Snagov Palace, Romania

 

After two castles the day before, we were ready for a palace. Not sure of what the difference between a castle and a palace is but perhaps it's just what you want to call your home. Our tour this day was to the Snagov Palace which sits on the shore of the lovely peaceful Lake Snagov a bit north of Bucharest. It was another chance to get out of the city which we felt we had explored fairly well, at least as far as the Old Town went.

After a bus ride through some of the same countryside we'd seen the day before, we turned down some backroads that wound through a forest area and suddenly came upon the Snagov Palace. If you wanted a home as a nice retreat, this would be the place to be. 

The entrance was graced by a fountain that was flowing when we first arrived but as we finished our tour, it was turned off upon our exit so I didn't get a good picture of it actually working. The palace was built in 1929 for Prince Nicholas of Romania on the site of a former hunting lodge (probably why it was surrounded by so much wooded area).

After Prince Nicholas's departure, the palace served various other leaders including a dictator and some communist leaders. One even built a hotel next to it. Now there's an idea for those who would like a place to put their guests other than the spare bedroom. Actually it served to house visitors to conference meetings at the palace as well as guests for special events. Today it is a great place for guests who attend any conferences or weddings that are booked at the Palace.

Michael Jackson slept here so they say.

The Palace can be booked, either the whole thing as Michael Jackson did or specific rooms. There had been a wedding the night before and the ballroom and terrace still sported the decorations from the celebration. We were told it was a small wedding of around 80 guests and the ceremony took place on the terrace with the reception in the ballroom. Very elegant to say the least.

The room that Michael Jackson slept in was pointed out to us as well as some of the special features of the palace like the unusual therapy bath in the fitness area and what looked like a hot tub in the indoor pool area that was lit by a beautiful skylight dome.

Some of the other lovely features was a huge wine room that actually spanned two rooms. Alas, all the wine had been consumed. The shelves were empty. 

Once finished with the Snagov Palace tour, we boarded the bus for a short trip around the lake to the Snagov Monastery. The small church featured the iconoclastic paintings on the wall of the Eastern or Russian Orthodox church. I get them all confused as we receive more and more information on these tours. The unique feature of this church was the burial place of Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula, whichever you wish to call him.

It was a little eerie walking into the room where the slab that marked his grave was. I checked the exit door just in case it started to smoke and open, My imagination tends to work overtime.

Back in Bucharest, we decided to take the afternoon off from touring and got a light lunch and returned to our room for a relaxing afternoon--yes, a nap.