Ghostly Castle in the Heights

"I am glad that it is old and big. 

I myself am of an old family, and to live in a new house would kill me. 

A house cannot be made habitable in a day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. 

I rejoice also that there is a chapel of old times. 

We Transylvanian nobles love not to think that our bones may be amongst the common dead. 

I seek not gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and sparkling waters which please the young and gay. 

I am no longer young; and my heart, through wearing years of mourning over the dead, is not attuned to mirth. 

Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken; 

the shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken battlements and casements. 

I love the shade and the shadow, and would be alone with my thoughts when I may."

Bram Stoker

MySpot: I Shall Build My Castle

"Every big castle was once started with a single block; 

despise no small beginnings. 

A little step taken every day builds up the hope of greater accomplishments. 

o something every day!"

Israelmore Ayivor

The Peles Castle

The Peles Castle is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, 

near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, 

on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, 

built between 1873 and 1914. 

Its inauguration was held in 1883.

The castle was built at the initiative of King Charles I, 

to serve as a summer residence of Romania's first royal couple, 

and it was invested with political, cultural and symbolic functions. 

It was built in wood, stone, bricks and marble and comprises more than 160 rooms. 

The representative style used is German Renaissance, 

but one can easily discover elements belonging to 

the Italian Renaissance, Gothic, German Baroque and French Rococo style.