Smyrna times., 1929-01-09
BOY KINGS PALACE IN RESORT
Rumania Gives Castle Pc
lesh to Little Michael.

Washington.-Sina whose histor-
ic Castle Pelesh has been recently set
aside by the Rumanian government as
& country residence for the boy king,
Michael, is a beautiful resort in the
pine-clad Carpathian mountains and
favorite summer gathering place of
Balkan aristOcracy, says bulletin of
the National Geographic society.
Winding drives lead to snow-white
villas and modern hotels set against
a background of forest and mountain.
From their balconies and windows
views Of narrow valley and fir-clad
hill are unsurpassed. Gay, gypsy-like
Rumanian music floats from band
stands, smart crowds gather in open
air restaurants, and far into the night
the gaming rooms of the casino are
crowded by the fashionable world of
southeastern Europe.
This delightful valley in the Car
pathians became popular less than
so years ago, when it was chosen as
refuge from the torrid summers of
Bucharest by young Prince Charles
chosen king Of Rumania, and his wife.
Elizabeth of Neuwied, known to the
literary world by her pen name of
Carmen Sylvia.
When the royal couple first visited
this mountain fastness there was no
summer palace built, and they
stopped for weeks at a time at the
Sinaia built by Prince Michael
Cantacuzene in the Fifteenth century
The walls of the monastery apart
ment set aside for royal use are said
to be still covered with caricature
sketches of well-known court ladies'
drawn by the queen.
King Charles Built the Castle.
So charmed were the new mon
archs with the invigOrating air and
wild scenery of Sinaia that they set
about the creation there of a summer
court. King Charles supervised the
erection Of Castle Pelesh. the royal
residence, on whose building, land
scaping and furnishing he lavished
millions. Pelesh is in the white
stone and plaster, half timbered,
many-gabled German style, looking
more like a resort hotel in the Ba-
varian alps than a castle in the Eng
lish sense of the word. 1t is perhaps
more adequately described by the
French term, chateau.
The building, however, is in har-
mony with it's background of ever
greens and mountain peaks, and
stands in a wooded park of great
beauty. It's many rooms contain
priceless art treasures from Europe
and the Orient collected by King
Charles throughout a long lifetime
and added to by his successors Ferdi-
nand and Marie. The throne room
and reception halls are of Aladdinlike
splendor
In spite of this gorgeous back
ground, court life has always been
less formal at Sinaia than in
Bucharest. 1t has been the custom
Of both Carmen Sylvia and Queen
Marie to wear native peasant costume
while in residence.
II was at Sinaia that the royal fam
lily first heard the booming of the
guns on the Hungarian frontier after
Rumania's entry into the World war.
The Pennsylvania frontier is a few
miles away through the Carpathian
passes.
Modern Summer Capital.
Since the war Sinaia has become
more popular than ever, not only
among the native aristocracy but with
visitors from all eastern Europe.
Rumania combines strains of Latin
gaiety and gypsy romance which seem
to meet in Sinaia. Rich owners of
landed estates have been hard hit by
agrarian reforms, but many seem still
able to maintain magnificent villas at
the summer capital, and their number
Is constantly being added to by those
newly enriched by postwar develop
ment.
On Sinaia's tree-Shaded prom
enades are seen costumes fresh from
the Rue de la Paix. Gay youths in
hannels play tennis with girls in en-
broidered blouses, their hair held in
place by colorful gypsy scarfs. Invit-
Ing bride paths lead through the for
est to mountain retreats of solemn
grandeur. At the casino the wheel Of
fortune spins and each evening in
the adjoining ballroom, music plays
far into the night.
This remote Carpathian valley, in
the shadow of the old Cantacuzene
monastery, has seen during the last
half century the surprising growth of
one of Europe's gayest summer capi-
tails. High upon the hillside above,
embowered in gardens, lies the royal
residence Of Pelesh, built by the Ger
man monarch of a Latin country and
redolent with the memory of an Eng
lish queen. Now its gorgeousness is
the property of a boy of five.