Predeal, Romania

The biggest. The smallest. The tallest. The highest. The oldest. They all have an innate attraction. I don’t seek them out but if I stumble across one, I’m unreasonably stoked.

Such was the case with Predeal, Romania. It’s the highest town in the country, over 1000m above sea level.  In Brașov county’s Prahova Valley, it’s more likely to be a spot you’d go to in winter than in summer.

We’d been visiting the fortified churches of Prejmer and Hărman and were looking for somewhere to eat. Why not drive a road littered with hairpin turns that brought out my inner Rosemary Smith. Truth be told, we’d driven through the town a few times before thinking to stop. And we’d gone back, too, to see the cemetery, where those who fell at the Battle of Predeal are tucked inside the elbow of a particularly nasty turn.

It’s a newish town in the sense that the millennium had turned before it was noticed by those rich enough to afford a second home – a mountain retreat. Then the great construction began. I had visions of Aspen, Colorado, with the ski set homing in with the first snow. I had little trouble imagining the aprés ski parties.

In 2013, as part of the European Youth Winter Olympics, Predeal hosted the snowboarding and cross-country skiing competitions.

It’s a pretty mountain town and with himself a great fan of the mountains, we did our usual check of property market, balancing advancing years against the pragmatism of centre-ville living. This was our mid-town pick, had we had a spare 60k lying around.

What caught my attention was the church – no surprise there. Romania built lots of new churches in the last 30 years or so, each more magnificent than the next. I’m drawn to them because they are so different to what I’m used to. There’s not a hint of anything other than orthodoxy.

The one in Predeal is dedicated to St Constantine and St Elena. Work began on it in 1990 and continued for decades. I read that it’s designed in ‘mountain style, a new classical church architecture‘ that is said to represent the entire Prahova Valley.

As with all such church interiors, it borders on sensory overload.

We ate at Restaurant Dragului in the hotel of the same name. The modern, spacious terrace attracts many beautiful people. It seems to be the place in town to hang out. I was delighted to see mangalica pork on the menu – I’m a fan of the Hungarian pig.  But mine was way too well done. So much so that I couldn’t eat it.

I commented to the waitress who apologised for not telling me that Romanians are fans of well-done meat. She advised me to let other restaurants know my preference were I to order it again while in the country. I thought that would be the end of it so I was pleasantly surprised when the bill arrived for two mains, not three.

I’d like to come back to Predeal during the winter and this time, I’d also visit the 19th-century monastery. So many churches, so little time.