Tag: discovery tours

EuropeSmall Group Discoveries

Romania’s Remarkable Storybook Castle

on September 17, 2018

In the 1870s, when King Carol I of Romania traveled outside Sinaia and saw the rolling and rugged hills of the magnificent Carpathian Mountains, he knew this was the place to build his castle. His Majesty certainly had a good eye for settings; his remarkable home is nestled quietly on a gentle slope, yet it also strikes a commanding pose, seeming to lord over the sweeping cradle in which it is swaddled.

With its Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival beauty, Romania’s Peleş Castle is often compared to Germany’s famous Schloss Neuschwanstein, the fairytale wonder that inspired Cinderella’s Castle in Walt Disney World. The first thing you notice are its fanciful towers, one conical, another a sloping hexagon and another triangular. Wood frames outline windows, balconies, and sculpted flourishes. Timber changes color from one wing to the next and it’s all topped with a curvilinear roof. Amid this stunning asymmetry, the eye really isn’t really sure where to look. Yet somehow, it is grand and playful and perfect.

The diverse styles of Peleş Castle were surely influenced by its builders. Queen Elisabeth of the Romanians wrote of the many nationalities who contributed their craftsmanship: “… you could see hundreds of national costumes and [hear] fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled ….” The castle was inaugurated in 1883, though construction continued through 1914.

Within its 34,000 square feet, more than 170 rooms and 30 bathrooms are graced with sculpted wood and stained-glass windows, many adorned with a theme from a different historical period. Lavish furnishings bring luster to the residence and some of the finest art and historical collections in Eastern and Central Europe are here: statuary, paintings, arms and armor, tapestries, and more. This is inarguably one of the world’s finest national monuments.

Today, Peleş Castle hosts a museum, but is also used for some functions organized by the Royal Family. Rooms open for viewing include the Imperial Suite, created in Austrian Baroque style for Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I and featuring a pristinely preserved 500-year-old Cordoban tooled leather wall cover. In the Grand Armory, 1,600 of the museum’s 4,000 pieces of weaponry are on display, including some used in Romania’s War of Independence. The Theater is adorned in lavish Louis XIV style and boasts a mural signed by Gustav Klimt. In the Florentine Room, Italian Renaissance is the theme, accented with Michelangelo touches. The Moorish Salon exudes the decorative feel of North Africa and Spain and even has a marble fountain. And in the Turkish Parlor, izmir rugs, copperware, and silk-brocade wall coverings evoke a vibrant bazaar.

Peleş Castle is a true treasure from Romania’s past. We hope you will see it for yourself during our new Majestic Balkans itinerary!

EuropeSmall Group Discoveries

A Spectacular Train Journey Into an Alpine Wonderland

on October 20, 2017

There is no more awe-inspiring way to take in the Swiss Alps than aboard the Glacier Express. Despite its name, it is not a speedy train at all. And you’re sure to be delighted that it takes its sweet time traversing spectacular landscapes, climbing alpine hills to dramatic passes, spiraling around mountainous slopes, and crossing the most magnificent arched bridges in the world. In short, it’s a journey that will take your breath away.

Named for the nearby Rhône Glacier, the massive ice sheet that is the source of the Rhône River, this epic engineering marvel makes its way along some of the world’s most challenging terrain. During its early years, deep winter snows at the highest elevations restricted the train’s operation to the summer months. Today, two tunnels and advanced technology allow the train to operate year-round.

The railway’s opening changed the face of Switzerland. Before the turn of the 20th century, there was limited access to the southern and secluded regions of the country. Over time, hoteliers and businessmen proposed the construction of ambitiously laid tracks that would be able to traverse the alpine terrain, delivering tourists to remote resorts more easily and moving goods among the country’s various cantons more efficiently. The men behind the railway’s design devised a system of curved tunnels, vertiginous bridges, and spiral tracks that wound around hills like threads on a screw. By its completion, 291 bridges soared over valleys and gorges and 91 mountain tunnels had been dug.

During our unforgettable journey, you will board an all-glass observation car and set off from St. Moritz. Just outside your window, ice-capped peaks pierce the sky and stone villages dot green valleys. Thrill to the spiral tunnels that bore under Albula Pass (at 7,595 feet). Cross the dizzying span of the curved Landwasser Viaduct, a six-arch limestone span 213 feet above the valley floor. Also impressive, the Schmittentobel Viaduct stretches across seven arches.

From the town of Chur, you will trace the banks of another of Europe’s great rivers: the Rhine. Ride through the stunning Ruinaulta gorge before an ascent of more than 4,000 feet to Oberlap Pass (at 6,706 feet), the source of the Rhine. This is one of the continent’s great passages, crossed by traders and adventurers for centuries. Still today, it links the eastern and western cantons of southern Switzerland, but today the journey is accomplished far more comfortably—in a rail car or an automobile.

The alpine town of Andermatt is the terminus of our journey, spectacularly set in the wide Urseren Valley overlooked by hulking peaks.

Experience one of the world’s most astonishing rail journeys with us! We look forward to seeing you on our new Swiss Alpine Jewels trip.

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