselves, don’t think I would want to move into Peres Castle any time soon.
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