Day 27 - Sunday 21st June

Originally the itinerary had us going to a castle and church this morning followed by a winery for lunch but Alex had suggested yesterday that we change the order so that we would go to the winery first because this would be more efficient in terms of travel directions. So we wouldn't need to leave until 11am.

We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant at about 8:30. The breakfast room was upstairs for a change - on level 3, the top level. It was bright room with skylights. We noticed that one of the skylights was open to let in air - possible to control the temperature. There was light rain falling on the skylights.

The breakfast was limited again. At least there was a bowl of fruit. I pointed out to the waiter that one of the oranges was so mouldy it was changing to various colours.

This quiet morning was an opportunity to upload photos and update my blog. When we checked out from the hotel at 11am, there were still light showers.

We reached the Halewood Winery at Azuga (The Winery Outlet)  before noon. A lady from the winery gave us a guided tour of the wine making process while Alex translated for us. At this location, the winery produces sparkling wine. They have other locations that produce still wines. One of their claims to fame is that they used to be the wine supplier to the royal family.

The wine making is carried out in a long building with very thick brick walls and a special roof constriction that ensures that the temperature is maintained between 5C and 12C throughout all seasons.

Next we went into the restaurant for lunch and wine tasting. We told them that we don't normally drink sparkling wine because it gives us a headache and we didn't do much wine tasting. Instead Alex organised a bottle of red wine for us.

We didn't finish the entire bottle and so Alex arranged to get a cork for it so we could pack it in the car. Alex also bought himself a couple of bottles of wine because it was good wine and a very good price.

The next destination was Peles Castle in Sinaia. It was still raining steadily when we arrived but it wasn't very heavy. Alex organised the tickets and the photo tax and we just managed to get there in time to go on an English-speaking guided tour. Here the guides are supplied by the castle and Alex waited for us in the car.

This castle is a very popular tourist destination and it soon became obvious why. It's amazing and spectacular. From the outside it looks like the ideal castle. Inside it is so ornate that it's mind boggling. The king must have been setting out to impress and to live a life of incredible luxury.

No expense was spared by the kings and queens who lived here. There are wood-panelled rooms, statues, staircases, armoury, knights in armour and on horseback,  ornaments, busts of famous people, paintings, huge mirrors, expensive furniture, etc.

Our guide took us from one room to the next explaining the history and use of each room. The tour lasted for about 30 or 40 minutes.

At the end of the tour, we walked down the drive to get a front-on view of the entire castle and to take some photos before finding Alex who was waiting for us under cover near the car.

Next we drove the short distance to the Peles Cathedral. This is another impressive religious location. It consists of two churches - a small one and a larger one.

That was the last location we were to visit on our Romanian holiday tour and so the next task was to drive back to our hotel in Bucharest. Along the way the rain got heavier and heavier. We saw a couple of accidents along the highway with ambulances, police and fire brigades in attendance.

At times the traffic was quite slow, especially through some of the villages. In the distance, the clouds covered the tops and sides of the mountains. Later the clouds and fog were so thick it was hard to see more than about 200m.

We reached the Berthelot Hotel at about 5:45pm. We thanked Alex for doing such a wonderful job as our guide on the tour. We gave him an envelope containing a tip and a box of chocolates for his mother for letting us use her car.

It was sad to have to say goodbye to Alex. Not just because he's such a nice bloke but also because he has been such a good guide.

He did a fabulous job of looking after us for the last two weeks. Nothing was too much trouble. For example:

• Swapping his car for his mother's car when he was worried about his car breaking down
• Finding a memory card for my camera
• Taking us to additional sites that were not on the itinerary
• Carrying our big heavy bags up and down stairs at guest houses and hotels

The list goes on and on.

Furthermore we were amazed by his knowledge of Romania. He seems to have an encyclopedic memory of history and the locations we visited. He also has excellent navigation skills. It's amazing how he managed to find his way around every motorway, highway, local road and back street.

We will miss him.

Our room this time was on level 4 and looked similar the other rooms we'd had on the previous two times we'd stayed here on our trip. As before, the cable internet speed was great - about 100Mb/s in both directions.

As on our previous stays, they only gave us one towel and we had to ask for another one. When Suzy tried to wash some clothes in the basin in the bathroom, the plug didn't work. The staff member who came said they would fix it tomorrow. Also the bedside phone didn't work.

Instead of going to the hotel restaurant for dinner, we decided to go out (in the rain) to the nearby Radisson Blu Hotel. The pizza cafe was open. As we expected, it was much more expensive than our hotel. In fact it was more expensive than anywhere we'd been in Romania.

For example the cheapest bottle of wine was 140 Lei (about $A45) whereas previously we'd been paying between 20 and 50 Lei. I ordered a Carlsberg draft beer and Suzy had a hot chocolate drink that turned out to be very chocolatey.

We didn't need a huge meal because we'd had a good lunch and so we both ordered panini sandwiches. One advantage of eating here was that I was able to take advantage of my membership of Club Carlson.