Sinaia

The Biblical Mount Sinai was where Moses received the Ten Commandments. But the Romanian mountain of the same name (sin-EYE-ah in Romanian) is a popular ski resort in the Carpathian Mountains.

A hundred and fifty years ago, in the 1870s, the first modern king of Romania, Carol I, wasn't ski-ing, but he was interested in having a summer home in the mountains where he could escape the heat of Bucharest.

Carol built a modest little cabin in the woods -- by royal standards. The Peles (pronounced PEL-esh) Castle only has about 160 rooms and was built at a cost that would equal approximately $120 million U.S. dollars today.

Born as the second son of a German prince, he had a distinguished career as a Prussian military officer. But after his predecessor -- an Ottoman puppet ruler -- was deposed in a coup, the Romanians turned toward Germany to find an otherwise unoccupied royal who could be recruited to rule.

Karl had commanded Romanian troops in the Russo-Turkish war that had brought about Romanian independence. This earned him the respect of the Romanians, so he was invited to be the prince of the two provinces of Moldova and Wallachia.

In 1881, however, Transylvanian joined the union and Karl (Carol in Romanian) was crowned king of the united country. That's when he really got busy with his summer home project.

Most of the "castle" (it really isn't a fortress in the medieval sense) is lavishly decorated the German Renaissance style. But some rooms are done in French Rococo.

And amazingly, given the recently hard-won independence from the Turks, a couple rooms are in Moorish and Turkish style.

Carol died in 1914 without a direct heir. His wife, Elizabeth, also a German princess, suffered 18 miscarriages and gave birth to only one child -- a daughter who died before her fourth birthday.

The crown passed to Carol's brother. But in the chaos of World War I, in which Romania played a pivotal role against Germany and Austria and as an ally of Britain and France, there was also chaos in the ruling family.

Nevertheless, Romanian royalty continued to use Peles until driven into exile by the communists. For their part, the communists refrained from destroying the castle to use it as a propaganda museum to display the evil, opulent lifestyle of the monarchy.

The communist dictator, Ceaușescu, hated the place and closed it down, but it was restored and reopened as a museum once again after the revolution of 1989.

Back in Bucharest, we enjoyed our farewell dinner with the group. We have to leave for the airport at 3:30 a.m. and we're not looking forward to it.