We left Bucharest on Sunday morning before the roads were blocked for the Bucharest marathon. Northwards from the plains to the Carparthian mountains to Sinaia, a mountain resort for hiking and skiing, it is no surprise that King Carol decided to build a summer residence in the setting so similar to his homeland.
Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866, after a palace coup d’etat, to his death in 1914. The defeat of the Ottoman empire (1878) in the Russo-Turkish war secured Romanian independence, and he was proclaimed King on 26 March 1881.
Prince Mihail Cantacuzino founded the Sinaia monastery upon his return from a pilgrimage to Saint Catherine’s monastery on Mount Sinai. The first buildings were completed between 1690 and 1695. It was designed to serve as a monastery as well as a fortified stronghold on the route from Brasov to Bucharest.
Incredible art work, lovely architecture.